CASE STUDY

vinhammer
auto auction

My Roles

Creative Direction
UX Design
Proposals & Estimates
Budgeting
Account Management
Partner Agency Relationships
Team Leadership
Project Menagement
Client Presentations

My Team

Gillian Pemberton, Content Manager
Alex White, Junior Designer
Elias Sabba, Senior Designer
Jessette Long, Copywriter

Managed Resources

Design Source Media, Partner Agency
Auction Simplified, Platform Developer

The challenge

The scope was to create a startup auto auction website with a better UX and more contemporary UI than other current vehicle auction sites. The site needed to handle heavy traffic and instantaneous transactions, while offering 24/7 support. Features such as instant messaging, direct messaging, SMS and email notifications, anti-bid-sniping functionality, user dashboards, and more would need to be custom built. Full branding, SEO, and marketing were also part of the scope.

The solution

After much research, it was determined that the best solution was to create a custom website in WordPress and import Auction Simplified’s functionality via API. This allowed us to create all of the required custom features while having more control over the UI/UX. We worked closely with Auction Simplified to add new functionality to their API, such as anti-bid-sniping which was not previously available. Marketing efforts began six months prior to launch in order to generate a following and collect a log of auctions to have ready on the site at launch.

the process

Many moving pieces needed to be managed to launch a large ecommerce website.

I provided creative direction and project management for our in-house team and outsourced contractors. I designed the UX framework of the site and acted as the point of contact for partner agencies and stakeholders. Weekly meetings were held with the client, developers, and designers, keeping everyone on task and on budget, and ensuring timely deliverables and milestones.

Competitive Analysis

A thorough competitive analysis was conducted to identify advantages and pain points of competitor sites to improve user experience.

Branding

Full branding and identity package was designed, including logo, stationary, business cards, note cards, and a digital brand guide.

Auction Website

A custom WordPress website with auction functionality was pulled in from Auction Simplified via API. Additional custom functionality was also developed and implemented.

Landing Page

A teaser landing page was created with information about VINHammer, and discounts were offered for the first 50 auctions to appear on the site the day of launch.