Auto Trader Redesign Pitch

We were asked to pitch on the Auto Trader website redesign, which was a kinda last minute thing. We literally had about 48hours to put something together. Captain Clint Bryce is a master at presentations, so naturally it ended up being pretty solid. This is a quick and dirty mockup I hammered out for the pitch. Its not really thoroughly thought through, merely aimed at showcasing some of the basic improvements that can be expected.

Some principles we touched on: Usability - bringing key functions right into the immediate  experience - i.e. quick search, quick links, search by type and making the distinction between the user journeys of a) the buyer, and b) the seller. I’ve also provided for IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) standards compliant ad space.

We are starting to scratch the surface of psychological concepts like the relationship between aesthetics and cognition, based on patterns and experiences. For example, what does color suggest? (e.g. the green ‘Search’ button) Green is good, green is for go, red is bad, right? An object’s affordance is the actions and functions its appearance suggests, a concept extensively incorporated in more mature design industries like Industrial Design. One of my favourite design icons, Dieter Rams, former Braun Product Design Chief puts it thus: “Good design makes a product useful. Good design helps us to understand a product.”

Alistapart published this brilliant article, exploring the concept in much greater depth. Fascinating stuff!