My name is Giovanni Hobbins. I was born in Italy and grew up in Wisconsin. More?
Product Designer at FullStory.
Co-founded and sold Campus Bubble andNightly Labs.
I’d love to hear about what you’re
working on. contact(at)giovanni.io
Since you asked. I learned to love design when I realized it was about solving problems for people and not just “graphics.” Studying philosophy in college, I grew to see beauty in systems of thought. A great product needs to be a coherent, consistent system. Good design enables this.
I live in sunny Atlanta where I enjoy walking on the beltline, playing soccer, and spending time with friends. I also own a cat named Micia. She’s a bit grumpy.
Redesigning an Atlanta financial advisor startup’s entire web application, marketing page, and style guide.
Matt, Wela’s CEO, approached Nightly Labs looking to redesign their marketing page.
Upon discussion and review of Wela’s digital presence, it was clear we could do much more. Like many startups moving quickly, Wela’s team suffered from
dispersed and inconsistent digital assets.
A living style guide was necessary to allow team members to access logo files, colors, typography, collateral, photography and other digital assets from anywhere.
As the project went on, we increasingly discussed Wela’s digital financial adivsor product; areas of improvement, potential, and usage data.
Ultimately, Wela brought me on to consult on a complete overhaul of their web app design and product strategy.
But before redesigning the product, I began by establishing a fresh look and feel for Wela’s brand.
Bright colors, compelling personas content, and subtle animations were used to create a marketing site targeted at young professionals.
I worked with Wela’s team to develop five distinct customer personas. The homepage features these personas allowing the user to choose one and learn more.
Long term goals and benefits are provided for each persona giving the user a tailored value prop.
The rest of the site features content about Wela’s product, team, and unique approach.
Interactive tools like the portfolio matcher allow the user to input their own data to see how Wela can improve their financial situation.
Wela’s digital financial product had been a work in progress since launching in 2014.
With a core user base concentrated in the southeast, the company wanted to reach more users and knew that it need to sharpen up its product first.
The first task was reviewing analytics, session playback, heat maps, and user surveys.
After discussions and several whiteboarding sessions with Matt and the Wela team, I came up with a simplified app information architecture and UX.
The previous app’s 10+ pages were distilled down to 3 pages with popups and tooltips providing detailed drill down information.
The Wela team wanted streamline that app so it felt like a advisor, not complex finances tracking app akin to Mint.
The concept for Benjamin was developed as answer to user feedback and Wela’s internal product direction.
Powered through push notifications, Benjamin sets short and long term goals like an emergency reserve, mortgage, or college fund.
