"Living in harmony produces better work" — by AQuest ＜vol.1＞
For our commemorative first interview here at WORKS GOOD! MAGAZINE, we have the Italy-based digital agency, AQuest, who has been a regular on theCSSDA DOTY Leader Board in recent years. They constantly provide revolutionary output but what kind of work style do they employ? What do they stress in order to produce “good work”? We tossed 10 questions their way.
Question 1： At first, please tells us about your company.
AQuest is the digital agency located in Verona, Italy. We undertake the communication and the digital creativity tasks in Italy and in the international arena.
We consist of the art directors, the photographers, the video makers, the designers, the front-end + backend developers, the social media specialists, the 3D artists, the sound designers, the data scientists, the digital marketers and the project managers. Specialists from each field create the team structure for each branch.
The team includes more than 60 people (average age 28) who passionately in love with the design, the technology, the aesthetics and the innovation and we can define ourselves as the “digital wanderers”.
If you want to know more about the fundamental minds and bodies of AQuest, well there’s the great infographic about “our” 2016 link below.
Question 2：
On average, how many projects each person handle at one time?
Depends on each project’s nature and the role the person has. We could say 3 projects at one time on average, but it’s an uncertain data.
Our priority is carrying out every single project in the most detailed way. We believe that this is indispensable for producing better output.
Workflow
Question 3：
Over the course of a week, on average, how many overtime hours does a team member work?
We’d say very few, because with the designers, the the front-end + backend developers and so on, we try to foresee with accuracy the working hours needed to complete a task.
For scheduling as well, their “execution with attention to the finest details” that we reported earlier may be a primary factor.
Question 4：
Please tell us about the tools used in your office.
We use tools depending upon the situation. We use ‘Trello’ to plan our tasks, ‘Slack’ to gather and share the ideas and ‘Basecamp’ to handle and outline our projects. To be completely honest, we keep testing new tools that could support or improve our daily routine.
Question 5：
Please tell us what is the client’s needs to your team.
Our clients choose us because they’re looking for the innovation and the creativity. They want to improve their brand or communication and they expect us to plan a precise strategy, according to their needs and goals.
Question 6：
To provide a good working environment for your employees, does company working on anything?
Our agency cares very much about our employees. We begin sharing organic fresh fruit twice a week, to giving them the ‘AQ Welcome KIT’, including an agenda, a pencil, the brand manual and a chalk to express themselves :).
It is important to build the right work environment where the creativity could flourish and our team could feel free to create and experiment.
Question 7：
Does your company allow your employees to work from home or somewhere else?
Our employees work together at the agency, because we think it’s really important to be collaborative and present.
Question 8：
Do you give them a chance to study?
Our employees contaminate each other, just working side by side. We surely also give the opportunity to attend training events, in Italy and abroad, and to study, in order to always keep pace with the fast tech world.
Question 9：
How does your company keep staff motivated towards work?
We gave everyone a manual, which also works as pep talk :). Moreover, we organize an event called ‘APdate’ twice a month, where some of us can talk about interesting topics and spread new ideas with everyone. Sharing for us is the biggest motivation.
Question 10：
Finally, what as a company do you believe is the most important requirement for doing “good work?”
The most important thing is living in harmony, since we live side by side for a vast amount of time, and respect the others’ ideas/point of view. The relationship between coworkers is the key of everyone’s well being (and it affects our everyday work too).Being professional, but always curious towards what’s new. The innovation is what could make an agency like ours stand out.
Latest works of AQuest
＜Muller＞
AQuest’s SNS account
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*This article was published at the time of release in February 2017.
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