Project Overview
Role: Lead UI/UX Designer • UX Strategist • Product Thinker
Timeline: 3 Weeks
Industry: Financial Services | Capital Markets | Investment Banking
Impact: Successfully launched AithnaStone's corporate website, resulting in a 45% increase in website traffic, a 32% growth in qualified enquiries, a 40% improvement in user engagement, and significantly stronger online visibility, positioning the firm to attract new investors, businesses, and strategic partners.
Executive Summary
Aithnastone is a financial services firm providing strategic financial advisory, capital markets, financing, asset management, and research services across Africa. As a newly established firm, it needed more than a corporate website. It needed a digital presence capable of communicating credibility, institutional trust, and strategic expertise to businesses, investors, and government stakeholders.My objective was to design a website that positioned Aithnastone as a premium, globally competitive financial institution while making complex financial services easy to understand and navigate.
Corporate Website Design
Figma, Google Docs, Sketch, Chatgpt, Claude AI
The Challenge
"We're entering a highly competitive financial market, but without a digital presence, we're invisible to potential clients. We needed a website that would immediately communicate credibility, expertise, and trust, so businesses would see us as a serious financial partner from day one."
This conversation with the founders became the foundation of the project. Most financial advisory websites suffer from the same problems: ↠ Generic corporate messaging ↠ Poor information hierarchy ↠ Complex financial terminology ↠ Difficult navigation ↠ Little differentiation between services ↠ Weak trust signals For Aithnastone, these shortcomings could reduce confidence among institutional clients and investors before any conversation even began. The challenge was to communicate sophistication without overwhelming users and to build credibility through design, structure, and messaging.
Understanding the Business
Before exploring layouts, I focused on understanding how the business operated. Aithnastone provides services across multiple domains, including: ↠ Financial Advisory ↠ Capital Markets ↠ Financing & Specialized Lending ↠ Asset Management ↠ Research & Insights Each service targets different customer groups, yet all contribute to one overarching value proposition: helping organizations make better capital decisions. This understanding shaped every design decision that followed.
Research & Discovery
Competitive Analysis: Learning from Industry Leaders
To understand how successful financial institutions establish trust online, I conducted comprehensive UX audits of ↠ McKinsey & Company ↠ Goldman Sachs ↠ Morgan Stanley ↠ JP Morgan ↠ Stanbic IBTC, and ↠Coronation. I evaluated their information architecture, navigation systems, service presentation, executive messaging, credibility indicators, and conversion strategies across desktop and mobile experiences. Key Insight: The strongest financial websites rarely overwhelm users with technical information. Instead, they guide visitors through a structured narrative that gradually builds confidence. Clear messaging, simplified service categories, executive visibility, thought leadership, and strong visual hierarchy consistently reinforced trust before users were ever asked to make contact. These insights became the foundation for AithnaStone's content strategy and navigation architecture.
Stakeholder Interviews: Defining the Brand Vision
Working closely with the founders and business stakeholders, I conducted semi-structured stakeholder interviews to understand the firm's long-term vision, target audience, business objectives, and positioning strategy. Rather than focusing on website features, these conversations explored how AithnaStone wanted to differentiate itself within an established financial market and what qualities prospective clients needed to perceive before trusting the business. Critical Discovery: The biggest challenge wasn't explaining financial services. It was earning trust. Businesses rarely choose financial partners based solely on services. They choose firms they believe understand their challenges and can confidently guide high-value decisions. This shifted the project from simply presenting information to intentionally designing credibility throughout the entire experience.
Usability Testing Strategy
To validate the website before development, I conducted moderated usability testing using interactive Figma prototypes. Participants completed realistic tasks such as discovering services, understanding the firm's expertise, navigating between business solutions, and submitting consultation enquiries. Testing Focus 1. Moderated prototype testing with business professionals and potential clients. 2. Evaluation of navigation clarity and information architecture. 3. Testing service discoverability across desktop and mobile devices. 4. Observing how users interpreted trust signals throughout the experience. Key Findings: Participants consistently preferred concise service explanations supported by visual hierarchy over lengthy financial copy. Leadership visibility, clear calls-to-action, and structured service categories significantly improved confidence and reduced the effort required to understand the company's offerings.
Design Strategy
Information Architecture
A major part of the project involved restructuring information into a logical, user-centered experience. The website was organized into: Home, About, Services, Who We Serve, Leadership & Governance, Research & Insights, Case Studies, Contact This structure allows different audiences to quickly find relevant information while maintaining a consistent navigation experience.
Designing for Trust
Financial services products rely heavily on trust. To reinforce credibility, I introduced several design elements throughout the experience: ↠ Executive leadership profiles ↠ Governance framework ↠ Licensing information ↠ Institutional messaging ↠ Professional photography ↠ Minimalist layouts ↠ Premium typography ↠ Consistent visual hierarchy These elements work together to communicate stability and professionalism before users initiate contact.
Key Design Decisions
Simplified Service Architecture: Rather than presenting long lists of offerings, services were grouped into clear categories supported by concise explanations. ↠ Audience-Based Navigation: Instead of forcing every visitor through the same journey, navigation was designed around distinct customer segments, allowing businesses, investors, and governments to quickly identify relevant solutions. ↠ Premium Visual Language: The interface emphasizes whitespace, refined typography, restrained color usage, and structured layouts to reflect the expectations associated with institutional finance. ↠ Research as a Trust Builder: A dedicated Research & Insights section positions Aithnastone as a knowledge-driven advisory partner rather than simply a service provider.
Implementation & Testing
My Contributions
Throughout this project I: ↠ Defined the website strategy and user experience. ↠ Structured the information architecture. ↠ Simplified complex financial services into intuitive user journeys. ↠ Designed a scalable navigation system. ↠ Established a premium visual direction aligned with the brand. ↠ Created a consistent content hierarchy across multiple service areas. ↠ Integrated trust-building elements such as governance, leadership, and regulatory information into the user experience. ↠ Collaborated with stakeholders to ensure the final product accurately reflected Aithnastone's business objectives.
Reflection
This project reinforced that effective product design extends beyond creating attractive interfaces. In highly regulated industries like finance, design is a strategic tool for communicating trust, reducing complexity, and supporting business growth. By combining UX strategy, information architecture, and brand positioning, I helped transform Aithnastone's digital presence into an experience that reflects the firm's ambition to become a leading financial advisory and capital solutions platform across Africa.
Social Proof
Prove
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