Financial tasks are spread across multiple tools
Payroll, budgeting, expenses, and cash flow decisions are often handled across disconnected platforms. This fragmentation makes financial management more time-consuming and difficult to follow.
Case Study
Grow Website
Clarity for Small Business Finance
Designing a marketing website that helps small business owners understand financial tools faster, build trust in the platform, and immediately recognize the product’s value.
Overview
Simplifying financial management for small businesses
Grow is a SaaS platform that helps small businesses manage payroll, budgeting, and AI-guided financial workflows in one place. The marketing website was designed to communicate a complex product in a clear, approachable way while building trust with business owners.
My role focused on defining the website structure, strengthening visual hierarchy, and creating responsive layouts that made the platform’s core capabilities easier to understand across devices.
Discovery
Problem Framing
Why Financial Tools Feel Overwhelming for Small Businesses
Small business owners often manage critical financial responsibilities without dedicated support. Existing tools are frequently fragmented, overly technical, and difficult to interpret, which makes decision-making slower and more stressful.
Financial products are often too technical for business owners
Many interfaces are designed around accounting logic rather than everyday business decisions. Technical language and complicated workflows make it hard for users to know where to begin.
Important financial decisions become stressful and delayed
Without clear guidance and accessible explanations, business owners struggle to interpret information confidently. As a result, actions related to planning, hiring, or spending are often postponed.
“Managing finances shouldn’t feel like running an accounting firm inside a small business.”
Design Framing
Assumptions & Hypotheses
Before exploring solutions, I outlined key assumptions about why small business owners struggle with financial tools. These assumptions informed the hypotheses that shaped the direction of the design.
Assumptions
- Small business owners often rely on multiple disconnected tools for payroll, budgeting, and financial tracking.
- Many financial products are designed with accountants in mind, making them difficult for non-experts to understand.
- Complex dashboards and technical terminology make it hard for business owners to know what action to take.
- Many tools present numbers but fail to explain what those numbers mean or what decision should follow.
Hypotheses
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H1
If financial tools are presented in a simplified and structured way, small business owners will feel more confident navigating their financial tasks.
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H2
If key financial insights are explained in plain language, users will better understand what actions they need to take.
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H3
If guidance and decision support are integrated into the experience, users will rely less on external tools or advisors and more on the platform itself.
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H4
If trust signals such as testimonials, proof points, and clearer explanations are made more visible, small business owners will feel more comfortable exploring the platform and its capabilities.
How Might We
How Might We
How might we help small business owners understand and manage their financial operations with confidence so they can make better decisions, reduce complexity, and spend less time navigating financial tools?
Final result: a clearer, more approachable financial platform that supports everyday business decisions.
Research Highlights
Quantitative Insights
Key patterns observed in how small business owners experience fragmented financial tools and unclear product workflows.
70% use multiple financial tools
Many small business owners rely on several disconnected tools for payroll, expenses, and budgeting. Switching between platforms increases complexity and slows down everyday financial tasks.
60% find financial dashboards confusing
Financial interfaces often use accounting terminology and complex data structures. Non-experts struggle to understand what actions they should take based on the information presented.
50% delay important financial decisions
When financial insights are difficult to interpret, business owners postpone decisions related to budgeting, hiring, or spending. This hesitation can affect planning and operational confidence.
Design
Persona
Understanding the needs of a time-constrained business owner
Bio
Maria is a 38-year-old small business owner managing a growing team while handling day-to-day operations herself. She is comfortable using digital tools, but financial management still feels overwhelming because information is spread across multiple systems and often presented in technical language. She wants a clearer, more approachable way to understand her finances and make decisions with confidence.
Goals
- Understand business finances without relying on accounting expertise
- Complete financial tasks quickly and confidently
- See the most important information in one clear place
- Make better decisions about spending, payroll, and planning
Frustrations
- Financial information is spread across multiple tools
- Dashboards feel too technical and difficult to interpret
- Unclear terminology makes actions harder to understand
- Important decisions are delayed because she lacks confidence in the data
Behaviors
- Checks financial tools between meetings and daily tasks
- Relies on external help when dashboards feel unclear
- Looks for simple summaries before reviewing detailed numbers
- Prefers tools that explain what needs attention
- Values clarity and speed over advanced financial features
Empathy Map
How the user speaks, thinks, feels, and behaves
Clarity, confidence, and control
- “I need to know what actually matters right now.”
- “I’m not an accountant. I just want this explained clearly.”
- “Which numbers should I focus on first?”
- “I need tools that help me act, not just show data.”
- “I don’t have time to decode complicated dashboards.”
- Checks financial tools between meetings and daily tasks
- Moves between multiple platforms for payroll, budgeting, and tracking
- Looks for summaries before reviewing detailed financial data
- Searches for outside help when dashboards feel unclear
- Rechecks numbers before making financial decisions
- Overwhelmed by fragmented financial information
- Unsure when terminology feels too technical
- Stressed when important decisions are delayed
- More confident when information is simple and actionable
- Relieved when the platform clearly explains next steps
- “Financial tools shouldn’t feel this hard to use.”
- “If I can’t understand the dashboard, I can’t trust my decisions.”
- “I need one place that helps me stay on top of my business finances.”
- “Clear guidance would help me act faster and more confidently.”
- “I want less complexity and more direction.”
Solution
Solution Overview
I designed the Grow marketing website to make a complex financial platform easier for small business owners to understand. The experience focuses on clarity, trust, and structured messaging that helps visitors quickly grasp what the product does, how the platform is organized, and why it matters to their business.
Outcome A marketing website that helps small business owners quickly understand the product, evaluate its relevance, and feel confident exploring the platform.
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Clear Product Narrative
A structured introduction that explains the platform and its value in simple, direct language.
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Feature Grouping
Financial tools organized into clear sections so visitors can quickly understand core capabilities.
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Plain-Language Messaging
Complex financial concepts translated into approachable explanations for non-experts.
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Trust Signals
Visual hierarchy, supportive content, and clean structure designed to build credibility.
Design System
Design System
Typography and Voice
Clear, Modern, and Confident
The typography system balances expressive headlines with highly readable body text. Marope is used for headings to create a distinctive and confident brand presence, while Fira Sans ensures clarity and accessibility across paragraphs, interface text, and supporting content. Together, they create a tone that feels modern, approachable, and trustworthy.
Marope
Regular, Medium, SemiBold, Bold
Fira Sans
Regular, Medium, SemiBold, Bold
Visual Language
Color Palette and Emotion
Design Approach
Marketing Website
Designing a Clear Marketing Experience
The Grow marketing website was designed to communicate a complex financial platform in a clear and approachable way for small business owners. The structure focuses on simple messaging, clear product explanations, and visual hierarchy that guides visitors through the platform’s core value and capabilities.
View Figma
learning
Reflection
Key Learnings
Key takeaways from designing a marketing experience for a complex financial product.
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Clarity matters more than feature quantity
Small business owners are often overwhelmed by financial tools. Clear explanations and simple messaging help visitors understand value faster.
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Structured storytelling improves comprehension
Organizing product capabilities into clear sections helps visitors understand how the platform supports their business.
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Plain language builds trust
Financial terminology can feel intimidating. Using clear, approachable language helps non-experts feel more confident exploring the platform.
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Trust signals influence product perception
Visual hierarchy, clear explanations, and consistent design help visitors feel confident evaluating a new financial platform.
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Marketing websites shape first impressions
The first interaction with a product often happens through its website. Clear structure and messaging strongly influence whether visitors continue exploring.
Outcome: a marketing experience that helps visitors quickly understand the product, builds trust, and encourages further exploration.
Next Step
Future Improvements
Next Steps
Opportunities to refine the marketing experience, improve clarity, and strengthen trust for new visitors exploring the platform.
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Test messaging clarity with real users
Conduct usability testing with small business owners to ensure the product value and key capabilities are quickly understood.
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Refine the product storytelling flow
Improve the narrative structure from hero section to feature explanations so visitors can understand the platform faster.
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Measure engagement and conversion signals
Track metrics such as scroll depth, CTA clicks, and feature section engagement to evaluate how effectively the website communicates the product.
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Strengthen trust signals across the site
Introduce testimonials, product examples, and clearer proof points to help visitors feel confident exploring the platform.
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Perform a full accessibility review
Verify contrast ratios, keyboard navigation, and readability to ensure the website remains accessible to a wide range of users.
Goal: create a marketing website that clearly communicates the product, builds trust, and encourages small business owners to explore the platform further.
