BACKGROUND
eNugget Ventures is a young venture capital firm with a portfolio focusing on early-stage SaaS start-ups. It defines itself as innovative and disruptive, looking to develop a close working relationship with start-up founders in Europe.
As the firm gained momentum, it needed to invest in its image, starting with a new logo it could share on social media. Soon they realized that this transformation could only have a significant impact if it were done across all media platforms.
Former Logo.
MAKING OF THE LOGO
My approach from the start was to return to the image of a gold nugget. The sharp angles inside the stone would resemble the texture of the mineral grains. Different yellow tones would be associated with the golden shine. In contrast, I use purple to highlight rarety and a smooth wrap to the stone to evoke innovation in the digital era.
The typeface of choice was Montserrat. Designer Julieta Ulanovsky created it, considering its functionality for corporative purposes. I needed it to ensure the logo transmitted a sense of confidence and stability expected from a venture capital firm.
Evolution of the nugget.
Original Site.
WEBSITE UX DESIGN
The original site had a clear goal: Engaging with potential investors and start-up founders and encouraging them to contact eNugget to start a business relationship. However, the site design didn’t align with the goal. They were five main problems:
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The imagery was generic.
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There was no social proof section.
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The calls to action were redundant and overly repetitive.
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The portfolio functioned as a portal to other sites, missing the opportunity to add value to the different companies it presented it.
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The content was not consistent and didn’t highlight key business differentiators.
Regarding the UX design, I decided first to prioritize the business differentiator, in other words, what made eNugget different from other venture capital firms. Secondly, I wanted to highlight social proof with testimonies from the company founders that were part of the portfolio. Moreover, I gave the portfolio a separate page where users could easily navigate the company profiles using animated cards. Finally, I limited the CTAs to the navigation bar, the footer, and a section at the end of the home page.
The original concept included a social proof banner.
UI DESIGN AND THE HERO SECTION
Using the new brand guidelines, I designed the interface. The hero section on the landing page was a key challenge. Both start-up founders and investors were going to land there, and we needed it to communicate who we were and what made us different.
I chose a “garage office” image to connect with the target audience highlighting success with the arrow rising across the section. Another big decision was to eliminate the CTAs from the section. We assumed that founders and investors were already considering contacting the company when they landed on the page. We felt it was more important to say, “you made the right decision coming into our site” by highlighting what gave value to eNugget: successful investments.
CONCLUSION
This project was the first site I built with Webflow. I was happy that the end product was identical to the mockups.
My biggest learning was the collaboration with the client. They hold significant knowledge about the user and end goal. My job was to communicate their ideas best rather than develop my own.
Portfolio cards animation.