ThompsonStenning

I’m the chief of staff at Population Services International. We’re an international global health nonprofit providing essential health services and products to consumers.

There was a desire by our board to have more professionalized, more enhanced, and better quality products for their three-times annual board of directors meeting. Primarily, we focused on the board briefing book for each of the meetings as well as other materials throughout the year.

ThompsonStenning helps us with all things board book production-related. The books can range anywhere from 100–250 pages of materials. They’re a mix of documents, pictures, charts, and other types of media.

I work directly with the two co-founders and the principal of ThompsonStenning.

I had a previous relationship with ThompsonStenning from another organization, so I was familiar with their work. Because I’d had such a good experience and observed that they were such responsive professionals who created a great product, I reached out to them to respond to our RFP.

On any one given project, the cost would be between $1,000–$1,500 CAD (approximately $790–$1,200 USD). Over the course of our work, I’d say we’ve spent $10,000–$20,000 CAD (approximately $7,900–$15,800 USD).

We’ve been working together at least three times a year, if not more, since April 2019.

We measure ThompsonStenning’s success in a number of ways. One is how satisfied our CEO is with the work product, as well as how satisfied the board of directors are. We get continual, positive feedback about the quality of materials they produce for us, both on the senior staff and board of directors level.

The team is always available and super responsive. They work quickly and respond and adjust to any requests I have, no matter how big or small.

With so many big design firms, you have to wait for days, if not weeks, to even see a first draft of a project. With ThompsonStenning, the turnaround is extremely quick, which is something I’ve really come to rely upon and appreciate.

The only area that comes to mind is that sometimes there can be small details of a project that are overlooked. I think that’s just general human error, and they do an overall great job and I value the speed with which they work.

Definitely strongly consider working with ThompsonStenning. They’re a great, responsive, kind, energetic, and talented team. They know the mission-driven social organization space well. For anyone that wants great quality, great value, and great working relationships, along with having a design firm that actually cares about what your organization cares about, you can’t go wrong with ThompsonStenning.

I’m the public affairs director at the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. We’re a statewide membership organization comprised of domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and other allied professionals. Although we don’t provide direct services to survivors of domestic or sexual violence, we do work on public policy initiatives and help provide education and resources to the service providers at our member agencies.

We wanted to redesign our website to make it more accessible and inclusive. We wanted not only the website but also our social media platforms to be ADA compliant. That’s why we wanted to work on our brand guidelines because we wanted to incorporate that compliance throughout all of our communication channels.

ThompsonStenning initially familiarized themselves with our current website, communication channels, and publications. Once they grasped our brand message, we started talking about what ADA compliance would look like on our website. They needed to make a clear path to our online resources, which includes our research publications and directory of service providers. Their team’s still building the website completely from scratch.

I primarily work with two people from ThompsonStenning.

ThompsonStenning responded to our RFP. What stood out about their proposal compared to the others was their organization’s mission. They closely worked with other nonprofits and municipal governments to develop brands that would help them stand out and tell their stories. Their team came up with innovative and striking designs for other nonprofits.

We accepted their proposal that came in at just over $16,000, and we’re still on budget with that.

We released our RFP in June 2020 and officially began working with ThompsonStenning in the fall of 2020. We’re still working with them and planning to launch the new website in spring 2020.

Working with Sarah (Co-Founder) on our branding guidelines was a successful and productive process. She learned more about our organization and then gave us realistic options. It was a collaborative process, so she didn’t force any branding on us. Rather, she provided us with options after getting to know us better.

We primarily communicate via email and Zoom. To share materials, we use a Dropbox file. Our communication has been absolutely fantastic. They’re quick to provide us with updates as soon as any happen. I told them that I tend to let my inbox pile up, and their team diplomatically follows up when I don't reply to them. This ensures I review updates and request a time to chat.

What’s most impressive about ThompsonStenning is their honesty. In the beginning, I asked direct questions about what changes their team would make to our website. I asked for critiques and appreciated their honest answers. Their team didn’t placate or give us compliments to secure the contract.

No, nothing comes to mind.

Be aware of the time change because ThompsonStenning is a Canadian company based in Vancouver. We also have to pay close attention to our funding sources for this contract because we’re working with an international contractor. For other nonprofits or government entities based in the US, pay attention to that.

I’m a communications and events manager at the Aurora Cultural Center. We’re a nonprofit charitable organization delivering cultural services to the town of Aurora, Ontario.

We initially needed to outsource design services. Our organization has multiple community focuses, including performing arts, education, and galleries. We needed some expertise to bind that vision through design.

ThompsonStenning started out by providing a lot of print collateral, including posters, brochures, and ads that went into our town guide and local media. That collateral helped to promote all of our gallery shows, performing arts exhibitions, and classes. They also redesigned how we communicate with our community about all of our seasonal offerings.

We worked with the two principals.

We did a national RFP. A lot of locally based designers responded to our RFP, but ThompsonStenning’s response took us by surprise because they’re halfway across the country. I hadn’t considered working so remotely, but the fact that they wanted to start by understanding our organizational culture and goals meant that they were a listening organization.

I sent out the RFP in February 2019, and we awarded it to ThompsonStenning that May. We’re in the midst of a three-year contract.

Our team’s response to the cohesiveness of the brand, particularly as it now pertains to the digital realm, has been positive. We really noticed the fruits of ThompsonStenning’s labor after about a year. There is such cohesion across everything that represents our organization.

Their project management skills are excellent. Since we’re a very small organization, we have a lot of direct email contact with them — we don’t need to use Slack or anything like that. For file sharing, they use Dropbox.

Their fresh design work stands out. We did the best we could with our design in-house, but outsourcing our design to ThompsonStenning has really leveled up our organization and how our brand is presented to the outside world. They helped us look a lot more professional and polished. They’re also really good communicators. The team is prompt and unfailingly upbeat.

For my purposes, I can’t think of anything.

Trust the process. They really do take a partnership approach to how they’re going to work with you.

I'm Director of Community Engagement at a not-for-profit Foundation based in Santiago, Chile, that works to build sustainable, child-friendly cities.

We desperately needed a logo and brand package re-do.

Develop a new logo and visual brand that represents the Foundation.

I came across Sarah after posting in a Facebook group for Vancouver-based communications and design professionals.

Following our initial "get to know the Foundation" meeting, we went through a series of design rounds. First, Sarah offered options for text identities. We selected and moved on to black and white logos. We had a number of rounds of back-and-forth, tailoring it to our tastes. Once settled, we were able to jump into colour palettes.

Sarah was our point-person for the full project. On our end, she conducted the initial meeting with me and other Directors. For subsequent activities, Sarah and I met.

Sarah was able to generate a brand package for us within about 2.5 months, taking into account delays from our end.

Highly effective. Sarah was always communicative, proactive (advising ahead of time of vacation, etc.), and did a wonderful job managing our team by breaking down the steps of the process into manageable chunks.

The process; we had previous experience with another designer trying to develop a logo, and we ended up running in circles because too many variables were placed before us at once. They handled this beautifully, setting clear expectations from the start and helped us collaborate in a useful manner.

Nope.

I’m the executive director of Kitsilano Neighbourhood House. We’re a central hub for the neighborhood that provides child care, senior, and family services. People also come and share ideas for local advocacy initiatives.

We had a logo for probably 10–15 years. The colors were old, and it was hard to create posters and designs. For a while, we thought about recoloring our logo.

ThompsonStenning gave us a couple of options for a new logo. We chose our preference and then worked through the design process with them. Their team came back with our preferred design and then we looked at colors. Again, they gave us options.

Essentially, we worked with Sarah (Co-Founder).

We found them through a referral. One of my former colleagues looked at their website and saw that ThompsonStenning takes on a pro bono project every year. We had a chat with them, and their team offered to create a new logo for us.

Their team provided this work pro bono.

We started working with ThompsonStenning in May 2020, and they wrapped up the project in June. I took the designs to the board for them to make some hard decisions, which caused the biggest delay.

Some people didn’t want to move away from our existing logo. Other people preferred the first or second design and then some people didn’t like the first set of colors. ThompsonStenning listened to our concerns throughout the process and produced a final product that excited us. Their team was able to get a sense of what we wanted to achieve through the feedback process.

All of our communication occurred online, primarily through e-mail. We had our initial meeting via video chat. If we wanted, we could follow up with online chats as needed. We were able to talk about our needs with them.

They didn’t expect us to stick with their exact design, so there wasn’t a sense of ownership. Their team was open about the designs throughout the process. When we asked for additional color options, their team didn’t have problems providing them. ThompsonStenning clearly listened to what we needed and made it happen. They also gave pointers when I went to the board and community for feedback.

No, I was happy throughout the project.

Give them as much material as possible. Be open with them about what you want to achieve. If you’re not sure about what you want, tell them your goal because their team can help you draw out a vision.