Terms
Wonder Jam Wonder Jam is "a family of brands that helps small, creative businesses to grow" according to the immortal words of Daft Punk, harder, better, more speedy and more powerful. One of those companies, Wonderly, builds websites, visual branding assets and software for membership to help customers "set their own mark". I talked to the managing associate Allie Lehman and developer Matt Hart to find out more.
Fine art and freelance work for the freedom of
"My roots are in the fine arts; I was raised doing an abundance of drawing as well as oil painting," begins Allie Lehman. "At high school I had a fantastic art instructor who, funny enough, suggested that I could be an illustrator, as well as a graphic designer'' though I didn't really know the difference between these two things! I chose graphic design , and went to college to study it."
Allie graduated during the recession in 2009, and then went into the support for webhosting. "It was a bit stressful but I learned lots about servers and how WordPress became installed, and every aspect of a website's design," she remembers. "In 2013 I started The Wonder Jam, now The Wonder Jam is our parent company. I quit my job as a designer and began working full-time for the company."
She had been collaborating with Matt Hart for a couple years by this point; Matt would write websites, and she would develop them. After that, they started working together frequently: "We've been working together since the past 10 years at first as freelancers. Their collaboration came about naturally. The focus is now on companies that offer services, and creating WordPress sites," Allie adds.
Matt begins: "I do primarily WordPress development. The process was taught by myself in the early 2010s. Many people who found themselves in the WordPress world the first thought was"we need to make CSS to make this theme use the correct colours', and it was very dull very quickly!" he smiles. As page builder tools like Beaver Builder and Elementor came into the picture, they were able to gain some versatility: "We could do things in a very custom way that really targeted the specific demands of our clients and really satisfied us creatively."
Since the beginning of their partnership, Allie and Matt have concentrated on "going custom in a way that's affordable", as Matt says: "We do only what our customers want, and not anything our clients wouldn't. That's something our clients really are concerned about. They aren't looking to make this appear like a mystery. They're looking to feel more confident. And using these tools lets us do that."
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Allie adds: "In 2013, I created The Wonder Jam with my husband, after freelancing for myself as a freelancer on my own. We were fortunate to have Matt as Developer Contractor. We wanted to work, we wanted to pursue things our way, and we desired that freedom." That's how the Wonder Jam was born.
Support, soil, and systems
"We reside in Columbus, Ohio and it's a really welcoming open neighborhood for small businesses," she continues. "Matt came to visit us the city from Seattle and we began working with local clients. we'd stroll down the streets downtown, and check out each of the businesses we've worked with." In 2020, after seven years of The Wonder Jam and as The Wonder Jam began expanding nationwide, they became the parent company, and now have three sister brands.
Wonderly is a service-oriented business that focuses on which include non-profits, authors chef's and fitness instructors. It also owns a brand called Basis, focusing on retailers and those selling items, and a third brand, Studio Wonder, an events space and photography studio within Columbus.
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These three brands allow the greatest amount of creative liberty: "It allows our team to be focused on what they really would like to accomplish and to have their own processes," Allie says. "Because Matt and I started collaboration from the very beginning and have over 10 years of experience that we have mastered. I have photos from 2017, of us drawing whiteboards on every step of our process, to ensure that our clients are really guided.
"The Wonder Jam operates as the 'soil' to provide everything a small-scale business needs to have going in the background, then each sister brand can'sprout according to its own style and gets to do whatever it can with opportunities that arise. It allows each of these pathways be clear and unhindered by things that hinder the running of a one- or two-person company," Matt continues. "We have a variety of businesses that can support each other."
The Basis brand offers primarily Shopify and e-commerce, but every once in a while clients want to start blogging and wants to create something stronger than the one Shopify offers. Thus, Wonderly will come in and help the Basis client on processes related to WordPress. "We have the ability to help and collaborate with each other and are a cohesive team, even though everyone gets to focus on a particular area that feels satisfying to them," he smiles.
"The Wonder Jam sits as an enabling foundation. No one is in charge of giving us advice on who to collaborate with or what amount of revenue to do - it's really dependent on the managing partner," adds Allie. They share resources like software and project management systems and a service for clients. The management partners are able to book a project; The team members then onboard the project and handle every aspect of back-end administrative tasks like invoicing and contracts.
"It helps people such as Matt as well as myself focus on the work," Allie smiles. "I believe we've built an environment that is great for working in; it comes back to making certain that our customers have excellent experience. If they send us an email, they feel like they're getting good response times and feel that they're being at ease throughout the procedure."
Matt agrees: "We say we don't design for you, we create with you. We're not going to go out for a while to create something for them. We get together often and let them see how the process works from start to end, rather than retreating to our own creative caves and making things all on our own!"
Contexts and clients
Matt and Allie collaborate with lots of organizations who need the site available in a variety of ways. "Some of our clients are nonprofits. These are very robust sites. They're almost too complicated, or have been in existence for quite a while. Therefore, we tend to consolidate or condensing them so that the website can be simpler," Matt explains.
"We're in contact with those who are looking for membership websites for their businesses, like people working from the food business," Allie continues. Wonderly's clients tend to be people who do human-service-oriented work: "They're fighting for equality, they're looking to talk to their audience a little differently. It's common for us to work with people who have poured lots of their own passion, money and time in their venture," she adds.
Wonder Jam Wonder Jam brands work with anyone, from large-scale non-profits to entrepreneurs with a single person who are transitioning to full-time employment from side jobs. "We've been trying to design solutions that meet each. We're learning about what scales well as well as what needs to think about in a different way, even when the size is different. That stuff's really fun to figure out!" Matt laughs.
He continues "With non-profit organizations, they typically have something established and they've been able to figure out all the legal hoops they had to cross. It's often the case that we can make this happen, as we're not trying to make a fresh start." The group will reframe the experience, to determine the context that could motivate someone to give, and then smooth the process.
At the beginning of the partnership and with each customer, regardless of their type of business and the scope of the site, The Wonder Jam team talks about the methodology of customer service. "A website could be an instrument that's good at getting a first purchase, but it could also become extremely effective at gaining regular customers or serving as useful. It is often asked if it a resource? Or could it help in fostering VIPs?' - which are the most valuable customers to small-scale businesses," Allie explains.
Matt and Allie both agree that websites should not try to cater for everybody and is crucial to plan it out. "Whenever you're working on an online membership website, the number one thing we're thinking about is getting people to come back and to use it all the time, and to feel that it's the most valuable experience they've ever experienced," Matt adds.
Case studies: Simi and Molly
Allie says: "One of our clients, Simi Botic, has an exercise community as well as a membership called Unmeasured that revolves around body movement, called the Barre Method. Simi Botic has such a caring view of "Just move instead of seeking to punish your body. There are many different choices based on your flexibility."
When Simi first joined Wonderly there was a small number of videos on the site and were changed every week. "It allows for things to appear more curated, and also allows her to pair what is feasible with her time schedule," Allie confirms. "After about two to three years, we grew the number of members, giving her the chance to give greater value to the people she serves this is awe-inspiring. We are thrilled that we're capable of changing our approach when clients' goals change; we're simply reassessing our design, making some tiny changes and implement them in the development."
Another customer, Molly Baz, wanted to transition from her existing platform to one that could be more brand-named and immersive. "Her brand's visual identity is dynamic and so specific to her. She wanted her audience to live' in that style They received recipes, updates, and all the kind of content that they were used to however in a manner that was on-brand and very specific to her character," Allie explains.
We all know that Molly's fan base has grown to be so significant for her. "To get the website in a way that is in line to her design aesthetic, and changing the site from "Oh, yeah that's an image of Molly and you can buy her cookbook' to something more substantial, both inside as well as outside the membership, brings an enormous amount of value" Allie muses.
"Something we've attempted to accomplish with each of our clients is consider what the future will look the experience for them if we're not talking to them every day. We try to ensure they've got the right systems in place in order to make use of our tool we've created for them - and Molly's was a great illustration of this," Matt agrees.
Future projects and more information
Matt and Allie are currently working with sites and companies that need "a massive lens of accessibility" for customers who are disabled. "We're cooperating with truly amazing groups who are working to have these sites as well as prototypes, which are approved by the groups of people."
They agree, in general, they've been very lucky with their clients "It's an amazing experience to continue to work with really good people. The clients we work with are extremely considerate and we feel really respected," Allie concludes. "We have the privilege of working with really interesting people with values that guide their work. It's satisfying being able to create products that they can enjoy," Matt smiles.
You can learn more about Allie Lehman and Matt Hart along with their team, as well as consider working with them, at thewonderjam.com and withwonderly.com.