I am the founder, designer, developer, and marketer of a small bootstrapped startup called Gather.
All the design work below (and much more) was completed by myself.
Idea Validation & Early Product Exploration
Gather began with dozens of phone calls and email conversations with various Interior Designers. I was looking for problems they were experiencing. This lead to an initial rough product idea that would later become Gather.
Product Design
The app has undergone much revision and improvement as I've worked with customers, learning what features they need and where there were problems with the experience.
We continue to talk regularly to customers to ensure we are building a better product, brand and company every day.
Brand Development
Gather's brand has evolved the last couple of years. The product's name was initially Design Communicator, but as the product matured, Gather seemed a better fit.
The app "gathers" projects, products, team members and clients into one central digital space.
Website Design
After having a good sense of designers wanted in an app, I put together a quick-and-dirty landing page to try to pitch the idea and collect leads by pointing FB ads at it.
Later, it evolved into a full marketing site that helps potential customers understand our product, brand, and story...
The website, as it exists today, is in it's third iteration.
Gather Blog
DesignEXT is an online magazine that aims to provide content revelvent to Interior Designers.
I built a custom WordPress theme and even contribute to content myself.
Social Media
We actively contribute to our social media channels (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), and attempt to maintain a consistant image and voice across platforms.
Facebook Ads
It's taken some trial and error (and over 100 ad combinations), but our Facebook ad campaigns have taught us a lot about what customers want and what resonates with them. These days we are receiving a respectable ROI from our ads.
Code
About 90% of Gather's code was written by myself. It's built on a Rails/React.js/PostgreSQL/Heroku stack. The app integrates many 3rd party APIs, including Stripe for payments. The clipper tool is a Chrome Extension that communicates with the Rails backend.
