Empower your investments with purpose: This product makes social impact investing accessible and impactful for everyone, transforming your aspirations into tangible change.
Impact investing is a transformative finance approach, blending social and environmental goals with financial returns. This strategy includes mutual funds or ETFs focused on values-aligned companies, charitable contributions, and direct investments in positive change businesses. Investors can support sustainable practices, female-led companies, or solutions like affordable housing and renewable energy, avoiding firms that contradict these values.
However, barriers remain for low-income communities. Individuals like Sam, a business owner, and Lila, a community advocate, want to invest locally but lack knowledge and networks. High entry costs deter people like Maria from contributing to causes they care about. A simplified, accessible platform is needed to democratize impact investing.
A socially-conscious individual with limited investment experience needs a simplified, accessible platform to participate in impact investing. This platform should enable them to contribute to causes they care about without requiring large capital outlays or extensive financial knowledge.
Our platform makes social impact investing accessible and engaging for those with limited financial resources or investment knowledge. Unlike Acorns and Stash, which lack a strong social impact focus, we integrate impactful investment opportunities with educational resources. While Betterment and OpenInvest offer ESG portfolios, they may not fully cater to novices or those seeking a community-oriented experience. Ellevest targets female investors but may not address the broader range of social and environmental causes our platform encompasses.
Socially-conscious individuals aged 18-40, including millennials and Gen Z, seek to make a positive impact through their financial decisions despite limited investment experience or capital. They value sustainability, ethics, social equity, and prefer tech-driven financial transactions.
This persona will illustrate Scenario 2: Engaging with the Impact Investing Community
At this stage, we developed four user stories. The primary focus of this case study will be on scenarios 1 and 2.
Scenario 1: Discovering Impactful Investment Opportunities
Scenario 2: Engaging with the Impact Investing Community
After gathering this data, we began creating a wireframe before proceeding to design our low-fidelity prototype.
In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of this product, we interviewed individuals interested in ethical investing. Their insights into their investing habits and preferences significantly informed our research. We explored their experiences and expectations for a finance app that promotes ethical investing and educates new investors. The feedback we gathered was invaluable, offering essential data and authentic suggestions to enhance our UI.
What kind of information would help you feel more confident about making investment decisions that align with your values?
After user testing, valuable insights were gathered regarding necessary changes and areas that require further review.
At this stage of the project, we felt confident and began creating a robust, high-fidelity prototype based on the previous iterations.
I am tasked with creating the visual identity of the platform, including designing the website and mobile app interfaces. I will ensure that the visual design communicates the brand's values and appeals to the target audience, while also prioritizing usability and accessibility.
Preliminary sketch of logos: I combined an upturned arrow to symbolize positive stock activity with a leaf to allude to sustainability.
Presentation deck available upon request.
