WEBSITE & APP
Carvana
Helping the first 100% online, auto e-commerce company become the new way to buy a used car.
The Holistic Challange
Carvana’s original intention for its website was to prove the hypothesis that cars can be sold 100% online. It was successful, but in 2016 when Carvana reached 7,000 cars in its inventory and started to offer more services and features it was clear that its main platform, Carvana.com, did not have the essential foundations to scale at the pace of the companies ambition. It was time for a code and design overhaul.
Carvana’s Original Website
The Approach
Due to the size and complexity of a total code and design overhaul of the carvana.com platform, myself and the lead UX designer, developed a strategy that would break our process down into three digestable phases.
The Approach Continued…
The work in this case study focuses on what was created for the “Phase 1: Pre-Purchase” flow.
Phase one’s UX/UI objectives was to produce an MVP that gives our users a simple, clear experience through the pre-purchase flow. The brand objectives were to instill brand loyalty through basic design principles, and where applicable, delightful experiences. We also focused on three key feelings that we wanted our users to takeaway. They are approachability, clarity, and credibility.
As Lead Designer…
I worked closely with the UX team and was tasked with setting the tone and visual design system for the entirety of the site. At the same time creating engaging and visually clear user experiences to maximize conversion.
Design Research
The fun part of my job is getting inspired and the discovery of what can be. For the design research portion, we collected reference material that ranged from best-in-class websites to magazine layouts, to freeform sketches and prototypes. All of this helped us get a better understanding and head start on the design challenges that lay ahead of us.
Wireframes
The UX team developed an extensive set of wireframes, states, and scenarios. Here’s a high-level snapshot of just a small amount of them.
Home Page Designs
The final design of the home page was a simplified scrolling experience that introduced a new brand look and feel at a level that consumers could trust.
Rough Scrolling Prototype
I built an HTML prototype of the home page that showed how the car should move down the page in the brand values sections. I shot a toy car in multiple positions and cut out each frame to set the choreography.
Search Page Designs
The search page final designs goal was to maximise the screens realestate for more vehicle cards and at the same time we’ve minimized the search and filter section.
Vehicle Detail Page Designs
The VDP final designs created maximum impact for the visual exploration of the car. Meanwhile the vehicle throughout the rest of the page where organised into neat digestable groups for efficiant scanability.
Spinner Prototype
I built a Flash prototype of the vehicle spinner that showed how the experience should work and animate.
Carvana App
I was tasked with making a lightweight parity app of Carvana’s website.
UI Kit & Style Guides
Our design system language started as an easy sticker sheet UI kit that is still evolving to this day, as are our style guides.
