Hertz Redesign

Spring 2020, 2 days

Design a better way for a mid-career professional who occasionally travels for work to find just the right vehicle when using the Hertz mobile app.

Skills

Information Architecture, UX/UI, Visual Design

Tools

Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

Collaborators

Individual

UNDERSTANDING THE USER

What are the user's primary goals for using this application?

Since this was a design sprint, I was given preliminary research about my users. The persona I designed for values having lots of information and control. They want to browse and understand their options. I need to design an interface that prioritizes browsing freedom and helps the user find as much information as possible.

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM SPACE

In what ways is the current product helping or hindering this user?

In the current Hertz app, there are two main issues hindering the ideal experience for this persona. The first issue is structural. Within the structure, access to the library of cars is hidden and the location within the architecture doesn't make semantic sense. The second issue is visual/experiential. In the app, there are limited images of vehicles, limited details about vehicles, and buttons are higher in the hierarchy than images.

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WIREFRAMING

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REDESIGNING THE STRUCTURE

How might I improve the browsing experience through redesigning the app architecture?
Homepage

I decided to add a direct link to the vehicle library on the homepage. It sits directly below the reservation function to allow users the option to browse the vehicles and understand their options before making a reservation. I used language from other parts of the experience to make the button. I also decided at this point to push the “our fleet” language forward. In the current app, this language was confusing because it wasn’t used everywhere. I thought the phrase was unique and could be used beneficially if done right.

Reservations

For this page, I took “Our Fleet” out of the sub navigation and added it to the main content of the page. I decided to put it below the other items because the main purpose of this page is managing reservations.

I used similar language to other content on this page and other pages. I made the header a question to create ties with the first section on the page: “Currently renting?” I then used a similar color scheme and button construct to design the section pushing the brand forward.

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REDESIGNING THE EXPERIENCE + VISUAL DESIGN

Category organization

For this target audience, I wanted to give them the option to choose how they want to browse the vehicles. All of the categories I chose can be created based on the information Hertz has on each of the vehicles. I also gave the option to browse all. Overall, this page gives the users control over how they want to browse and information about what options they have. The category options are: size, collection, price, features, number of seats.

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REDESIGNING THE EXPERIENCE + VISUAL DESIGN

Browsing experience

Within each category, users have the option to filter the choices. This filter changes depending on what the category is. For example, this page allows you to filter the number of seats to a specific number. The price category allows you to filter high to low, low to high, and within specific price ranges.

To enhance the browsing experiencing and put the focus on the vehicles, I pushed the images forward and the “start a reservation” buttons back. Even though the buttons are smaller, the yellow color makes it clear that you can click on it, and it will start a new step in the process. Additionally, I changed the all white background to a light gray, and the individual posts to white. This pushes the posts forward and shows users that they can click any part of the post to show more information.

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REDESIGNING THE EXPERIENCE + VISUAL DESIGN

Vehicle details

On the vehicle details page, I implemented similar visual changes as the browsing page. I added additional images and details (that I found from their website) to enhance the information I user will be able to see. I also added tags (pulling from the original app) for each of the main categories that this car is featured in (size, collection, number of seats, etc.) At the bottom, users are given a couple of cars that are similar to the current one based on different category features. This will allow users to jump between categories, if they want, to find the right car.

I considered added a “save” or “like” feature so that users would be able to go to a bank of their favorite cars to compare and choose. I ultimately decided not to venture into this idea, but it’s something I would like to explore.

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FINAL PROJECT

FINAL THOUGHTS

If I were to have more time, I would have liked to do more research around the architecture of the app. I believe I improved navigation by creating 2 new entry points to the Fleet library (the homepage and reservations page), but I'm not sure if these were the best solutions. It would be helpful to do a card sorting exercise with the target audience to gain insights about what point in the process they would like access to these features and what other actions they see them grouped with.

I would also have liked to do some user research to validate my assumptions around which categories this target audience would like to search and filter by. There might be categories that I left out or ones that I included that people don't actually care to filter by. Lastly, I would have liked to collaborate with engineers on my proposed solutions to ensure they make sense both from a user and development standpoint.

Overall, this quick design exercise allowed me to look at many different aspects of this app and see what changes I could make to ensure an optimal experience for my target audience. I enjoyed looking at structure, content, and layout altogether as a holistic issue rather than just focusing on one of them.