Alfredo: Grant Proposal & Project Management Platform | Figma

Client: Alfred Thompson, a consultant specializing in EU funding acquisition and project management for research institutions, based in the United Kingdom.

My Role: I led the UX/UI design process from concept to high-fidelity prototypes in Figma. My work included user interviews, journey mapping, information architecture development, wireframing, and creating a comprehensive design system that accommodated both the proposal and project management aspects of the platform. I worked closely with Alfred to ensure the design met the specific needs of academic and research users while maintaining compliance with EU funding requirements.

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Problem: Research organizations and academic institutions across Europe struggled with the complex, multi-stage process of EU grant applications and subsequent project management. Existing solutions were fragmented, requiring users to navigate between different platforms for proposal writing, submission, and project management after funding approval. This disconnected approach led to information silos, redundant data entry, and inefficient project tracking.

Approach: Through extensive consultations with Alfred and stakeholders from various research institutions, I identified the critical pain points in the grant lifecycle. Using Figma, I designed a comprehensive platform that creates a seamless journey from initial proposal drafting to post-approval project management. The design focused on intuitive navigation between these two distinct but connected phases, with special attention to collaboration features and compliance with EU funding requirements.

Solution: Alfredo provides a unified platform where users can:

Draft proposals collaboratively with real-time editing and commenting

Structure applications according to specific EU funding program requirements

Access templates and guidance for different funding streams

Submit completed proposals directly to EU portals via API integration

Transition approved proposals into fully-featured project management workspaces

Track deliverables, milestones, and budget allocation

Generate reports required for EU project monitoring

Manage team members and stakeholder communications

Results: Early adoption by three research institutions showed remarkable improvements in their grant processes. Proposal completion time decreased by 25%, and post-approval project setup was reduced from weeks to days. The platform's guidance features helped increase proposal success rates by 15% during initial testing, while the integrated approach eliminated an estimated 20 hours of redundant data entry per project.