The Innovation Fund of Montenegro has redesigned its website with the aim of making communication with users more transparent, professional and user-friendly. The redesign brings improved content organisation, a new visual direction and a different approach to user experience, with a focus on making information about programmes, public calls and support opportunities more accessible and easier to use.
The Fund’s website is one of the key channels through which businesses, start-ups, researchers and other stakeholders access information about support programmes, open public calls, application requirements, documentation and the Fund’s results.
The redesign was therefore approached as much more than a visual change. It was a process through which the Fund sought to apply its mission of connecting science, innovation and business to the way it communicates with the people who need this information.
“We wanted the website redesign to be much more than a new design. It was important to us that the way we communicate with users be transparent, professional, clear and open. If we want to be a modern institution supporting innovation, the way we provide information to users must reflect those standards. That is why, before starting the redesign, we wanted to understand how users actually interact with the existing website, what matters to them and where they encounter obstacles,” said Dragana Latković, Public Relations Adviser at the Innovation Fund of Montenegro.
First, user experience research – then the website redesign
In cooperation with the DAMAR Institute, neuromarketing user experience research was conducted and served as one of the key inputs for the redesign. The aim was to determine what users could easily find, where they encountered difficulties and which information was harder for them to locate.
The research was conducted with 38 participants, including existing Fund users as well as participants who had not used the Fund’s programmes but had used its website.
The research combined eye tracking technology, observation of user behaviour while completing specific tasks, and subjective assessments of the clarity, usability and overall organisation of the content.
Particular attention was paid to tasks that are important to the Fund’s users: finding current public calls, information on application requirements and procedures, documentation, results of previous calls, and contact information.
Eye tracking analysis of the user experience on the Fund’s existing website. The visualisation shows where users directed their attention while completing specific tasks.
“A survey tells us what users think about a website, while this type of research allows us to see what actually happens while they are using it. By tracking their eye movements and the way they navigate the website, we can identify obstacles that users themselves might not even be aware of,” said Miloš Borozan from the DAMAR Institute.
What did we learn from users?
The research showed that the challenge was not simply whether a particular piece of information existed on the website, but also how easy it was for users to find and understand it.
Out of 38 participants, only 15, or 39.5%, were able to find an open public call. Even among those who reached the information they were looking for, the journey was long. On average, they made around 34 clicks and opened 11 pages.
An even more significant challenge was finding application documentation. Only 10 out of 38 participants, or 26.3%, were able to find it.
The most pronounced difficulty was related to information about previously funded projects. Only seven participants, or 18.4%, found this information, and those who succeeded needed, on average, more than six minutes, 52 clicks and 18 opened pages.
One particularly illustrative finding was that, after an unsuccessful search, as many as 24 out of 38 participants concluded that the Fund did not have or publish information about previously funded projects, even though the information was available on the website.
This finding highlighted an important difference between information being published and information being genuinely accessible to the user.
The research also showed that users did not always clearly distinguish between information needed to understand the application process and the actual application submission process. When looking for the documentation required to apply, 14 out of 38 participants ended up on the application submission portal instead of the documentation itself.
Eye tracking analysis provided additional insight into how users direct their attention on a page, what they notice first and which parts of the content they effectively overlook. At the same time, contact information proved to be an example of well-organised content, as all participants were able to find it in less than one minute.
The findings showed that the problem was not simply a lack of familiarity with the website. Even previous experience with the site did not fully eliminate difficulties in finding certain information, further indicating that the challenges were related to the way content and information were organised.
“A good digital service is not one where information simply exists, but one where users can easily find it. One of the most important conclusions of the research was that Fund users were not necessarily looking for more information. They were looking for a clearer path to what they needed,” said Vuk Čađenović from the DAMAR Institute.
From research to redesign
The findings of the research served as an important input for the website redesign, particularly in the organisation of information, navigation, visual hierarchy and the way users access key content.
The aim was to make it easier to reach the information users need, without requiring them to first understand the Fund’s internal structure or the way information had previously been organised.
Users come to the Fund’s website with specific needs: to find a public call they may be eligible to apply for, check the requirements, find the necessary documentation or learn more about projects previously supported by the Fund. The redesign therefore starts from these needs and aims to shorten the path to relevant information.
Instead of following the Fund’s internal organisational structure, the website is now organised around the tasks users come to complete.
Current public calls are prominently featured on the homepage, application requirements and documentation are directly linked to each call, while previously supported projects now have a dedicated, searchable section. Navigation has been simplified, and the visual hierarchy has been adapted to the areas where users, according to the eye tracking analysis, most frequently directed their attention.
In this way, data on user behaviour became the basis for concrete changes in the Fund’s digital communication. At the same time, the experience of the team working with users on a daily basis helped translate the research findings into practical solutions.
“Through our daily communication with users, we see that they do not come to the website simply to read information, but to complete a specific task. That is why it was important for us to organise the website from the perspective of their needs, rather than solely from the perspective of the Fund’s internal organisation,” said Ksenija Jovović, Head of the Applicant Support Department at the Innovation Fund of Montenegro.
The importance of data in guiding these decisions is also highlighted by Stevan Šandi from Bixbit:
“What helped us most was basing every step on data and measurements rather than assumptions based on our own experience of how users interact with the website. When the data shows that it took 34 clicks to reach a public call and identifies which elements distract users’ attention, decisions about what stays on a page are no longer a matter of taste. We expect future user experience research to show significant progress compared to the results measured so far,” said Stevan Šandi from Bixbit.
A new visual direction
The redesign also included the development of a new visual direction, with design viewed not simply as an aesthetic element, but as part of the overall user experience.
Particular attention was paid to content clarity, intuitive navigation, visual hierarchy, accessibility, a sense of trust and alignment with the Fund’s institutional character.
“When developing the visual direction, it was important to us that the website not only look more contemporary, but that the design also support the way users access information. That is why we paid particular attention to visual hierarchy, content clarity and navigation, so that users can navigate the website as easily as possible,” said Nina Pićurić, Adviser in the Applicant Support and Contracting Sector.
Information that can be found, understood and used
The website redesign is based on a simple principle: it is not enough to provide information. Users need to be able to easily find, understand and use it.
The goal was therefore to make the website easier to use on a daily basis – whether someone is looking for information about the Fund’s programmes for the first time, preparing an application, searching for documentation or looking to learn more about previously supported projects.
“For us, transparency does not simply mean that information has been published. It means that users can find, understand and use that information. This is the standard we want to pursue through the redesigned website as well,” added Latković.
The website redesign is the result of the joint work of the Innovation Fund of Montenegro, the DAMAR Institute and Bixbit.
AI Assistant innoBot – Beta Version
The redesigned website also introduces a beta version of the AI assistant – innoBot, a digital assistant designed to help users find information about the Fund’s programmes, public calls, requirements and procedures more quickly.
innoBot is currently in the development and learning phase. Its knowledge base and responses are being continuously improved and reviewed to ensure that, over time, it provides increasingly accurate and reliable information aligned with the current content available on the Fund’s website. Users can already try it out, and their questions and feedback will help us further improve its performance.
The goal is for innoBot to become another simple and reliable way for users to quickly find the information they need.
