Just Auto Marketplace
JustAuto is a vehicles enthusiast’s marketplace network where people can advertise unique vehicles online and in the printed magazine. In 2016, I led the redesign of JustAuto websites, and in 2018 I performed a UX review for further improvements.
Summary
Back in 2016, I was approached by JustAuto with the challenge of redesigning their network of 6 websites: JustCars, JustBikes, Just Parts, Just 4x4s, BoatTrader, and JustTrucks & Heavy Equipment. My main goal was to improve the user experience of the sites, by making it easier for users to find vehicles and refreshing the look and feel of the websites. I started from an existing user research study made by an agency. Consequently, I worked in collaboration with a mid-level designer in the user interface design of the platform. I also worked directly with the development team in JustAuto in order to understand the technical requirements and limitations. Also directly with customers, conducting usability testing on prototypes. At the end of 2018 I was approached again to do further usability improvements on the work done. I analyzed the usage data collected through Hotjar and proposed further improvements.
Discovery
Business Analysis
JUST AUTO is a one-stop shop for dreamers! They are heavily involved with classifieds and are magazine orientated but they were looking to expand their web presence with an exciting, cutting edge web experience. Their websites were designed/built around 2005 and as technology advances very quickly, it was needing an overall rework to adapt to the new internet era.
Understanding The Users
I started by analyzing customer's feedback, Google analytics, and existing user research made by the Doghouse agency. I used an affinity diagram to cluster common issues and make it easier to identify what are the main areas we should be focusing on in order to improve the overall user experience of the site.
User Flows
The stats showed that users were dropping off from the search page and the ad page. Which indicates that we needed to investigate more to find out what were the issues on those pages
Google Analytics - Demographics
This shows that the majority of our users are males between 18-65 years old. With a dominance of more than 50% of 45-64 years old. Only 16.1% of those are females.
Approach
Our approach was simple, focus on solving all the issues identified in the research. Design a holistic experience that tackles all the main group of issues seen in the affinity diagram. Because all the 6 websites used the same structure, the information architecture and functionality would be almost identical. Only content categories would vary. So, I decided to start working on JustCars website for desktop and mobile, which is the website with most visitors (around 200k a month). In the meantime, the development team was advancing in the migration to a Drupal environment.
- Rework the “Product” listing page (Advertisements)
- Improve the “Searching” experience (Home page)
- Improve the “Place Ad” user flow
- Enable users to manage ads and track their performance
- Improve navigation – starting from the IA proposed by Doghouse
- Add “Notifications” Functionality
- Design mobile approach
Ideation
I worked closely with the head of development to generate ideas to the issues identified in the research. I produced wireframes out of conversations and iterated on them according to the feedback. Our goal was to create a prototype that allows us to test out solutions.
Testing
I developed prototypes in Invision for all our users and we tested the Desktop and mobile prototype with 5 users.
Design System
Managing Design
I led and mentored a mid-level UI Designer who helped me with some of the UI work. I used a Trello Kanban Board to help the team organize the tasks and track progress. I was responsible for creating actionable tasks from business requirements, workshop outcomes and conversations with stakeholders. This helped us to keep the team accountable and keep track of the progress.
File Structure
When dealing with design files, I encourage designers to keep consistent and organized file structure with comprehensive naming to facilitate collaboration. I prefer using numbers to create a folders hierarchy and keep all versions of the files. Instead of deleting files, we moved them into an x-Archive folder that contains all the old iterations of a file. In this way, we always keep previous versions in case we need them again.
UI-Kit
Screens Design
Desktop
Mobile
Iteration
At the end of 2018, I was approached to help with a few usability issues that the JustCar's users were experiencing with the new site. To do so, I analyzed usage data and customer feedback from Hotjar. I performed an expert review and suggested actionable improvements.
