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Building a kickass, award-winning, no-BS website isn’t cheap or fast, but knowing the costs upfront can save you a lot of headaches. If it truly represents who you are, it can become one of your biggest assets.
Storytime: Here’s how Neo Vision spent nearly €49,000 on a redesign, why we did it, and what we learned along the way.
Neo Vision began in 2015, bootstrapped by two founders barely in their early twenties: myself, at 21, and Teo at 22. Back then, we had little more than a vision and a willingness to work ourselves ragged to deliver on every promise. We were young, hungry, and a bit naive, but we had that one guiding principle that would set our trajectory: “If we promise something, we deliver. No matter what.”
From the start, we never intended to become a massive, corporate entity with hundreds of employees. Instead, we envisioned a tightly knit team of around 50 max—experts in the field who could operate at a level that turns heads. To reach that peak, we knew our brand voice needed to be loud, clear, and undeniably no-bullshit—that is, honest, transparent, and never trying to sell something a client didn’t need.
First off, a redesign isn’t about your site looking pretty. It’s less “changing the wallpaper” and more “tearing everything done and building from scratch”. New visuals, new user experience, new tech.
Done right, a redesign can do wonders for your business. Better engagement, higher conversions, and a fighting chance in a competitive market. Plus, if your site plays nice with SEO (as it should), it’ll help customers find you faster than ever.
That’s how we set out at first. We wanted our website to work for your brand, not against it. To align it with who we are now and where we’re going next. Anything less was just wasted potential.
We first built our site in 2020 with the help of a design partner who pushed us in a more corporate, “safe” direction. And you know what? It worked decently well:
Clients actually praised that site right up until its final days. By most standards, it was perfectly fine. But it no longer matched who we were.
As our brand identity evolved, we realized that our site still looked like a “business casual” version of what we actually stood for:
In short, our website was stuck in 2020 while our culture and identity were barreling into the future. At some point, you can’t ignore that gap.
I can’t really remember the exact event or conversation that sparked it, but when we revisited why we survived the early days—and how different we are from the typical agency—we realized the website just wasn’t reflecting us anymore. It was simply time.
No-bullshit isn’t just a catchy slogan for us—it’s our entire ethic:
Yes, it can be too “in your face” for some clients, especially those used to agencies that promise the moon. But it’s exactly how we retained loyal partners and built a reputation for honesty.
When we realized how deeply this no-bullshit attitude was tied to our identity, it became clear we needed our online presence—particularly our website—to reflect that. We wanted the new design to:
Like I said, we didn’t want a fresh paint job. We wanted a head-turner of a website that could win awards and, frankly, become the conversation starter we knew it could be. With that in mind, we shot out about 30+ inquiries to award-winning design agencies. The responses varied wildly:
From the first meeting with Ilya (founder), Snizhana (creative director), and Maria (product director) at Cosmos Studio, we felt a genuine alignment:
It was a match from the first few meetings—the way we talked about the industry, positioning, and agency life challenges. It just clicked.
We knew from the jump that we wanted something edgy. Specifically:
We proposed the concept of the bullshit meter and a website that has 4 different versions. Ranging from no-bullshit to slightly bullshit, almost bullshit, and totally bullshit—each version teased a different level of ‘industry fluff.’
We wanted the site to reflect the wide range of experiences clients might have with agencies:
Cosmos Studio ran with the idea and refined it. Once the concept was locked in, they had free rein to innovate on the visual design, animations, and user interactions.
By the end of it, here’s how the €19,000 design budget was allocated:
Phase
Cost (€)
Timeline
Homepage
8,000
~4 months (overlapping)
Rest of the Pages
7,000
Overlaps with homepage
Extra Motion Animations & Change Requests
2,000
~1.5 months
Social Media Kit & Documents
2,000
Overlaps with the final phase
Total Design Cost
19,000
~5.5 months
5.5 months might sound long, but:
Was it worth it? Absolutely. The site became an experience in itself. An experience that reflected our own in the industry.
Initially, we received a €20K quote from an agency we trusted for development. However:
Hindsight: We underestimated the complexity of the motion designs, page flips, and the interactive bullshit meter.
The internal team had challenges implementing all of that motion and transitions—it was the largest scale of animation we’d done on a site.
End Result: We spent €26,000 on development—30% more than our original external quote. Even more importantly, we lost precious time and had to juggle internal resources that could have been focused on billable client projects.
We started out saying: “Alright, €30K should do it.” That was our best guess. We knew we wanted something special, but we hadn’t factored in:
Here’s the final breakdown:
Phase
Cost (€)
Timeline
UI & UX Design
19,000
~5.5 months
Development
26,000
~7 months
Copywriting & Assets
4,000
~2 months (parallel)
Total
49,000
~1 year (from idea to launch)
While we overshot the original plan by a significant margin, we don’t regret it. Why? Because the final product truly represented us—bold, unapologetic, and downright award-worthy.
While development was a rollercoaster, copywriting felt like a leisurely Sunday drive. Our team split duties:
We mostly did this in parallel with development, so it didn’t add extra time.
When we launched our original site, we were still figuring out who we were as a company.
Over the years, our culture matured:
In our copy, we made it absolutely clear that:
Clients often joke that our contracts are more favorable to them than to us, but we’re okay with that. It’s part of the brand promise: “We deliver, or we get penalized.”
One of the main reasons we wanted a redesign was to compete at a global level. We didn’t just want a site that looked good; we wanted it to win awards.
We submitted our site to multiple award platforms and almost within the first two weeks, we got some recognition:
Awards are awesome, but numbers matter most. So, did our website redesign projects deliver real-world gains?
Looking at the whole picture, one of the biggest perks is that the site does the heavy lifting in qualifying leads:
In the end, the website is a conversation starter and positions us properly from the get-go. You either vibe with our approach, or you walk away—and that’s perfect for us.
When you take a strong stance, not everyone will be on board. We did get some outside opinions claiming our approach might alienate more corporate clients. They suggested we tone it down to cater to a broader audience.
The thing is, if it’s not for you, you’re not for us. We talk like this in meetings, so if our “voice” scares you off, better to figure that out now than halfway through a project.
The beauty (and curse) of a living, breathing website is that it’s never really done. Here are some expansions on the horizon:
We learned our lesson about biting off more than we can chew in one go. So we’ll probably integrate these additions gradually, testing new features and design tweaks to ensure they don’t bog down the user experience.
Not every company needs or wants a website that aims for awards. But every brand could use website redesign services that genuinely reflect who they are. Here are our big-picture tips:
When we look at the nearly €50K price tag and the year-long timeline from concept to launch, it’s tempting to wonder if we bit off more than we could chew. But once the site went live—complete with a bullshit meter, a page flip animation, multiple award wins, and a** 700% traffic spike**—the answer was clear.
It was absolutely worth it.
Yes, we could have stayed with our old website and continued to generate decent leads. Yes, we could have re-skinned the old design for half the price and time. But would it have positioned us as an industry leader, fueled our brand story, and attracted the calibre of clients we’re closing deals with now?
Probably not.
I wouldn’t recommend an award-winning website for everyone. There’s a specific brand, idea, and goal you need to have in mind. But for us, it’s been a thrilling and worthwhile journey that also helped us grow as a team.
So if you’re on the fence about a redesign, remember: Your website is your storefront, your handshake, and your promise. If it doesn’t reflect who you are, it might be costing you more in the long run than you realize.
Cut the BS, invest in what’s real, and if you do it right, the payoff can be massive. If you want a site that not only makes you proud but also resonates with the right audience, maybe it’s time to start asking the tough questions—and find a partner who will push you to answer them honestly.
If this story resonates with you, if we resonate with you, if you’re done with safe and predictable, and if you’re ready for a website that might just change your brand (win awards, drive real revenue, and make a statement), we’d love to chat. Let’s see if our no-bullshit approach is the missing ingredient in your next digital project.
Related: how much does a website cost, real-world development budgets from 2021, website best practices.
Ready to talk? Book a call with Neo Vision.
Neo
Chief Cat Officer
Neo is our office’s MVP (Most Valuable Purr). Equal parts dog and cat, he’s always ready for a snack, a cuddle, or some chaos.
Cost
Real development budgets from 2021: Forbes Romania (20,720 EUR), an organic e-commerce (12,500 EUR), and a packaging brand (22,700 EUR). What these numbers mean for your project.
Digital Rant
A satirical guide to wasting money on software projects. Skip the specs, ignore your PM, set impossible deadlines. Or read it and do the opposite.
Q&A
Why nobody can give you an exact price upfront, and how to get the most accurate estimate from any agency. Aim for ranges, not exact numbers.
Building a kickass, award-winning, no-BS website isn’t cheap or fast, but knowing the costs upfront can save you a lot of headaches. If it truly represents who you are, it can become one of your biggest assets.
Storytime: Here’s how Neo Vision spent nearly €49,000 on a redesign, why we did it, and what we learned along the way.
Neo Vision began in 2015, bootstrapped by two founders barely in their early twenties: myself, at 21, and Teo at 22. Back then, we had little more than a vision and a willingness to work ourselves ragged to deliver on every promise. We were young, hungry, and a bit naive, but we had that one guiding principle that would set our trajectory: “If we promise something, we deliver. No matter what.”
From the start, we never intended to become a massive, corporate entity with hundreds of employees. Instead, we envisioned a tightly knit team of around 50 max—experts in the field who could operate at a level that turns heads. To reach that peak, we knew our brand voice needed to be loud, clear, and undeniably no-bullshit—that is, honest, transparent, and never trying to sell something a client didn’t need.
First off, a redesign isn’t about your site looking pretty. It’s less “changing the wallpaper” and more “tearing everything done and building from scratch”. New visuals, new user experience, new tech.
Done right, a redesign can do wonders for your business. Better engagement, higher conversions, and a fighting chance in a competitive market. Plus, if your site plays nice with SEO (as it should), it’ll help customers find you faster than ever.
That’s how we set out at first. We wanted our website to work for your brand, not against it. To align it with who we are now and where we’re going next. Anything less was just wasted potential.
We first built our site in 2020 with the help of a design partner who pushed us in a more corporate, “safe” direction. And you know what? It worked decently well:
Clients actually praised that site right up until its final days. By most standards, it was perfectly fine. But it no longer matched who we were.
As our brand identity evolved, we realized that our site still looked like a “business casual” version of what we actually stood for:
In short, our website was stuck in 2020 while our culture and identity were barreling into the future. At some point, you can’t ignore that gap.
I can’t really remember the exact event or conversation that sparked it, but when we revisited why we survived the early days—and how different we are from the typical agency—we realized the website just wasn’t reflecting us anymore. It was simply time.
No-bullshit isn’t just a catchy slogan for us—it’s our entire ethic:
Yes, it can be too “in your face” for some clients, especially those used to agencies that promise the moon. But it’s exactly how we retained loyal partners and built a reputation for honesty.
When we realized how deeply this no-bullshit attitude was tied to our identity, it became clear we needed our online presence—particularly our website—to reflect that. We wanted the new design to:
Like I said, we didn’t want a fresh paint job. We wanted a head-turner of a website that could win awards and, frankly, become the conversation starter we knew it could be. With that in mind, we shot out about 30+ inquiries to award-winning design agencies. The responses varied wildly:
From the first meeting with Ilya (founder), Snizhana (creative director), and Maria (product director) at Cosmos Studio, we felt a genuine alignment:
It was a match from the first few meetings—the way we talked about the industry, positioning, and agency life challenges. It just clicked.
We knew from the jump that we wanted something edgy. Specifically:
We proposed the concept of the bullshit meter and a website that has 4 different versions. Ranging from no-bullshit to slightly bullshit, almost bullshit, and totally bullshit—each version teased a different level of ‘industry fluff.’
We wanted the site to reflect the wide range of experiences clients might have with agencies:
Cosmos Studio ran with the idea and refined it. Once the concept was locked in, they had free rein to innovate on the visual design, animations, and user interactions.
By the end of it, here’s how the €19,000 design budget was allocated:
Phase
Cost (€)
Timeline
Homepage
8,000
~4 months (overlapping)
Rest of the Pages
7,000
Overlaps with homepage
Extra Motion Animations & Change Requests
2,000
~1.5 months
Social Media Kit & Documents
2,000
Overlaps with the final phase
Total Design Cost
19,000
~5.5 months
5.5 months might sound long, but:
Was it worth it? Absolutely. The site became an experience in itself. An experience that reflected our own in the industry.
Initially, we received a €20K quote from an agency we trusted for development. However:
Hindsight: We underestimated the complexity of the motion designs, page flips, and the interactive bullshit meter.
The internal team had challenges implementing all of that motion and transitions—it was the largest scale of animation we’d done on a site.
End Result: We spent €26,000 on development—30% more than our original external quote. Even more importantly, we lost precious time and had to juggle internal resources that could have been focused on billable client projects.
We started out saying: “Alright, €30K should do it.” That was our best guess. We knew we wanted something special, but we hadn’t factored in:
Here’s the final breakdown:
Phase
Cost (€)
Timeline
UI & UX Design
19,000
~5.5 months
Development
26,000
~7 months
Copywriting & Assets
4,000
~2 months (parallel)
Total
49,000
~1 year (from idea to launch)
While we overshot the original plan by a significant margin, we don’t regret it. Why? Because the final product truly represented us—bold, unapologetic, and downright award-worthy.
While development was a rollercoaster, copywriting felt like a leisurely Sunday drive. Our team split duties:
We mostly did this in parallel with development, so it didn’t add extra time.
When we launched our original site, we were still figuring out who we were as a company.
Over the years, our culture matured:
In our copy, we made it absolutely clear that:
Clients often joke that our contracts are more favorable to them than to us, but we’re okay with that. It’s part of the brand promise: “We deliver, or we get penalized.”
One of the main reasons we wanted a redesign was to compete at a global level. We didn’t just want a site that looked good; we wanted it to win awards.
We submitted our site to multiple award platforms and almost within the first two weeks, we got some recognition:
Awards are awesome, but numbers matter most. So, did our website redesign projects deliver real-world gains?
Looking at the whole picture, one of the biggest perks is that the site does the heavy lifting in qualifying leads:
In the end, the website is a conversation starter and positions us properly from the get-go. You either vibe with our approach, or you walk away—and that’s perfect for us.
When you take a strong stance, not everyone will be on board. We did get some outside opinions claiming our approach might alienate more corporate clients. They suggested we tone it down to cater to a broader audience.
The thing is, if it’s not for you, you’re not for us. We talk like this in meetings, so if our “voice” scares you off, better to figure that out now than halfway through a project.
The beauty (and curse) of a living, breathing website is that it’s never really done. Here are some expansions on the horizon:
We learned our lesson about biting off more than we can chew in one go. So we’ll probably integrate these additions gradually, testing new features and design tweaks to ensure they don’t bog down the user experience.
Not every company needs or wants a website that aims for awards. But every brand could use website redesign services that genuinely reflect who they are. Here are our big-picture tips:
When we look at the nearly €50K price tag and the year-long timeline from concept to launch, it’s tempting to wonder if we bit off more than we could chew. But once the site went live—complete with a bullshit meter, a page flip animation, multiple award wins, and a** 700% traffic spike**—the answer was clear.
It was absolutely worth it.
Yes, we could have stayed with our old website and continued to generate decent leads. Yes, we could have re-skinned the old design for half the price and time. But would it have positioned us as an industry leader, fueled our brand story, and attracted the calibre of clients we’re closing deals with now?
Probably not.
I wouldn’t recommend an award-winning website for everyone. There’s a specific brand, idea, and goal you need to have in mind. But for us, it’s been a thrilling and worthwhile journey that also helped us grow as a team.
So if you’re on the fence about a redesign, remember: Your website is your storefront, your handshake, and your promise. If it doesn’t reflect who you are, it might be costing you more in the long run than you realize.
Cut the BS, invest in what’s real, and if you do it right, the payoff can be massive. If you want a site that not only makes you proud but also resonates with the right audience, maybe it’s time to start asking the tough questions—and find a partner who will push you to answer them honestly.
If this story resonates with you, if we resonate with you, if you’re done with safe and predictable, and if you’re ready for a website that might just change your brand (win awards, drive real revenue, and make a statement), we’d love to chat. Let’s see if our no-bullshit approach is the missing ingredient in your next digital project.
Related: how much does a website cost, real-world development budgets from 2021, website best practices.
Ready to talk? Book a call with Neo Vision.
Neo
Chief Cat Officer
Neo is our office’s MVP (Most Valuable Purr). Equal parts dog and cat, he’s always ready for a snack, a cuddle, or some chaos.
Cost
Real development budgets from 2021: Forbes Romania (20,720 EUR), an organic e-commerce (12,500 EUR), and a packaging brand (22,700 EUR). What these numbers mean for your project.
Digital Rant
A satirical guide to wasting money on software projects. Skip the specs, ignore your PM, set impossible deadlines. Or read it and do the opposite.
Q&A
Why nobody can give you an exact price upfront, and how to get the most accurate estimate from any agency. Aim for ranges, not exact numbers.
