Correlation is a monthly service that takes your software business to the next level, one step at a time. Get undivided attention of a seasoned creative director to bring the vision for your app to life, improve your UI/UX and boost your revenue. I'll be your trusted consultant and will follow up with actual design work — as simple as that. Update: this service is currently discontinued. Try a custom UI audit for your SaaS product instead.
According to Forbes, ignoring the importance of design and style is one of the most short-sighted things smart people tend to do.
No one can see the marvels of engineering at work to power your app. On the inside, it’s a thing of beauty. It’s efficient, it’s powerful, it’s cleanly coded, and it’s maintainable.
But the way it looks is a different story.
You’ve tried hiring designers and nobody you’ve found can nail the right look and feel. Nothing you’ve tried captures the feeling you have when you think about the future of your app. Something is still missing.
What if your product looked as great as it works? How awesome would that be?
You would love to add that “power partner” to your team: a creative director. Someone who possesses the skills to execute your vision without slowing you down or running in the wrong direction. Someone who can guide your efforts. And most importantly, someone you can trust to bring your vision to life.
But creative direction is outrageously expensive. Having an in-house creative director is a dream for most small and medium-sized businesses. Hiring an agency costs even more. All the onboarding and management expenses can drain your resources.
That’s where Correlation comes in. We’ll improve your business together at your pace. You’ll never have to chase another designer or worry about going over budget.
No frustration. No hassle. Just a comfortable, ongoing relationship with a trusted design expert who will be there to build amazing results with you.
“Jane provides a monthly service that’s usually filled by a full time member of a company’s staff but at a fraction of the price. She sold me immediately on this. I’m a paying customer. Going to be HUGE for Planscope!”
— Brennan Dunn, Planscope
“Not only did Jane interpret our needs perfectly, but she was proactive about making additional design suggestions that enhanced the user experience. Jane delivered the unicorn of consulting: speedy turnarounds, amazing quality, and everything on budget.”
— Joanna Wiebe, Copy Hackers
“Jane is a consummate professional when it comes to all aspects of interface and experience design. It is such a relief to find a subject matter expert whom I can trust to give me the best possible advice and guidance when building even the most complex web applications.”
— Iain Dooley, Decal Marketing
You probably started your business with an entrepreneurial spirit and grand goals in mind. Instead, you find yourself trapped in a daily rut. Code bugs, support tickets and tons of paperwork eat up all your time. It’s impossible to tackle strategic improvements.
Yet you know how important it is to evolve before your competition overtakes you.
Sounds familiar? You need somebody to keep you accountable on a regular basis.
With this service, you commit yourself to a monthly evaluation of your goals, guided by an expert. We will pick apart the current state of things, analyze your progress and plan for the month ahead.
Tackle your goals, not your obstacles.
There’s no hand-holding with Jane. I give her a high-level objective of what I want to accomplish and some clues for the way I want my visitors to feel and she uses her considerable talents to take it from there.
I’m in business for long-term results. I will use Jane’s work for years and make many multiples of her cost during this time. She’s #1 on my list, every time.”
— Nick Hance, Reenhanced LLC
Like most design professionals, I don’t like the word “creative.” Design is a rock-solid craft that targets very specific problems. These problems require a solution that needs to be effective, before being creative or aesthetically pleasing.
But I can’t think of a better word to describe what I do, because “a creative director” is a well-understood conventional term.
I am a creative director with a UI/UX background. This means I can tackle any aspect of your business from a design point of view. But what I do best is directly related to your core business: software. I know how to make it work better and bring you money.
It’s not enough to have a “creative” vision of how to improve your business. What you need is solid, actionable advice.
Do you know why you’re scared to bring on a consultant to help your business?
Because they don’t get it. They don’t understand your challenges. Every consultant is overly optimistic and tells you dramatic changes will bring overnight results. But you know it takes time, testing and downright sweat to get things right — you’ve been doing it since day one.
Through years of experience I’ve learned that design overhauls can be impressive, but rarely perform well. You can switch to an entirely new UI overnight. But it’s tough to change habits and practices.
I’ve grown to respect products that already work and bring revenue.
We’ll work in friendly, efficient iterations. Such improvements are easier to handle and don’t send chills down the spine of your team.
Every month we’ll get together for a consulting session. It starts with a Skype consultation: we’ll review your activity during last month, follow up on previous goals, and set new targets for the upcoming period. Based on the output, I’ll provide you a written report packed with actionable advice.
I will also design accompanying visuals you can put to use right away. Visuals may include (but are certainly not limited to) web pages, interface ideas, branding concepts, whitepaper layouts, etc. I’ll deliver these to you on an “as-is” basis, and follow up by answering your questions.
General turnaround will be two or three days. But I intentionally avoid any precise numbers here. This is a value-based service, and you should worry more about setting and accomplishing the right goals.
However, I do impose the limit to the amount of design work included — it should approximately fit into one day. This should be plenty for most of our goals. If the task gets out of the limit — which I imagine might happen eventually — there are two ways out: postpone this task until the next month, or book an extra day of my work immediately (at my normal daily rate, depending on availability).
Not really. Of course, I’ll be glad to answer a few reasonable questions here and there. But the main idea is to concentrate on monthly consulting sessions, eliminating unnecessary routine along the way.
That’s what makes Correlation much more affordable than any other consulting engagement.
Good question! Within this service I act a consultant and a senior UI/UX designer, but not as a manager. I won’t personally teach anybody, or handle any routine communication. But I’ll be glad to help with some spot-on advice during our monthly sessions.
There are two situations possible:
— You already have a designer (or even a few), but you want to get your design to the next level. Then I’ll do critical parts of design work myself, and leave the rest of it to your team with accompanying instructions, and we follow up on the results in the next monthly session.
— You don’t have anybody design-related in your team. Then I’ll do almost all design work myself (at a slower pace though), and supply sufficient instructions and style-guides for you to handle similar routine situations by yourself. Of course, we will follow up on the results.
In any case (even in the second situation), I highly recommend you have a reliable lower-cost freelancer available at all times — to handle routine tasks and to satisfy emergency design needs as they arise.
Correlation is currently discontinued. As an alternative, try this custom UI audit for your SaaS product, or just sign up for the free email course below. Still have questions? Please get in touch at jane@uibreakfast.com. I’ll be glad to hear from you!
With this free email course you’ll conduct a simple do-it-yourself audit of your web app: eliminate the obvious design flaws, gain control of your features, and start building the UI that customers really want.
