CarGurus / Elevate
I was hired by CarGurus to head up to be the lead in redesigning their website, help elevate the branding through new design work, I worked on the project for about 2 years, and was able to improve the design and user experience on many key pages, including their landing page, search results pages, listings, used car pages and others, designing for desktop, tablet & mobile. In the process I also was able to help elevate the brand through explorations in photography styles, illustration, icon designs, storytelling and testimonial styles. With the new branding work I made assets that could be leveraged for TV and print ads in new campaigns. I reported directly to the VP of Brand, and worked with Product and Marketing in 2 week design sprints on agile workflows.
About Car Gurus
Founded in 2006 by Langley Steinert, co-founder of TripAdvisor, CarGurus is a global, online automotive marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of new and used cars. The company uses proprietary technology, search algorithms and data analytics to bring trust and transparency to the automotive search experience and help shoppers find great deals from top-rated dealers. In addition to the United States, CarGurus operates online marketplaces in Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Founded in 2006 by Langley Steinert, co-founder of TripAdvisor, CarGurus is a global, online automotive marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of new and used cars. The company uses proprietary technology, search algorithms and data analytics to bring trust and transparency to the automotive search experience and help shoppers find great deals from top-rated dealers. In addition to the United States, CarGurus operates online marketplaces in Canada, and the United Kingdom.
COMPANY VALUE: $2.86B
GLOBAL MONTHLY UNIQUE VISITORS: 49 MILLION
2019 REVENUE $589 MILLION
GLOBAL PAYING DEALERS 35,000+
GLOBAL MONTHLY UNIQUE VISITORS: 49 MILLION
2019 REVENUE $589 MILLION
GLOBAL PAYING DEALERS 35,000+
Role
Work as an integrated member of the brand team, iterate and explore designs based on research, user feedback, and guidelines proposed by the team, with the outcome of a complete site redesign and style guide, putting into place a design framework, while improving all aspects of the user experience and engagement.
Be Responsive
Build the most trusted & transparent automotive marketplace
How does a team go about building the most trusted and transparent automotive marketplace? By not just being a car shopping site, but by connecting buyers and sellers and creating trusted connections in buying, selling and the many other ancillary decisions involved in owning a car.
How?: Empower your customers with data
Data transparency and leveraging technology to make complex insights easily accessible is at the core of the approach, building a world-class algorithm that empowers shoppers, and simplifying car shopping by distilling complex data into actionable information. Bringing transparency to an opaque experience.
Make Search powerful, fast and transparent. Empower customers through the Great Deal ecosystem to be able to scan information easily and make quick decisions themselves.to
Design & Iterate
Knowing the goal for this project was to elevate the visuals, copywriting, storytelling and engagement, I started with redesigning the landing page, exploring look and feel of the site, and how the brand could be expressed in a new way through the use of color, typography and imagery. I iterated on search patterns and how different types fo tools could be surfaced for the user, keeping designed styles and contained in components I intended to be modular and responsive.
Be Responsive
I designed all the key pages for responsive breakpoints, optimizing the experience for tablet & mobile, as well as desktop.
Elevate the Story
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
It’s not enough to have great tools. You also need to engage your audience. Part of my role was to explore new ways CarGurus could express their brand. I did this by trying out different approaches on photography, illustration and mnemonics.
It’s not enough to have great tools. You also need to engage your audience. Part of my role was to explore new ways CarGurus could express their brand. I did this by trying out different approaches on photography, illustration and mnemonics.
One aspect of this was to see how we could expand the current brand expression. Part of my approach on this is to try out a wide variety of imagery, and illustration styles, as well as other types of mockups in design tiles, to see what resonates.
In the screens below I was looking at how CarGurus could express their brand through illustrating their customers and other parts of the brand experience. As well as looking at their product offerings and brand differentiators.
Lock in with a Style Guide
The site was launched in stages. Each page was first tested and optimized through user testing and feedback cycles, and in turn laddered through key stakeholder reviews, Including the product design team, development and c-suite. After approvals were reached and the site was live, we codified what we had learned, developed and designed into a style guide, that covered brand voice, messaging, typography, color palette and site design, so other teams could use it moving forward.
Key Results
The redesigned site launched incrementally in 2018 to much success. The key stakeholders for the site expressed gratitude that the new site feel and direction for the brand exceeded expectations. Metrics improved on engagement, usability and duration of visits, as well as conversion. Brand perception improved greatly and customers have a much more positive response now when talking about the site, brand and TV commercials.
