CHALLENGE
How do you make the in-store car buying experience even better for one of the most incredible auto brands in the world? The brand wanted to explore how putting technology in the hands of their consumers directly at their stores might help them to make a more informed decision while helping to guide them directly to the car of their dreams.
SOLUTION
When most folks are approached by a car salesman, their initial response can be less than desired. Lexus wanted to change this perception by putting an interactive kiosk right in the dealership which would allow customers to search for vehicles that were already on the lot. So many questions came up during our initial research. Where do you put this kiosk? How should it look and interact? How would it differ from the website while still offering the same level of quality that Lexus expects with all of their technology.
Design without informed research is like designing with your eyes closed. To ensure that we design for the appropriate target audience, we conduct user research as part of the overall user-centered design process.
During stakeholder and discovery meetings, we determined that there were unanswered questions about the self-guided customer and sales associate persona. We also discovered that a major problem with the kiosk design is that users aren’t motivated to interact with it. Based on those issues, we devised a guerrilla research plan that could answer our questions. During this process we left no stone uncovered. We spoke to dealers, sales associates, and customers of all types. We looked at hardware, software, touch interaction, environmental visual cues, and usability. We even spent time to fully understand how the car buying process works.
RESULTS
All of this work helped us truly understand what we needed to build. Lexus TV needed to be easy to use and incredibly powerful in helping consumers choose the perfect car for them. It could also be a really fun experience as well by designing an interface that was intelligent, rich in video, and beautiful imagery backed by a smart technology infrastructure.
WHAT WE DELIVERED
- Ethnographic Study
- UI/UX Design
- Prototypes
- Technology