Case study: Website for empowering Female Founders

Screens from the SPARK website

Client: Scrunch X Advance Queensland
Project Timeline: October 2020- November 2020
Focus: UX Research and Website Design
Location: Remote (Queensland, Australia)

Background

SPARK is a female founders program that was created for women in Australia to scale their businesses and grow as entrepreneurs. They had the sole vision for the betterment of Female Entrepreneurs such that this support would help them change the world.

The SPARK Female Founder program gives female-led startups access to a global influencer marketing analytics and education platform, access to world-class mentees, a year of business support, and a lifelong community.

Whether it’s capital raising, connecting with customers, or building a team. And every great entrepreneur possesses this skill or has honed it over time. The program intends to support women and their startups with all of the above, setting them up for success.

Design Challenge

SPARK is a program that is by women for women. The program is offered to 50 female founders and the Queensland government and Australian businesses subsidized the amount. Scrunch took the initiative of this program intending to support the female entrepreneurs of Queensland.

For creating this website the objective was:

1. Structure the information architecture to motivate female entrepreneurs landing on the page
2. Share all possible details about the program– the partners, mentors & mentees and application to allow entrepreneurs to get in touch, learn more, and apply for the program

The site also has to capture the essence of the program. In the sense that it is women-centric and focuses on how Australian businesses can help them attain the success, they aim for.

The Solution

The program is created by Danielle Lewis, Co-founder, and CEO of Scrunch. Danielle has extensive experience in building a technology startup as a female. She knows the ins and outs of what it takes to make a great product and thereafter a successful business. Along with Danielle, five other mentors are experts in sales and marketing. The program would include lessons from them. That’s where it’s important for viewers going through the site to know the trainers and their offerings. This not only showcases that the program has experienced professionals but also allows them to understand how much they’d gain from each mentor.

The about page of the site is very clear and crisp. It has all the necessary details of the program– background, sponsors, aims, and sponsors. I have maintained this clarity throughout the site. Maintaining the visuals as minimal yet present. Focusing on the content and keeping it informative. The color scheme, visuals, and type are all cohesive to SPARK as a brand as well.

The main purpose of the site would be to drive female entrepreneurs to apply for the program. Thus, the application and its related info as the first thing on the home page to build appropriate expectations and prompt users to get in touch.

The 12-month program that SPARK offers has a vision and mission which should align with the female entrepreneurs applying to the program. These would be values the program would inculcate and teach their cohort. The home page encapsulates these values and showcases the program’s offerings.

SPARK as a brand wanted to showcase its capability as a foundation to enable Australian Women Entrepreneurs and encourage their businesses. The website is minimal yet informational, lively, and promising.

Inner pages from the SPARK website

What I Delivered

I’ve worked with Scrunch before and I understand their ideals as a brand. The SPARK foundation is an initiative that wants to enable women entrepreneurs and drive them to sign up for the course. The finished site accomplished these goals for SPARK and here’s what I did:

Insights & Learnings

Although I’ve worked with Scrunch before, this project called for a different outlook. One that serves to encourage a new demographic to register. Targeting an audience niche with very specific goals. Hence I gained knowledge on:

1. The need for such a program led by women for women. In 4 weeks, SPARK received over 2000 applications. Confirming not only the requirement by Female Entrepreneurs but also that the site can support SPARK’s voice encouraging women.
2. The program costs $4,700 per founder, however, given sponsorships and subsidies the 12-month program is available for just $500 to the selected cohort. This motivates entrepreneurs further knowing that there are initiatives that are ready to support their business on selection.
3. The program is backed with support from multiple well-known Australian companies showing the authenticity of the program. This promotes the mindset of establishment via the course of this program.