Improving workflow for car dealerships
Industry
My role
Key contributions
Team
Year
Introduction
Project overview
AutoView360* is a mobile application designed to streamline vehicle photography for car dealerships. The app guides users through the process of taking high-quality, standardized photos of vehicles exteriors and interiors, aiming to improve online vehicle presentations and, ultimately, sales.
My role
I led the complete design lifecycle of a new mobile app, involving research, mockup creation, prototyping and creating set of custom illustrations.
I collaborated closely with developers and stakeholders to ensure the app met both user needs and business goals.
* Due to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), certain details of this case study, including the app/project name and corporate identity elements, have been changed to maintain confidentiality. The information presented reflects the nature and impact of the project.
The problem
The absence of an iOS version, along with an outdated interface and significant accessibility issues
The client approached us with an Android-only app designed for vehicle photography. The app's user interface was outdated, and it lacked several critical features. The goal was to enhance the user experience, expand the app’s availability to both iOS and Android platforms, and introduce new functionalities, particularly to better support the use of the THETA 360 camera.
Breakdown
Emerging goals
Visualization of capturing 360 photos using RICO THETA camera
Research
Research opportunity
To gain deeper insights into how end users were interacting with the existing app and to better understand their expectations, we initiated a series of workshops with the client. These sessions provided a valuable opportunity to align our goals and explore users’ pain points.
I thoroughly tested the existing app, identifying critical areas where users encountered difficulties. This hands-on analysis revealed several pain points, which informed the next steps in the research process.
To visualize potential improvements, I created a screen flow of the current app, allowing to pinpoint inefficiencies and explore ways to optimize the user flow. This step helped in identifying which screens could be streamlined or removed entirely to enhance the overall experience.
Before diving into the design phase, I conducted a competitive analysis to benchmark the app against industry standards and identify opportunities to differentiate. Additionally, I held several interviews with the client to discuss the exact workflow for dealerships and to ensure the app's features would align with their business needs.
Key findings & insights
iPhone, Xiaomi and Samsung camera apps comparison
Design process
Start small, think big
The app development was split into two stages: MVP (minimum viable product) first and the full version later. I began by creating wireframes to map out screen layouts, ensuring that the foundational structure was both simple and efficient.
Considering we worked in Agile methodology; I had an opportunity to collect client’s feedback as fast as possible after having just a few mockups. So, I made an initial component library to speed up the process and decided to focus on the most straightforward screens first to confirm style direction and overall branding.
Typing and navigating UX before and after redesign
Next, I focused on the app's most important functionality - the camera. My goal was to create a simple and intuitive UI, that would also resolve the issues present in the previous app.
After several iterations on key features, such as determining whether the auto-brightness should be triggered by tapping the screen or through a dedicated icon - we landed on a solution where tapping the screen adjusts the camera focus, and brightness or white balance can be selected by tapping the 'Auto Mode' icon.
Camera UI before and after redesign
After a couple iterations most of mockups for MVP were ready. I then made an interactive prototype to test and validate the design with our team and stakeholders.
Session configuration in MVP version
MVP Refinement
Based on feedback from our internal team and stakeholders, I iterated on several screens that required improvements. These changes focused on refining the user experience and ensuring the app was intuitive and responsive across various scenarios, such as handling empty states, improving modals, and enhancing action-dependent UI elements.
Transferring photo sessions to the server
Since the app was designed to support seven different languages, I also ensured that the UI was translation-ready, with flexible layouts that could accommodate longer text strings and varied characters.
User’s profile screen in Polish and Italian languages
Once the MVP mockups were finalized, I focused my attention on polishing the visual details and micro-interactions. This involved refining the layout for consistency across different device viewports, enhancing camera animations, button states, and ensuring that all icons and typography were legible and accessible.
THETA360 Onboarding & illustrations
One of the key challenges in the previous app was the lack of an onboarding process for the THETA360 camera. To tackle this, a new onboarding process was created. Using a physical specimen and the instruction manual, I designed a set of custom illustrations to guide users through the setup process step by step.
Making of new illustrations
Since connecting to the camera's Wi-Fi happens outside the app (in the phone’s Wi-Fi settings), we automatically attempt to check the connection status when the user returns to the app. For each possible connection status, I created a corresponding illustration.
The new onboarding process and illustrations served as visual aids, transforming a previously confusing camera setup into an intuitive and user-friendly experience.
Camera connections states illustrations
Connecting to 360 camera mockups
Background replacement
After finalizing the MVP and THETA360 Onboarding, we developed additional features to enhance the app’s value for dealerships. One key feature was background replacement.
I designed a simple UI, which allowed users to replace the background of vehicle photos using pre-defined templates within the app, making it easier to create consistent and professional images.
Session configuration with background replacement
Results
Project outcome
The reception of the new app was very positive. The redesign of the app improved dealerships’ workflow and user-friendly interface also allowed them to create better presentations with greater efficiency, contributing directly to improved business outcomes. Based on our client’s metrics, photos made using the app resulted in the following:
Reflection
Takeaways
Final thoughts:
Overall, the project was a success, not only because of the positive metrics but also because of the implemented user-centric solutions that simplified and enhanced the vehicle photography process. It was rewarding to see how dealerships could use the app to improve their workflow and day-to-day operations.
