STORY ON A PAGE
Creating a Brand Dashboard for FNDR
Creating a Brand Dashboard for FNDR
Overview
FNDR (pronounced ‘Founder’) is a brand consultancy that works with Founders and CEOs to build brand narratives and value systems for their companies. We were big on close-knit in-person meetings where founders could feel safe about getting their ideas out there. Everything was going great...and then Covid hit. I took the initiative to propose a digital experience that solved some issues which arose when working in person was no longer an option.
Client
FNDR
Role
Product Designer / Developer / Illustrator
Tools
Figma, Javascript, HTML, CSS, React, NEXT js, Prismic
DESIGN PROCESS
EMPATHIZE
What is FNDR?
FNDR's Covid Story: The Problem
FNDR works directly with, you guessed it, Founders! The process consists of 4 meetings over the course of which a ‘Core Narrative’ is conceived which goes on to define decisions on everything from hiring to product design. This project is about designing how that narrative shows up
Proposing a Project:
Digitizing the Story on a Page
Digitizing the Story on a Page
FNDR normally gave clients a deck of about 100 slides to sum up our recommendations. One of these slides was the Story on a Page which used modular narrative cards (shown below) to sum up the narrative. Before this project, it was never prominently featured, but I suggested that we make it a larger aspect of how we communicate what we offer which resulted in a digital experience that because the core way we present and deliver to clients.
DEFINE
Value Proposition
Interviews / Personas
I Interviewed that leadership team at the company and got to experience clients who where left wanting at the final meeting which often seemed scatted from a delivery standpoint. They wanted more closure.
IDEATE
Feature Ideas
DESIGN
System Design
A simple diagram of the system touchpoints. Note we made an extra dashboard for James, the CEO to use as a sales tool.
Solving the Single Page
I presented these two layout options to leadership and we went with the left. I felt that there were pros and cons with each, but ultimately we went with what solved the initial problem of closure: we didn't want just another slide deck with endless information, so one page it was.
Mapping Narrative Cards
The dashboard was created so that different narrative card types could be arranged in a matrix of boxes per the needs of a particular client. Each represented an aspect of the brand narrative. Below is a selection of some narrative card types we defined.
Visuals and Branding
I worked with the CCO to define a look and feel for the project. FNDR, as a company, strove to create a space where business leaders could free their minds from the normal day-to-day concerns of their companies and dream big. As such we wanted the visuals to reflect this feeling of endless possibility. I created a series of illustrations of a character 'The Founder' each associated a narrative card type to reflect this feeling of discovery.
DEVELOP
After going over wireframes with the team, I developed the project using NextJS, a React framework, with a CMS named Prismic for the backend.
Constructing the Backend
Coding the Front End
DEMO
Client Dashboard Example
Note: I cannot give actual examples due to NDA restrictions
Sales Dashboard
FEEDBACK
Positive Reaction from Clients
Productizing the Story on a Page was successful as a sales tool, and helped give clients more closure on the process.
Need for a better backend interface
The Decision to use Prismic as a backend ended up being quick, but not as intuitive as it should have been for strategists to use due to its limited interface options, especially when the product got more complex. Since I was the only developer at the company, and had no backend skills, I took this as an opportunity get familiar with Django, the python backend framework, in order to prepare myself if something like this problem comes up again.
NEXT STEPS
Working at FNDR inspired me to think about how these narrative affect the systems inside companies. I studied this for a year and made a project. Check out "Smart Plant Factory" below!
