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!

We’ve just completed the first phase of the Adidas Virtual Run Club Website. Clint summed it up perfectly:

The idea is so simple you’re going to wonder why it hasn’t been done before: a virtual run club.

Imagine running whenever it suited you and at your own pace … but still enjoy the motivation you get from comparing your performance with others. You can now. With the soon-to-launch Adidas Virtual Run Club.

How it Works
It’s very simple. All you need to do is (a) join a club, (b) start your own … or (c) run alone. Then upload your distance and time after each run.

Join a Club: Browse from the existing list and decide on one that appeals to you. The Club does not necessarily have to be in your area. You may join as many clubs as you wish and at any time. Each time you upload a run, the information will be added to the group distance, time and pace statistics of all the Clubs you belong to.

Start a Club: Decide on a name for your Club and add a short description. It will then be added to the list for other Run Club members to browse and join. If you have family and friends that also enjoy running we suggest you notify them and ask them to become members. Each time you capture a run it will be added to your club total.

Run Alone: Each run you upload will be added to you personal overall total. No other Run Club member’s will have access to your personal performance data. Although, you will not be able to compare your own performance against those of the group, which is a pity, because the real benefit lies in comparing performance.

The Virtual Run Club let’s you run your way and still be part of the team.

Hit the road. Then share it.

We opted to develop the Website in good ol’ HTML and classic ASP due to time and resource constraints. To make up for the lack of all things Flash, I’ve used jQuery to rotate and fade in backgrounds, customise scrollbars, animate user prompts, alerts and product features.

Unique to the execution of this project is the use of ‘first-person’ language (statements like “Because I run my way”) and POV photography, as stipulated by the ‘Adidas Running’ Style Guide.

Phase two of the project focuses on the mobile-enabled version. All and all this was a fun project to work on, I’m looking forward to using it myself!