Foundertribes
A look into the process of branding and building a startup from design system, to website and to product.
A brief summary
A brief summary
FounderTribes aims to democratize the way startups receive funding.
They aim to do this by creating a platform that matches investors and mentors to new and innovative startups from parts of the world that wouldn't naturally have access to this large network of people. Founders could upload an elevator pitch for investors to view, review and action on.
The problem
The problem
Their old product was disjointed and hard to use, leaving users frustrated.
FounderTribes had an MVP developed already. It had a difficult navigation and sign up process which led to high bounce rates. Their brand lacked direction and didn't align to the app. Our task was to rework the app's experience and interface to create something that was inviting and intuitive while aligning their product, website and brand.
Our solution
The solution
To redesign and develop a new product that was easy to use and intuitive, while improving on old designs and creating a cohesive design system.
and this is how we did it...
Our first task was to tackle the branding. They wanted something that was soft and inclusive. Yet still strong enough to be identifiable. It was important that the logo could perform well across various digital platforms like the App Store, their website and their app.
We came up with three logo options all with their pro's and con's. Here are some of the contenders. With each logo we tried to incorporate the feeling of technology and inclusiveness. The logos featured a soft blue as the primary which became the brand's blue and hard and soft corners contrasting against each other.
The chosen one
This logo is made from the letters “F” & “T” paired with a circle to create a feeling of togetherness and community - almost the head of a person. The logo can also be orientated to look like an upward arrow to show growth. The double line monogram was influenced by tribal line tattoos - bringing in the tribal feeling of this logo.
Design system
We now had some solid brand direction to build on, creating the foundations for a new design system. The system had to encompass all the brand attributes while being versatile enough to grow with the product.
Product design and development
FounderTribes was a difficult app to tackle as it had four distinct users, with different goals and needs that all interacted with each other.
The main issue with the first version of the app is that it lacked direction and user feedback leaving users confused, resulting in a high bounce rate. The two main areas that were identified, was during the onboarding and add a pitch journeys. We streamlined the onboarding by adding invite codes that could be sent to users via email captured from CTA's on the website, online functions and other marketing processes. This allowed the user to create an account with the majority of their information pre-filled. The user could start using the app immediately.
Once the user had set up and account they faced the "now what" stage and would usually bounce.
To avoid this we redesigned the navigation with clear icons and actions to take. We also provided hints and feedback modals to push the user to adding pitches and like other founder's pitches.
We needed to create a social hook to keep the users interested and spark the matching process of mentors, investors and founders. We created an Instagram styled feed to encourage scrolling through different founder's pitches. Users could then swipe left or right on pitches they liked or didn't. The system uses this information to suggest more engaging pitches and provides feedback to less engaging ones.
User's can comment and critique pitches allowing founders to grow and creating a hook to come back. "How is my pitch doing, how can I make it better?", "what's new and exciting in the world of startups", and let's not forget "will I get to be a series A investor in the next Uber?"
Once we had designed and developed the app it was time to make some collateral for the app store. These had to convey the brands personality and highlight the main selling features of the application.
Website & finishing touches
While the app was being built we diverted our attention to creating a brand new website to market the app. The website featured a CMS blog page where admins could post online events and articles. It is fast and responsive and easy to navigate.
Like all our builds we started off with low fidelity wire frames (unfortunately we couldn't include the ones for the web app). This allows us to get a clear view of the overall project before we jump into the UI.
The UI was seamless as we had already created a design system that we could apply to the wireframes. The result was a clean and consistent look and feel
This was an incredible project as we were fortunate enough to take this project from branding and logo's all the way to their main product and website.