Creating a unified and streamlined certification application portal and process
The Responsible Investment Association Australasia and Responsible Returns helps to independently build the market for ethical, responsible investment by certifying products that provide social and environmental benefits in Australia and New Zealand.

The Project
Create a helpful and engaging certification system that integrates seamlessly with a front-facing consumer site to support and strengthen the ethical investment community.
Objectives
Redesign the current certification portal to simplify the journey, with the addition of application customisation to further improve the process. Utilising user experience best practices, elevate the Responsible Returns consumer site and create a clear and efficient product search.
The Solution
Create a streamlined certification process that allows customisation and efficient assessments, linking directly through to a simple, experience focused search on the consumer site.

Understanding the journeys
We started the project by working with RIAA to understand all the users and their journeys across both the portal and front-facing sites.
Through research and journey mapping, we came to understand the amount of touchpoints in every journey and how it was impacting the users.


UX Design and Wireframes
After understanding the journeys and the issues all users were facing when viewing or applying for products, we wireframed out the core journeys within the portal and core pages within the front-facing site.

A large compontent of the portal was the ability to edit the full application and add different functions to individual questions. Admins are able to build categories and questions with 12 different question types and set rules to each including file types, character limits and front-end placements.
The application builder also included a conditional form element, allowing the admins to hide and show multiple levels of questions and categories within the form based on answers.

UI Design and Branding
Once the wireframes and user experiences were mapped out, we designed both systems utilising a new brand language to clearly differentiate both user types.
The portal was focused on being structured and professional while supporting the users through their application processes. We implemented a new, muted and organic colour palette that would build trust with their independent, supportive and growing platform.
The front-end site had a different approach, utilising the core colours from the portal. The focus of the Responsible Returns site was to inspire users to make a positive difference whilst also building trust with the independent, non-green washed brand through the use of emotive imagery and innovative brand elements.



Responsive
Both the portal and front-end site have been designed for responsive, ensuring both are fully functional and accessible on every device.
