- Respondent: Angela Roche
- Company: Design By Day
- Designation: Founder / CEO
- Website: designbyday.co.uk
- Email Id: [email protected]
- LinkedIn CEO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelaroche/
About CEO of DesignByDay:
Angela founded DesignByDay back in 2009, setting out to do things her own way after working in the industry as a graphic designer. With skills that span across brand identity, digital and animation, she has honed her craft and now leads the way on creative direction and consultancy for the studio. Both creatively and technically, she’s an expert in getting the best out of a brief and has a genuine love for helping clients get the best out of every project.
Questions for CEO:
1. Introduce your company and your profile within the organization?
I co-founded DesignByDay Ltd. 10 years ago with a friend from my university degree. We both studied Graphic Design. My co-founder (and very good friend) left to go traveling and left the design world for a while after.
When we first started up, we more like 2 freelance designers finding our way through the creative & digital landscape. My role now has naturally evolved into Creative Director, and somehow I’m kind of okay at sales (I’m not a natural by any means!).
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Although my time is best spent working ‘on the business’ rather than ‘in the business’ – I often dip back into project work, sometimes out of necessity, some times out of my love for design & digital!
2. What was the notion behind establishing this organization?
We had no real plan or concept at the start, simply to follow our passion for design and hoped for the best. DesignByDay was born out of a conversation in Sackville Park in Manchester over a couple of cans of beer! We thought what the hell if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just go back to working for someone else. It worked!
3. List out the primary services you deliver to your clients.
We help organizations with purpose by providing them with the brand, design & digital tools they need to thrive & affect change. Our focus is on web design & development, brand identity and animation. 3 disciplines that really complement each other and work together to deliver results that are more than the sum of their parts!
4. What’s your plan of action for creating intuitive UX/UI of apps and websites?
Put simply we place a strong emphasis on both UX/UI and brand identity. Our strength & USP is our ability to take the power of both to create websites that not only function effectively and are simple to use – but connect & engage on an emotional level. This, combined with data-driven insight and strategic content, is our recipe for success.
5. How your company manages communication among the employees that enable them to work as a team?
We use multiple tools to ensure communication is as smooth as possible, as even in a small team, comms can fall down easily. Internally we use Slack, primarily since some of the team often work remotely. Other tools we use for collaborating with freelancers and communicating with clients include; Teamwork Projects, InVision & Wipster. We’re usually in the studio together – and place a lot of value in face-to-face conversations!
6. What are the ways that your organization follows for managing projects from scratch to completion and deployment!
It all depends on project requirements and budget, but in an ideal world it would unfold as follows (assuming the website already exists and we’re being hired to redesign from scratch):
• Data analysis (Site analytics / anonymous user tracking software such as Hotjar heatmaps, recording, and funnels)
• Kick-off, the workshop with all stakeholders
• Specification
• Internal kick-off
• Migration strategy
• UX & user journey phase
• UI Phase
• Development
• Content population
• User testing
• Training
• Testing
• Deployment and post-launch testing
• Analysis & iteration
7. What business model does your organization follow? – third party vendors/outsourcing or in-house team?
We have a core internal team with our most necessary skillsets that implement the vast majority of the work.
The core team is very much ‘T-shaped’ individuals, meaning they each have a core specialism complemented by a bunch of other useful skillsets. For example, the UX/UI designers are also brand designers and can animate. Our front end developer used to be a designer, so when required, puts his designer hat back on! Our management team is all ex-designers too! The devs, however, are more truly specialized and don’t often stray from their focus!
We also have an inner circle of regular collaborators, such as Brand Strategists, Analytics experts, SEOs, CROs, copywriters and voiceover companies. On the design side, we often work with ex-DBDers on a freelance basis.
8. Share your views on how far this mobile app revolution can bring a distinction in the technology era?
In the impending period, the mobile application download will raise 23% and will surpass $182B in 2020. The extreme utilization of mobile phones says that in the next five to ten years, each one is going to switch as a mobile shopper. It’s a good sign for digital organizations who offers the service for app development. Modern innovations such as virtual reality (VR) and other wearables are going to get incorporated to shape a complex and more sophisticated app.
9. What does your organization thinks about new technologies such as artificial intelligence & IoT apps?
Blockchain apps have the prospective to alter roughly everything we do, probably even the means we vote. They won’t be a thing that you observe on the surface; however, the technology is going to be the division of the fundamental structure that builds more and clearness in our day-to-day communications.
On the other hand, IoT, which bridged all devices like software, home appliances, electronics, and other gadgets by in the exchange of information, is going to revolutionize the mobile app industry. Moreover, it will help a lot of businesses to grow.
10. What are the fundamental values that you consider ahead of choosing the cost of a mobile application?
Well, I think that there are a lot of factors that need to be considered before choosing the price of a mobile app. Some of these are human resources, frequent updates or maintenance, testing, time, native or hybrid app, mobile platform, and devices, etc.
Thank you!
