AutoNation.com
Company: AutoNation
Tools: Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
The homepage for one of the largest auto retailers in the United States, with several different services to offer.
Working for AutoNation, I had the incredible opportunity to be a part of the team working on a refresh of the site’s homepage. AutoNation is a massive auto retailer, which not only sells cars, but purchases them, has a network of partnered service centers, and sells individual parts.
Let’s talk about the work we did, and how we tackled the main challenges for AutoNation.com.
The main goals of the site were as follows:
We had the dual goals of making sure that the full breadth of AutoNation’s promotions, currently running sales, and any advertising initiatives (such at the company’s perpetually running DRV PNK campaign for breast cancer awareness) are presented to users front-and-center, while also making sure that said user can easily access the main services of AutoNation.com.
We determined those four key services to be:
Our eventual solution to the problem was to create a hero section of the site that offered the main services in an easy-to-use, tabbed interface element that allows users to enter the basic information they need to get going. Alongside that, we placed a second element that cycled between in-site ‘ads’ for different promotions, minor services, or just anything AutoNation wished to promote, such as electric vehicles or same-day delivery.
Side by side, these elements composed the top of the page:
Users were able to access all of the core functions of the site at once, while still giving us the opportunity to advertise services and promotions, ensuring users eyes would land on both. Click to enlarge.
Along the rest of the page, we took the approach of using the space to cater to the user that scrolls down out of curiosity, making use of large, eye-catching imagery to nudge them towards various aspects of the site, as well as a larger, hero-style ad, the contents of which would change based on Marketing’s needs.
The individual sections of the page, once the user scrolls past the hero section. Additional services,
such as financing or electric vehicles, are placed here alongside eye-catching imagery. Click to enlarge.
In Conclusion
The full page alongside one of the later wireframes, showing our approach to the sections of the site.
Click on either one to enlarge.
I think that our greatest challenge when working on AutoNation.com, and a constant challenge in nearly aspect of design, is that we had so many aspects of AutoNation that users may want to see or know about. It’s a huge dilemma in both design and life to have so much that you want to show, all of it is really cool, and you want to make sure that it all gets room to breathe and show the world just what it has to offer.
Prioritize.
In the case of AutoNation.com, user research allowed us to figure out the key aspects of AutoNation that users are there for, and make sure that they’re front-and-center on the page. Likewise, in figuring out what is our highest level of priority, and create the tabbed UI element at the top left of the page, to make sure that not only will the words “buy, sell, parts, service” hit the users eye before anything else, but that they can jump into that aspect of the AutoNation experience as quickly and simply as possible.
Prioritize, but balance.
With that in mind, we had to make sure that all of the other aspects of the site are given their time to shine, which is why we implemented the scrolling ad right alongside the services at the top of the page, so that the ads (and the fact that they animate right in your peripheral vision) might catch the users gaze. Likewise, we dedicated the entire rest of the site to these aspects of AutoNation, not only allowing us to place more focus on them after the core use cases are taken care of, but also to give users the impression of AutoNation being a multi-faceted company that offers all kinds of auto-related services.
Overall, I believe us to have been successful in this endeavor, and I had a great time working on this project.