Research & Insight
When we started on this process for reimagining McLaren Automotive's digital presence we knew we wanted to avoid automotive clichés and stay true to McLaren's brand roots. To understand what the digital landscape of automotive brands looked like we examined the best of both the automotive and luxury sector - documenting our insights along the way.
I didn't have much experience in buying supercars so a key part of the process was to understand paths to purchase for high net worth (HNW) and ultra high net worth (UHNW) prospective clients. To do this we interviewd a sample of people to understand what they valued and how they went about the buying process online and offline.
"A car is an emotional thing, an emotional
purchase. We don’t use our intelligence to buy it"
Understanding what prospective clients value helped us create a framework that we could use to structure our content for both prospects and supercar fans.
Based on our immersion in the brand, our conversations with users, and our understanding of the client and the new envisioned design language we created UX and Design prnciples to help steer our work. It also ensured that we and the client had a shared language.
Content & Structure
The site structure wasn't designed to be deep - so I worked with the lead designer to redefine how we wanted each page and section of the site to flow. I created a visual sitemap using iconography to help our client see exactly what we meant by each interaction we had planned.
I wanted to take an approach that focussed on interaction design without going through a visually abstracted wireframe process. Instead I worked directly with designers to detail each page and section on the site, sketching ideas, documenting high level page briefs in page description diagrams - wireframes devoid of layout or form but specifiying content priority on page.
The content we had planned for the site included new web films, CGI, photography and copy. I scripted the interviews for web films and storyboarded them to ensure they brought out the right details. I accompanied the film crew at McLaren's HQ to help with art direction and content quality.
Weeks were spent honing particular interactions and getting details correct. This involved lots of iteration with designers and developers.
Some of the final page designs created by the design team
Visit www.cars.mclaren.com for the live site.
Credits:
UX Lead: Kalpesh Rathod
Creative Director: Thomas Moeller
Art Director / Design Lead: Matthew Steenburg
