The Cultural Development Fund (CDF) is a national organization established in 2021 to support the growth and sustainability of Saudi Arabia’s cultural sector. It provides grants, loans, and investment programs across 16 creative fields, including film, music, architecture, and heritage.
Overview
The Cultural Development Fund (CDF) is a national organization established in 2021 to support the growth and sustainability of Saudi Arabia’s cultural sector. It provides grants, loans, and investment programs across 16 creative fields, including film, music, architecture, and heritage.
The Challenge
CDF’s digital ecosystem did not reflect the scale, credibility, or national impact of its initiatives. Key challenges included:
Key pain points included:
Outdated, fragmented website with unclear navigation
Low discoverability of programs and funding opportunities
Users are unable to understand eligibility or application steps
High support load due to repetitive questions
Lack of internal workflow visibility for submission management
The redesign needed to serve multiple audiences—creators, entrepreneurs, investors, institutions, and media—while simplifying both public access and internal operations.
The Goal
Align CDF’s digital presence with its national importance and real-world impact
Create a clear, inclusive, user-centered experience for all beneficiaries
Improve the application journey with guidance, transparency, and better content
Reduce operational inefficiencies and support traffic
Establish a scalable design system for long-term growth
The Process
A streamlined user-centered design approach guided the redesign — covering discovery, problem definition, solution ideation, experience design, and design-system delivery.
The process was supported by research insights, stakeholder alignment, and iterative prototyping, ensuring the platform balanced user needs with operational realities.
The Solution
A unified digital platform that connects cultural programs, funding opportunities, and application workflows into one cohesive ecosystem — supported by a modular design system built for scalability.
Conclusion
This project redefined how the Cultural Development Fund engages with the Kingdom’s creative ecosystem — transforming a fragmented digital presence into a unified, scalable platform.
By simplifying funding discovery, clarifying application journeys, and supporting internal operations, the new experience strengthens accessibility, transparency, and institutional credibility — while laying the foundation for future cultural initiatives at a national scale.
