Designing AithnaStone's first digital experience to help a new financial institution build trust, communicate expertise, and compete with established financial brands.
Project Overview
Role: Lead UI/UX Designer
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
As the Lead Product Designer, I led the strategy and end-to-end design of AithnaStone's first corporate website, a new financial institution entering a highly competitive industry dominated by well-established firms. Without an existing digital presence, the company needed more than a website. It needed a platform that could immediately communicate trust, expertise, and professionalism while introducing its financial services to prospective clients. Through strategic UX research, content architecture, and modern interface design, I transformed complex financial offerings into a clear, intuitive digital experience that positions AithnaStone as a credible partner for businesses, investors, and institutions.
Product Strategy
Corporate Website Design
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. Unlike established financial institutions that have spent years building recognition and credibility, AithnaStone was entering the market with no digital footprint. Potential clients had no way to understand the firm's expertise, explore its services, or evaluate its credibility before initiating contact. The challenge extended beyond designing a beautiful website. The real objective was to create a digital experience capable of competing with industry leaders while building confidence among businesses, investors, and institutional clients encountering the brand for the first time.
Project Constraints
1. Building credibility for a completely new financial institution with no existing digital presence. 2. Competing visually and strategically with established firms such as McKinsey, Deloitte, PwC, Goldman Sachs, and leading African financial institutions. 3. Communicating complex financial services in language that business leaders could quickly understand. 4. Organizing multiple service offerings into an intuitive information architecture. 5. Balancing premium corporate branding with usability and accessibility. 6. Designing a scalable platform capable of supporting future products, research publications, and investor resources.
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
Trust-First Experience
Unlike consumer products where speed often drives adoption, financial services depend on trust. Every interaction needed to reassure prospective clients that AithnaStone possessed the expertise required to manage high-value financial decisions. Design Challenge: Communicating authority without overwhelming users meant: 1. Prioritizing clarity over technical jargon. 2. Structuring services around business outcomes rather than internal terminology. 3. Reinforcing credibility through leadership, expertise, and professional branding. 4. Creating intuitive navigation that reduced cognitive load while encouraging exploration.
Content-Led Information Architecture
Financial institutions often present every service with equal importance, making navigation overwhelming. Instead, I designed the website around user intent, organizing content into logical pathways that allowed businesses to quickly identify relevant financial solutions before diving deeper into supporting information. This included: 1. Simplified service categorization. 2. Progressive disclosure of complex financial content. 3. Clear conversion pathways throughout the website. 4. Consistent information hierarchy across every page.
Cross-Functional Collaboration Framework
I established a collaborative workflow that aligned business objectives with user needs through continuous iteration. This included: 1. Weekly strategy sessions with founders to refine business positioning and messaging. 2. Collaborative content workshops to simplify complex financial terminology. 3. Iterative design reviews incorporating stakeholder feedback before moving into high-fidelity design. 4. Component-based design documentation to streamline developer implementation. 5. Design handoffs supported by responsive specifications, interaction guidelines, and reusable UI components.
Implementation & Testing
Prototype Validation
Interactive prototypes were tested to evaluate navigation, content comprehension, consultation journeys, and overall usability before development. The validation process enabled: 1. Early identification of navigation improvements. 2. Refinement of service discovery flows. 3. Optimization of consultation conversion pathways. 4. Increased confidence before engineering implementation.
Systems Thinking
Rather than designing a static marketing website, I created a scalable digital platform capable of growing alongside the business. The design system supports future expansion into investor resources, research publications, client portals, recruitment, and additional financial products while maintaining visual consistency and operational efficiency.
(Business Metrics)
Metrics
6%
6%
Task Success Rate
10%
10%
Booking Completion
5%
5%
Increased User Confidence
0+
0+
Integrated platforms
5+
5+
End-to-end user journeys
10%
10%
Accurate Truck Selection
(Project)
