InvestorMatch.ai

Contract Work / UX Design / Website Re-Design / Prototype

Website Re-Design for AI Matching between Startups and Investors

Team Member: Meghen Pearson, Wang Chen

My Role

Team Coordinator, UX Research, User Interaction Design, Prototyping

InvestorMatch.ai is a company that employs AI to efficiently match funders, founders, and vendors with the best opportunities that align with their specific criteria. This leads to qualified matches, saves time, and reduces resources leading to improved funding opportunities.

Design Methods

Ideation, Sketching, User Journey, Workflows, Wireframing, Prototyping, Visual Design

Research Methods

Secondary Research, User Research, Competitive Analysis, Usability Testing

PROBLEM

InvestorMatch.ai would like to re-design its current website with a prototype that truly communicates the mission: matching funders, founders, and vendors.

Currently, our client's value proposition isn't standing out compared to competitors. They want the site to be user-friendly, cater to user needs, provide all necessary info, and increase sign-ups for their portal.

Context

01. CLIENT NEEDS

Understand the business model of InvestorMatch.ai, the design work, and feedback that already exists and identify gaps to be filled in the next stage.
Communicate a sense of trust and technology through website design.
Understand which features are most important to the three user types and identify opportunities for a streamlined experience.
Design improved flows for the distinct user types to bring designs to a higher level of fidelity and increase sign up rate.

02. BRIEF

InvestorMatch.ai leverages artificial intelligence to effectively pair funders, founders, and vendors with optimal opportunities that align precisely with their specific criteria. This results in well-qualified matches, time savings, and resource reduction, ultimately enhancing funding opportunities.

The existing website requires a redesign to highlight the company's brand personality, instill a sense of trustworthiness, and enhance efficiency for users in locating information.

03. TARGET

USER RESEARCH

InvestorMatch.ai has unique user groups: startups, investors, and vendors who provide services to startups. Thus, it's critical to understand the unique user needs of these three groups through user interviews and competitive research.

DEFINING BRAND

InvestorMatch.ai mentioned that its main values and mission aren't clear on the current website. To set itself apart and look more professional, I suggested that InvestorMatch.ai should define its brand personality.

EMOTIONAL DESIGN

For this website redesign to communicate trust, professionalism, and approachability while enabling users to easily locate their respective pages and necessary information, it should adopt emotional design guidelines.

The site ensures clear and visible call-to-action buttons across all pages.

FULL INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE

Explore the full interactive prototype before jumping into the research and design process

04. SOLUTION

Main Changes

▼Website before re-design

BRAND PERSONALITY

InvestorMatch.ai’s previous website does not convey the brand and value.

First, based on InvestorMatch’s company pitches and marketing presentations, I concluded and confirmed the company’s brand personality with the client:

Core Value: Precision, trustworthiness, efficiency, and approachability;

This brand personality will lead the visual design and content layouts throughout the re-design process.

EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT

The previous website aimed to encourage sign-ups but lacked adequate disclosure and social proof, impacting trust between the company and users. These issues were addressed and improved upon during the redesign.

▼Website before re-design

THREE USER GROUPS

Before, the InvestorMatch.ai website didn't distinguish or offer ample information for its three user types, causing navigation difficulties for visitors.

Now, after conducting user research and interviews, the needs of founders, funders, and vendors—our main user groups—are identified.

The redesign has resulted in three distinct pages tailored to each group, showcasing information aligned with their needs and reflecting the brand's personality.

▼Website before re-design

Research

05. SECONDARY/COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

Secondary research has been conducted to identify the prevailing problem in the existing website and understand the unique needs of three different user groups.

Precise matches:

Founders and funders value precise matches. They want to see high-granularity matches that fit their precise needs and domains.

Quality, not quantity:

Founders and funders value high-quality candidates rather than getting numerous matches. High-quality matches between startups and investors increase business efficiency.

Transparency of information:

All users want to see detailed information about the business model, payment package, and matching platform overview, and get most of their questions answered. High transparency of information contributes to building trust.

Competitive research has been conducted to analyze competitor sites and clarify what contents are usually provided for startups and investment matching services.

06. GOALS

07. BRAND STUDY

Brand Exercise:

Research the competitor brand, conduct brand exercises with the client, and identify brand personality for InvestorMatch.ai.

A well-defined brand personality would lead the brand voice, content displayed, and visual presentation of InvestorMatch.ai’s website.

Trustworthy

Building a sense of trustworthiness throughout the website by showing high-quality design, connecting to external sources, providing upfront disclosure, and offering comprehensive content.

Emotional Engagement

Use a color palette that provides positive emotional engagement to show a friendly presence to users.

Employ emotional design methods to increase trust and sign-up rates.

After determining the importance of identifying the brand, I conducted the brand study and communicated with stakeholders to confirm InvestorMatch.ai’s value and mission.

Mission Statement:

“Be the platform to precisely match funders and founders meeting their strict criteria decreasing time, cost, and frustration for all stakeholders.”

Brand Voice:

Professional: we speak in a professional manner, knowing what we are doing
Human: we avoid using too much technical and business jargon
Helpful: We are the friend who makes you feel comfortable talking to and asking questions.

Brand Personality:

Precise
Trustworthy
Efficient
Approachable

08. USER PERSONAS

John, the Founder:

A founder of the startup in the lifestyle sector: LifestyleUs, who wants to find funders who share the same passion and avoid wasting time in unsuccessful matches.

James, the Funder:

A dedicated investor who supports founders in technology and innovation, not willing to waste time on sorting out matches and looking for founders that align with his values and goals.

Sarah, the Vendor:

Providing tailored HR solutions for startups, she wants to expand her network and impact and get matched with the right ones.

Experience

09. ARCHITECTURE

At this point, it’s time to arrange my thousand thoughts and narrow them down to a few features that should be focused on, aligning with user needs and my project goals.

This site map shows the potential contents for each page that serve the user needs found from research and user interviews.

SKETCHING & IDEATION

Throughout the initial ideation process, I sketched my layout ideas, mind maps, and various design options.

11. SKETCH

Sketching gives me a quick overview of how the typical home page and founder page will lay out.

12. WIREFRAME

Creating detailed wireframes simplified the navigation and layout, making it easy and straightforward.

The website is divided into simple sections: a homepage leading to three user group pages, an "about us" page, and a resources page.

All call-to-action buttons direct users to the matching platform's sign-up page.

Interface

13. MOODBOARD

The overall mood of the website should convey the feeling of being approachable, professional, and trustworthy. This atmosphere should provide users with a sense of ease while navigating through the site so that they can easily find the information needed.

Our team presented three mood boards, each featuring colors predominantly ranging from green to blue, aiming to evoke a sense of calmness and professionalism.

14. STYLE GUIDE

After our client chose the green scheme, our team translated the mood board's ambiance into the style guide. We established a color palette centered around emerald green as the primary color and a gradient transitioning from emerald to sapphire.

The fundamental UI style and chosen font aim to evoke simplicity and precision. Additionally, incorporating basic geometric components accentuates the technological aspect of InvestorMatch.ai.

Prototype

15. PROTOTYPE

Based on the mood board, the style guide, and the brand personality of InvestorMatch.ai, the high-fidelity prototype was designed in Figma.

FULL CLICKABLE PROTOTYPE

Clickable Prototype

◀ Check Main Page

Solving the problems

BRAND PERSONALITY

To strengthen the brand's personality on the site, focus on key traits: precision, trustworthiness, efficiency, and approachability.

This approach helps InvestorMatch.ai convey trust and fosters emotional engagement among users.

This brand personality has determined the content displayed, color scheme, and overall tone for the new website.

TRUSTWORTHY

Our usability testing highlighted the users' desire for more comprehensive information about the matching platform, subscription plans, and company mechanism.

Each user group page now includes a detailed information panel showcasing previews, diagrams explaining the onboarding process, comprehensive payment details, and a corresponding FAQ section addressing potential concerns.

Displaying connections to the outside world serves as a demonstration of social approval. To achieve this, we've added sections featuring partner companies and testimonials while also leaving space for future rewards and mentions.

Additionally, upfront disclosure enhances brand trustworthiness. We've detailed the matching mechanism, included information about the company team members, and provided additional resources.

Clickable Prototype

▼ Check “About Us” & “Resources” Page

▼ Check “Founder”, “Funder” & “Vendor” Page

Clickable Prototype

EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT

Considering that InvestorMatch.ai's website aims to encourage sign-ups for the matching portal, we implemented various emotional design strategies.

Ensuring a consistent brand image, utilizing a color scheme that fosters positive emotional connections, and projecting a welcoming and amiable presence to users.

Reflection

16. REFLECTING ON THE GOALS

17. NEXT STEP

InvestorMatch.ai offers a tailored and high-granularity matching system powered by AI technology to create efficient matches between startups and investors. The whole website redesign confirms and builds the brand personality, showcases the trustworthiness of the company, and utilizes emotional engagement design in the web pages.

EMPHASIZE BRAND PERSONALITY

The main page covers a synthesized summary of the company’s mission, service, and social connections.
Individual founder, funder, and vendor pages include service descriptions, platform previews, and FAQ sessions to build brand trust and transparency.
The "About Us" page delves deeper into the company's values and introduces team members, fostering a stronger sense of approachability.
The "resource" page contains an extensive FAQ, company blogs, and an ebook, aiding users in acquiring knowledge about their roles and fostering a sense of support.

EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT

Besides building trust and enhancing the InvestorMatch.ai brand, the current website also utilizes the colors emerald and sapphire to create a professional and friendly atmosphere.
Also, repeating CTA buttons on the website header, footer, and the beginning and end of each page provides easy access to the company’s matching platform.

USABILITY TESTING

Given additional time on this project, I aim to conduct more comprehensive usability tests specifically tailored to engage both funders and founders. As InvestorMatch.ai caters to distinct three user groups, involving a minimum of four users from each category will help capture specific user needs and concerns, which ultimately enhances the user experience.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE

Presently, due to our client's ongoing development of the matching portal structure and payment plans, we haven't been able to provide more detailed information on the website. If time permits, I would also like to create more comprehensive information panels featuring diagrams that delve into deeper details to make more transparent disclosure.

BRAND

I also intend to modify the brand mission statements and personality in accordance with any forthcoming usability test results, ensuring that the website effectively communicates the desired company image.