Bolstr is a marketplace where people can invest in and support the local small businesses that make their communities home. I was involved in a complete UX and UI redesign of the Bolstr platform with the primary goals of higher conversion rates and better user satisfaction.
Existing user flows were analyzed and improved and new ones were detailed. Intuitively guiding small business owners through an onboarding process and campaign creation wizard that requires fairly large amounts of data was the main goal. For investors, many of them first timers, a different set of tools provided clear answers to their priorities.
As with any complex application, usability had to be a primary ingredient of the user interface. The new designs also had to hit a fine balance between the look of a modern professional platform and the essence and identity of local businesses. An important secondary goal was to help develop that personal connection between investors and the featured businesses.
Having a new platform that supports all targeted user types with processes that are financially and emotionally rewarding opens up a new type of marketplace that local businesses can easily tap into. To make sure any future developments are consistent, I’ve also created a complete style guide that accompanied the new designs.
