I love that someone followed through and got it done. I bet a lot of people thought about it. I bet that there's even someone seeing this right now pissed off that they didn't finish first.
Great design. Where'd you get your little illustrations?
Usually it has to be a little bit more than that (but not much) and part of a contract. If you just start adding corporate logos to your site you'll end up talking to lawyers eventually - at least if you have any sort of traction.
On the other hand "Used by X" can mean anything from "X uses us as a core part of their workflows" and "A small team at X uses this sometimes". So don't give it much weight.
It (maybe) means someone with one of those email addresses signed up once, or might have used an asset on an internal blog or something. It can mean more but that’s typical for SaaS bragging.
It's common for companies to outsource work that's more of a one-off "project" with a discrete deliverable than a continuously developed "product", whether that work is coding, graphics, or anything else.
For example, even though Salesforce obviously has a lot of talented programmers on the payroll, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Dreamforce conference website is built by a separate firm.
Yes. When building an internal mock-up, it's often not the best use of FTE designer time, but internal work benefits from professional polish as well. Outsourcing solves this problem.
I confess that I look at the first illustration and see a woman frantically trying to dodge a variety of missiles being thrown at her; and she has evidently failed, because her head has blown up and a cloud of smoke is emanating forth in its place.
Great design. Where'd you get your little illustrations?