Toronto Financial International is the lead voice for the international promotion of the Toronto Financial Centre and the global influence of its financial services sector.

It consists of a public-private alliance between Canada’s largest financial services institutions and the Canadian government. TFI also acts as a hub for Toronto’s financial sector and operates with stakeholders on initiatives that drive both growth and competitiveness of the industry.

In 2020 the company sought to give its website a visual and functional refresh, with a desire to improve the overall experience for both final users and website administrators alike.

Research Matters

We assessed multiple aspects of the website during our initial discovery phase, from information architecture and visual consistency through to content management.

These findings allowed us to identify and focus on the items that provide more value to the overall user experience. The website holds helpful information about various services and resources available to local members and global partners. Our responsibility was to bring optical coherence and improved navigation.

Visual Refresh

We performed a design audit, followed by a redesign on a component-based structure that is flexible, quick to implement, and retained visual consistency across the board.

The membership page was redesigned from scratch to help them meet one of their main goals: attracting new members.

We used the following questions to steer our approach:

• Why should I become a member?
• What are the benefits?
• Who is eligible to become a member?
• How do I become a member?
  

The page structure, content, and visuals were all focused on making it easy for users to understand how the membership works and what it involves.

Content Management Made Easy

TFI's previous implementation of Craft CMS was messy at best. Standardized deployment processes didn't exist, and 0 documentation was created to explain how the CMS was used.

Working with TFI's stakeholder group, we identified the different administrative issues the site was causing the working team. Using our component based design system, we translated that into an easy to use back-end that even users with limited technical knowledge could learn and take advantage of.

Design and Implementation Overhaul

The website promotes valuable content that is relevant to different players in the financial sector at a global level and works as a storefront for first-time visitors to get to know their services and learn how to become a member.

With simple visual tweaks and a rebuilt CMS structure, TFI's website has gone from visually inconsistent and hard-to-maintain, to an on-brand, easy-to-navigate, and simple-to-manage experience.

Note: unfortunately TFI ceased operations in 2022. We've kept the site active on our development server for display purposes

Username: tfi
Password: tfi

Discover more at: https://tfi.ca