Ant Clark

Lead UX/UI Designer

Ant Clark

Lead UX/UI Designer

Ant Clark

Lead UX/UI Designer

Lexus

Improving the search for a pre-owned Lexus

The project

This was a personal project that I set myself. I have used the pre-owned search on the live Lexus website a number of times over the years and have always been left frustrated with the experience. The existing interface lacked user-friendly features, and navigating through the options felt cumbersome. To address these issues and enhance the user experience, I came up with simple personas and key flows to help revamp the pre-owned search functionality.

Deliverables

  • PERSONAS

  • USER FLOWS

  • UI DESIGN

  • PROTOTYPING

Project aims

  • Create a streamlined car search

  • Cater for users not familiar with Lexus

  • Allow users to save and compare cars

  • Allow users to quickly view car details

  • Simplify enquiring about a car

Lexus

Improving the search for a pre-owned Lexus

The project

This was a personal project that I set myself. I have used the pre-owned search on the live Lexus website a number of times over the years and have always been left frustrated with the experience. The existing interface lacked user-friendly features, and navigating through the options felt cumbersome. To address these issues and enhance the user experience, I came up with simple personas and key flows to help revamp the pre-owned search functionality.

Deliverables

  • PERSONAS

  • USER FLOWS

  • UI DESIGN

  • PROTOTYPING

Project aims

  • Create a streamlined car search

  • Cater for users not familiar with Lexus

  • Allow users to save and compare cars

  • Allow users to quickly view car details

  • Simplify enquiring about a car

Personas and flows

Personas and flows

Personas and flows

Persona 1

Len, the loyal Lexus customer

Len has been a Lexus owner for a number of years. He has owned three RX's and already knows what he wants to upgrade to. He has done all the research, knows what trims he is after and now just wants to search for the car.

Behaviours

Len is retired and values his free time

Spends most of his time with grandkids

Hates his time being wasted

Hates being pestered by phone

Goals

  • Easily search for what model/trim he wants

  • Contact dealers online to see cars

  • Deal with everything in his own time

  • Spend time with grandkids

User story

Len would need to be able to clearly choose the car and trim to start his search. Once he had found cars that fitted his needs, contacting dealers would need to be clear and obvious to start dialogue about price and test drive.

Persona 2

Peter, the Lexus novice 

Peter has never shopped at Lexus before. He has no idea about the cars or trims and is just searching to see what is on offer. Searching by model and trim would make his search harder. He is however looking for a large family car that he can take out to the country as he and his family are keen hikers.

Behaviours

Peter works full time and has a family

Very money conscious

Hates making decisions

Wants to be shown the right options for him

Goals

  • Find the best value car for his need

  • Easily compare options

  • Ability to save and come back to cars

  • Come to a decision on the best car for him 

User story 1

To start with,  Peter won’t be interested in contacting dealers just yet, but would rather just research what is available. Options would need to be available to allow him to compare cars and share, print or download his findings.

User story 2

Having done all his comparing and research, Peter would now need to be able to easily access his saved cars upon coming back to the website. He would now be ready to start contacting dealers to discuss price and potential test drive.

Lexus persona user flows
Lexus persona user flows
Lexus persona user flows

Concepts and ideas

Concepts and ideas

Concepts and ideas

Search landing

The idea behind the landing page was to clearly signpost the different search options to the users. The page introduces two different ways to search for a car depending on whether you already know what you are after, or you need help in finding the right car. My initial idea was to have these options on the actual search page as tabs, but whilst I was wireframing the page I felt this made the search page cluttered and harder to follow. People could also miss the tabs so I decided to introduce a landing page which would require users to make a decision, and depending on their choice, we would show them the relevant search page. The header also allows returning users to easily access their messages, saved cars and previous searches.

Lexus landing page design
Lexus landing page design
Lexus landing page design

Starting your search

Persona 1, Len, The brand loyal Lexus owner

I needed to keep the search page simple. By presenting minimal key options the idea was to get users into the results as quickly as possible. With Persona 1 already knowing what car they were looking for, this page needed key options to choose the model and trim immediately.

Search design (Knows Lexus brand)
Search design (Knows Lexus brand)
Search design (Knows Lexus brand)

Starting your search

Persona 1, Len, The brand loyal Lexus owner

I needed to keep the search page simple. By presenting minimal key options the idea was to get users into the results as quickly as possible. With Persona 1 already knowing what car they were looking for, this page needed key options to choose the model and trim immediately.

Search design (New to Lexus brand)
Search design (New to Lexus brand)
Search design (New to Lexus brand)
Lexus search results design
Lexus search results design
Lexus search results design

Results page

The results page was designed to be easily scanned. I purposely laid out each listing item so that there were clear columns for the different content. This means that as the user scrolls through the listings they can clearly scan the different car details such as the model, trim, price, car photos and/or the dealer info for each car. Options to save, share and download the PDF are subtly highlighted and the enquire button is prominently highlighted using colour and a drop shadow allowing a clear call to action to contact the dealer.

To view car details the user just needs to click on the ' View Car Details' link which opens up and an accordian showing more details about that car.

Users can filter and sort the list by using the clear options at the top. The idea being when a user scrolls this bar would sit at the top of the screen.

Template features

Easy to scan car information

Prominent call to action to enquire about car

Fixed menu bar allowing users to filter or sort results

Quickview car details instead of loading a new page

Refine your search

Instead of the usual filters down the side or across the top, I went with an overlay approach. The advantage of this approach was in keeping the listing page clear and simple, I could give the filters the full screen allowing for a more visual approach to filtering by the different options.

  • Filter design for choosing model and trim
  • Filter design for choosing location and price
  • Filter design for choosing mileage and age
  • Filter design for choosing fuel type, gearbox and engine
  • Filter design for choosing colour
  • Filter design for choosing required features
  • Filter design for choosing model and trim
  • Filter design for choosing location and price
  • Filter design for choosing mileage and age
  • Filter design for choosing fuel type, gearbox and engine
  • Filter design for choosing colour
  • Filter design for choosing required features
  • Filter design for choosing model and trim
  • Filter design for choosing location and price
  • Filter design for choosing mileage and age
  • Filter design for choosing fuel type, gearbox and engine
  • Filter design for choosing colour
  • Filter design for choosing required features

Your saved cars

Your saved cars

The saved cars page was designed to also allow the user to compare each car they have saved. By using an accordian approach, users can easily browse the info they want to see without having to scan a long page list of every feature the car has.

Cars can be easily scrolled through using the arrows and, via a delete button, can be removed from the page.

Enquiring about a car is made easy via a prominent call to action underneath the car details.

Template features

Car details easy to digest due to accordian approach

Car details shown in columns allowing for easy comparing.

Clear call to action to enquire about each car

Cars can be easily removed via a delete button

Lexus saved cars design
Lexus saved cars design
Lexus saved cars design

Enquiring About A Car

The aim of the enquiry page was to allow users to have quick and easy conversations direct with the sales person, about a specific car. By making it a live chat, users can book a viewing, a testdrive or enquire about a car's availability and price in a more streamlined fashion - getting them the answers they need a lot quicker than having to submit a form. Messages can also be stored so the user can keep track of conversations they are having about numerous cars all on one page.

Lexus enquiring about a car design
Lexus enquiring about a car design
Lexus enquiring about a car design

Finding your new Lexus on the go

Finding your new Lexus on the go

Finding your new Lexus on the go

Lexus mobile designs
Lexus mobile designs
Lexus mobile designs

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