Industry and Demographic
Getting a feel for the industry and it’s concerns.
DealerInspire wanted to enter the automotive e-commerce industry to breathe fresh life for the customers by creating responsive and innovative designs that focused on mobile and desktop compatibility. The company heard many comments from the dealerships saying that many customers were finding it difficult to navigate their website and perform tasks such as: setting up an appointment to visit, what their hours and location were at a quick glance, and who to contact for any additional information. Since the tendencies for buyers were to visit the dealership themselves, my two questions always came back to:
- What demographic is the client aiming to sell towards?
– What defines the dealership brand and sets themselves apart from other competitors?
Some brands have pre-existing assets or notes they would like to use moving forward, and compiling all of that on with a general set of notes and loose layout of rough sketches is where it begins. The process in creating a mockup with a client all begins with a bit of research. If they have a pre-existing website with branding, it generally shows some of the important details from financing, vehicle finders, with location & hours, ectra.
Once the layout and most important components are considered, then the task then shifts over to where we can allow visual interest to capture the viewers attention. Since the assumption is that dealerships have local competitors, there has to be a way to allow them stand out from the others. We go through multiple rounds of checks with the general manager and occasionally, branch manager to make sure the vision is headed in the right direction. Once approved, the final designs are taken to a developer before finalizing and launching the website.
Final Product (Hi-Fi’s)
Example shots of the final websites on both desktop and mobile.
Each design has different lapses of time from start to completion. Many clients are looking for something easily navigable with others looking for designs that have heat maps and data behind each design element to back up relevant design choices. Regardless of what the choice is, it was always DealerInspire’s goal to marry the concepts of sleek and data driven design that would allow customers to have a smooth experience shopping.
NOTE: This is example of one of the works that was published under DealerInspire and made public as of 2021. There may be differences to the original design or updates as time goes on.
Final Thoughts
"So take a long time
'Cause, oh, the world is lucky to be your home."
Working with established brands that have been around for decades and have legacies behind their products always produce a high level of challenge within compliance guidelines and creative freedom as a designer.
- Dealerships being the main focus for clientele meant that we were establishing the standards that were already outlined from OEM’s as well as putting the dealerships own visions. Some were large ones that were established with strong branding, and others were starting out. Regardless of what the individual goals were, DealerInspire always wanted to push the idea that designs could be both innovative, functional, and have strong aesthetic strength.
The lessons I had learned through this job taught me amongst many other things… the importance of deadlines and communications, to be a flexible colleague that was willing to move things around, and most importantly-how to push designs within a seemingly rigid set of rules. Design is fluid and there are so many ways you can push designs within a simple template or components to breathe new life into it. Once you understand the rhythm and pacing, you will be able to find a design method that works for you. At least, that’s what I believe.
