Portfolia is an investment collective in California for business-minded women and minorities seeking venture communities and resources to invest.
Portfolia App
Client
Problem to Solve
Currently, Portfolia members can only connect in person or on multiple social media platforms. There is also no group announcement or investment hub for the members to get updates between meetings.
Goal Statement
Creating the Portfolia app will let users connect with fellow members, view upcoming events, and track investments. This will improve the ease of staying involved and informed for active members through one single platform. We will measure the effectiveness by analyzing the number of recurring visits to the app and the duration of the visits.
Research
To understand the problems and start gathering data to solve them, I started by trying to fully understand the Portfolia group and community. I had to understand the target demographic, current functions, and where it fits into the overall finance and investment world.
Click gallery items to see research larger
Brand Overview
Interview Goals
Interview Summaries
Interview Insights
Competitive Analysis
Positioning Matrix
Personas
Taking the research and interviews to create three amalgam Portfolia members with three separate uses for the Portfolia App.
Ideation & Design
Idea Sorting
I noted solutions that interviewees suggested or ideas their comments sparked as potential solutions.
After brainstorming all possible solutions, I started categorizing the ideas into general groups and discarding any repeats or ideas that weren’t ideal for solving the current problems.
Site Map
Taking the ideas and groups naturally formed above, I started to map out the app architecture.
The homepage would start with an overview of investments, Portfolia announcements, and upcoming events. The other pages cover investing, community connections, and membership resources.
There is also an easily accessible help section always available in the top bar to help older users learn the app or answer questions as they arise.
User Flow
Taking the persona of Charlene, who wants a way to check her investments and find new opportunities on the same platform, we considered what she would do when opening the app.
Her user task was to browse new investments at Portfolia and select one to fund.
Using the Site Map, her task was thought out to show where she would land for every action and decision she took through the app.
Wireframe
Rather than designing the whole app, Charlene’s user flow was used to help inform some isolated task wireframes.
The app only focused on solving the task of browsing for a specific investment and funding. This allowed for more layout ideation and focusing on the app’s usability before building out to every page.
Prototyping
The first prototype focused on the user’s journey from opening the app to searching for a specific share called “Cloudflare” and buying it.
Live Prototype Embedded Below
Testing
Taking the first prototype, I interviewed more users to see what was working well or what was causing confusion. I found three user problems and brainstormed possible solutions to help fix the experience.
Revisions
The revised prototype makes it easier for the user to access investments by adding additional navigation points. The search bar is also clearer and sticky at the top of the page. Lastly, the app’s color is not so monochromatic and now incorporates traditional red and green colors to indicate whether a stock is going up or down.
Live Prototype Embedded Below
Conclusion
Roadblocks
Every project comes with roadblocks. For this one, I found it challenging to contact Portfolia members or generally similar interview candidates for research.
There was also the challenge of time. The deadline was accelerated, which led to the decision to create the one-task prototype for testing and pitching, which allowed me to use my time wisely while still presenting a well-designed user experience.
Success
The one-task Portfolia app was a success! Users found the issues from the initial prototype to be well resolved and were able to complete the task easily. The client was happy with the function and direction, so the app is on its way to being built out.
