[Case 03]
Draycott Place Partners Website Redesign
Finance
A Modern Redesign that Restores Credibility
Draycott Place Partners
[Background]
In M&A advisory, the website is often a prospective client's first credibility check. Draycott's existing site felt dated and unprofessional, worked against quick comprehension of their services, and fell short of the standard set by established firms in the space.
[Project Overview]
Draycott Place Partners is an M&A advisory firm whose website undercut the very credibility their business depends on. I led a redesign of all 24 pages — rebuilding the structure, visual system, and content hierarchy to signal the professionalism their clients expect.
[Industry]
Finance
[My Role]
Solo UX/UI Designer
[Platforms]
Figma
[Timeline]
June 2025-November 2025
[Audit]
1
Hero you can't read
Hero text sat directly on low-contrast carousel backgrounds, dropping below a legible threshold.
2
Motion that never resolved
Background images looped back to a near-identical frame, so the carousel read as a glitch.
3
Nothing held still
Nearly every block slid in on scroll and reversed on the way back, forcing the user to stop and wait before reading.
[Benchmarking]
Studying Houlihan Lokey, one idea stood out: services and industries as two parallel paths, so visitors can search by need or by sector. I made that split the backbone of the redesign.
[Iteration]
Major pages acted as navigation and routing
I kept the hub pages to short summaries with a "Learn More" into full pages — rather than a long-scroll page (overwhelming) or in-page accordions (just hides the depth behind a click).
Deal tombstones are a key trust signal. I first grouped them all together, then tailored each industry page to its own relevant deals — so visitors see proof that speaks to their sector.
[Collaboration]
I worked directly with a partner at the firm through calls, quick text feedback, and later comments in Figma. A pattern emerged in how we resolved disagreements: when a decision came down to usability, like accessibility or visual hierarchy, I made the case from UX principles, and it held. When it was subjective, like a specific photo, I deferred, since it didn't compromise how the site worked.
[Takeaways]
Research builds direction
Benchmarking finance firms and auditing the old site turned an unfamiliar industry into concrete direction.
Explain your reasoning
Explaining design choices strengthened alignment and client confidence.
Relevance over volume
Showing every deal everywhere was less persuasive than showing each industry its own.
What I would do differently
The site shipped without analytics or SEO in scope, so its impact is hard to prove. Next time I'd set success metrics and tracking from the start.