MotorVerse
CarMax Mobile App Redesign
My Role: UX Researcher/Designer
Team: Sydney, Daniella, Erica, Clarabelle, & Cammi
Project Scope 🚘
Empathize with customers to create a faster, more enjoyable experience with the CarMax app.
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Methods: User Personas, Wireframing, User Journey Mapping, Prototyping, User Interviews
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Tools: Figma, FigJam
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Duration: January - March 2023 (9 weeks)
Context 🚙
Customers find selecting a car to purchase too much of a hassle. There are dozens of possible cars to choose from, which requires multiple visits to the dealership to ensure that customers are satisfied with their car, before finally deciding to commit to purchasing one.
Objective 🎯
CarMax aims to focus its brand on creating stress-free car purchases for its customers.
How might we give customers an easier and more exciting way to narrow their car search and book a test drive?
Design Approach ✏️
Empathize
User Personas
Define
Design Principles
Ideate
Whiteboard Sketches
User Journey Mapping
Prototype
Prototyping
Test
User Interviews
Design Reiteration
User Personas
We focused on two specific personas to become more familiar with the users we are designing for. Creating these personas helped my group visualize our users and their needs.
The Single Adult
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Looking to buy a medium size car
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Prioritizes price, ease of use, & style
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Relies on reviews
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Wants to test drive different models
The Family
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Looking to buy a large car
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Prioritizes comfort & functionality
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Safety is especially important
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Wants to compare different options
Design Principles
1. Usability
Users should easily be able to achieve their goals with the redesign.
2. Simplicity
A minimal design will highlight key features and simplify navigation
3. User-centered
The features should be personalized to fit the user's preferences
Initial Whiteboards
We began by whiteboarding our initial ideas for the new features our app would have. This process helped us visualize the user experience and identify potential pain points in the car-purchasing process.
Initial whiteboards depicting our initial ideas for the main features' design.
Top: Personalized Quiz & Comparison Feature. Bottom: Rating Desired Features & Appointment Scheduler
We decided to include four key features:
1. a personalized quiz to narrow the user's car preferences
2. a rating features questionnaire to let users rate their desired features in the car.
2. a comparison feature that allows the user to compare two cars' features side-by-side
3. an appointment scheduler for the user to book a test drive with a selected car.
User Journey Mapping
To understand how our features would work in an integrated experience, we mapped out a typical user journey in FigJam to ensure we streamline users' experience as they search for a car
Our user journey map has two main sections: car search (purple) for preference quizzes and test drives, and user account (blue) to view saved cars and manage appointments.
The new features will simplify the car search process with two quizzes. After completing the personalized quiz and the features quiz, users will see their top car matches. They can then use the comparison feature to further assist in deciding which car suits their preferences and book a test drive.
Prototypes
Based on our user journey, we created initial prototypes in Figma, keeping the CarMax brand while integrating our newly designed features.
Initial prototypes of the main screens users move through to complete the quiz, compare their top options, and select a car to book a test drive.
User Interviews
To gain user feedback on our designs and further understand our users, we conducted user interviews with five users.
Q: How would you describe your past experience during the process of purchasing a vehicle?
"Disappointing. It was hard to find a good car that wasn't out of my budget." -A
"Lots of waiting, talking, and rudeness... Buying a car is boring." -J
Q: What are your overall impressions of the application?
"It's pretty cool. If I wanted to buy a car, it could be very helpful. It was easy to navigate, and I was able to pick a lot of preferences using the quiz." - K
Q: Would this application help you accomplish your goal of finding a car for your intended purpose?
"Yes, I think it would. It would be a good starting point." -T
"Making an appointment is pretty helpful so yes." - K
User Interview Findings:
1. Purchasing Cars is Time-Consuming
Users' pain points aligned with our personas', including the time-consuming nature of visiting car dealerships and difficulty finding their preferred cars.
2. "A Good Starting Point"
Initial responses to our new features and their design were positive - users expressed that the quiz would be a good starting part for their car search.
3. Button and Color Inconsistencies
As for areas for improvement, we received feedback on inconsistencies with back buttons and color choices that made text difficult to read.
Results 💎
Considering the user feedback we received, we revised our prototype to ensure a cohesive product.
Design Changes:
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Condensed the personalized quiz and features quiz into one quiz to further streamline the process and avoid possible confusion.
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Added back buttons to account for possible user error.
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Changed color choices on comparison screen to make the text easier to read.
Final prototypes of our CarMax redesign, including real pictures of the car models and updated back buttons and color choices for ease of use.
Reflection 🔮
As my first design project, this was a valuable experience that allowed me to learn important lessons for future projects:
1. User-centered design thinking
If I had the chance to redo this project, I would conduct user interviews at the beginning to gain a better understanding of our users and their experiences to better inform our personas. Creating personas was crucial in helping my team decide on what solutions to focus on implementing.
2. Wording User Interview Questions
After reviewing our interview responses, I realized that some questions may have unintentionally influenced user responses. I will ensure to write unbiased and non-leading questions in my user interviews in the future.
3. Team Communication
While working on our initial prototypes, my team stopped communicating once we divided our parts. This led to design inconsistencies that users pointed out during interviews. This experience taught me that consistent communication throughout the entire process is essential for the end product to have a cohesive and seamless design.