Truffl is an award-winning US creative agency and startup studio specializing in branding, strategy, and web design. Founded by Raphael Farasat, CEO and Creative Director, Truffl has a lengthy and impressive client list which includes Tesla, Spotify, French Connection, and Sonos amongst others.
Truffl needed a tool not only to help run their business but a tool that would complement the exceedingly high level of visual design produced by their team.
Truffl not only found that high-level aesthetic in Craft, but also a deeper functionality that now powers much of their day-to-day workflow. We spoke to Raphael to find out how Truffl uses Craft to build briefs, wow clients, and create Craft-envy.
Creating Beautiful, External Dashboards For Clients
At first I was just looking for a solution to create external dashboards. I wanted each client to have their own link, so we could share meeting notes, updates and plans, and which would serve as a hub for all our communications.
Raphael spent a long time looking at different options for document creation and note-taking, before going with Craft. At first, it was Craft's good looks that caught his attention. Truffl's exquisitely designed website gives you an idea of why aesthetics are so important to them.
Craft just creates beautiful documents. And I love how beautiful the experience of capturing notes and creating documents is.
Building Briefs, Taking Notes, and Day-To-Day Management
As he dug deeper, Raphael saw that the beauty of Craft was not just skin deep; underneath the hood is a powerful piece of software that enables the Truffl team to run much of the day-to-day business processes.
It became clear that there was much more Craft could help us with. We started using the Craft templates and began moving more and more of our documents and workflows over to Craft.
Now we use Craft not only for our client dashboards, but for personal task management, meeting notes, project management, briefs for designers and external partners, client feedback - all sorts of things.
Goodbye Google Docs
Raphael constantly switches between devices, so Craft's natively built apps that sync were another big draw:
I have an iPad Pro, an iPhone and a Mac, and Craft works well on all of them.
Craft has replaced Google Docs for us. Our whole team is on Craft; we collaborate there and it makes sense to have everything in one place. Craft is a prettier, easier Notion, or a much nicer Google Docs.
Craft for HR and Business
In addition to using Craft for their externally shared pitches, proposals, and updates, Truffl also use it to run almost all their internal processes.
We used Craft to set up an employee directory with each member of staff's picture and info, and for our onboarding docs, which are based on Craft templates. We also set up areas for our business processes and operation checklists. For example, how to handle new leads. How to handle a branding project. Craft has become a whole HR platform for us.
Creating Craft-Envy
Being a design agency - the Truffl team has implemented Craft in a very visually striking way (hello dark mode!). Meeting notes, client dashboards, proposals, to-do lists, and other documents are all immaculately organized and color-coded.
Truffl’s use of Craft created some major Craft-envy amongst the team. It’s one of the most stylish and sophisticated we have yet seen.
Want to create docs as stylish as Truffl's? See how Craft can help your agency build beautiful briefs, share pitches with pizazz, and win new clients. Check out the templates featured in this piece:
You can read more about Raphael Farasat’s backstory in our People of Craft collection, and learn how he dropped out of law school (with just six months left to go) to start Truffl: Fire Brand: How an LA Creative Found His Flow.
Looking for more inspiring ways to use Craft?
- Discover how an ex-Apple creative uses Craft to bring her ideas to life
- Learn how a freelance videographer used Craft to secure funding and plan his documentary short film
- Find out more about a health professional using Craft with the WHO, UNICEF, and governments around the world
