Venture Capitalist Firm UI Branding

Role

UI Designer

Service

Web Responsive

Redesign of a website with a focus on using more imagery, color, and interaction.

Overview

A client that works in the venture capitalist industry was looking to do a full redesign of their existing website. I was brought onto this project as the UI designer and the client was looking to have their new site be more friendly and approachable while also being modern and bold.

OBjectives

We completed a round of user interviews to better understand the journey of partnering with a VC firm, how interviewees evaluate their potential partners, and the role that a website plays in this process. Below were the key findings that we uncovered during the interviews.

01

Role of the website

  • Most (or all) of the research that founders and LPs do when looking for a VC firm to partner with happens outside of the firm’s website.
  • Both founders and LPs value performance data, good word of mouth and other founders’ direct recommendations over website research.
  • Choice of VC firms founders reach out to is heavily affected by their existing network connections or potential introductions.

02

Focus on partners

  • Both founders and LPs are focused on specific partners rather than a VC firm as a whole unit.
  • A VC partner is chosen based on the market sectors and growth stages of companies they’ve worked with before.
  • Most founders seek expertise of partners who have worked with similar companies in the past.
  • Founders were interested in partners’ background: location, schools, professional history, how/if they started their own company, who they invested in, and blog posts.

03

Content and POV

  • Both founders and LPs rely on the website content to understand a VC firm's approach and unique perspective on the space they invest in.
  • Founders want to understand what to expect when partnering with a specific investor: what the relationship would look like, their working style and actual level of involvement.
  • Founders want assurance that their partner would share their expertise and perspective while leaving the decision-making power to the founder.

04

Community aspect

  • Founders value the opportunity to tap into VC firm's network of investors and other founders.
  • Founders believe that being backed by an investor who has larger company names on their portfolio makes their company more trustworthy because they are seen as part of that community.
  • Founders trust other founders to provide insight into what it is like to partner with a certain VC firm and they are seeking these networking opportunities.

Design Recommendations

Based on the objectives and the research findings, we then came up with design recommendations for the client.

Design Rec 01

  • Display each person’s areas of focus - market sectors and growth states - at the surface level.
  • Build more elaborate partner bio pages.
  • Tell a more compelling story around each partner’s success stories.
  • Introduce more partner-centric navigation patterns.

Design Rec 02

  • Help founders understand what their partnership with you could look like.
  • Give them a glimpse into your point of view.
  • Use the home page to display the company thesis.

Design Rec 03

  • Make it easy to connect with partners and founders and/or follow them.
  • Use text and video testimonials from founders you previously worked with.
  • Introduce more partner-centric navigation patterns.

Competitive Analysis

Based on our design recommendations, we moved into doing a competitive analysis to align with the client on the overall direction they wanted to take the redesign. We showed them multiple examples focusing on different pages, but the one they resonated with the most was Sequoia, a venture capital company.

Design Principles

Once the client was aligned with our research findings and competitive analysis, we then moved into defining the overall designs principles which helped shape the redesign.

01

Help the user find the right information by introducing content labels

Highlight the best success stories through varying case study material. Also by demonstrating thought leadership through POV articles.

02

Optimize homepage layout and navigation for the user’s needs

Present selected featured content in a visual interesting way that can push the reader to pay closer attention and browse content rather than quickly scanning the page.

03

Ensure information is easily accessible and digestible

We want to make this experience seamless and intuitive for the user. Easily digestible chunks of content, rather than a long arduous scroll is important.

Rebranded UI

The client came with an existing styling guide but were looking to enhance it to give more of a friendly, approachable, and modern aesthetic. So this is the updated branding that we came up. We consolidated the type styles, updated the color scheme to include more pops of color, and established a consistent UI component system.

Revitalize the homepage

Landing on the homepage should give off a strong first impression while also giving basic information about what the client does.

  • Implemented the use of high quality imagery to make the site more editorial and approachable.
  • Include pops of color that catches the eye of customers and makes them want to click through the site.
  • Including a carousel of featured companies and founders that the client is supporting to build trust with potential customers.
  • Giving more weight to the blog content section and it’s featured articles to let customers know that the client is constantly in the know of what’s going on the world and what’s trending.

Who we are

The client wanted the About page to explain how they partner, their portfolio, showcase their focus areas, and high level philosophy.

  • Added a featured stats section that showcases how many years they’ve been in the business, their proven track record, and things that they’re recognized for.
  • Included their philosophy on early investing and created graphics that visualize the different stages.
  • Highlighting their focus areas and implemented a tab system that allows customers to click through and view different information.

The portfolio

Be able to quickly grasp the breadth of the client’s experience as a VC partner (industries and stages).

  • The client emphasized that they wanted to highlight the companies that they’re proud of the most (such as using their logos), but for the most part within the portfolio grid, they wanted all the companies to be treated more or less equally in terms of visual and interaction design.
  • Allow customers to further filter down the portfolio list to find the area of focus that matters most to them.
  • We had to do some creative problem solving when it came to displaying additional information when clicking on a company. We implemented a drawer system that expands open to reveal information that focuses on the client’s involvement with that company, what series round they invested in, and who led it.

Web Responsive

Through our interview we found that many of the client’s customers viewed the site on their mobile devices. Because of that we took a mobile first approach to ensure the UI worked well on desktop as well as mobile.

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