EVA ORTEGA
UX + UI Designer
Repair Valet was a service app that saved time for anyone who needed work done on their vehicle. It alleviated the hassle of auto repair by valeting, servicing and returning a person's vehicle to them while they tracked every step of the process on their mobile device or computer.
My role was to help design for the the user experience and create the interface for the application. I collaborated with executives, a project manager, developers, and users to launch this project.
Every successful project needs a discovery and definition phase, even if it's a short one.
The executives provided the business goals and we had an idea of
the types of people (personas) most likely use the app. We did a
survey and conducted interviews to gain more insight into their
needs. Most of the users felt very apprehensive about the auto
repair industry to begin with, getting them to hand over their
vehicles for service via an app would be a challenge. Gaining
their trust would need to be our priority.
Trust is always earned.
My team and I hashed through ideas and I drew the wireframes,
improving them with each pass. Educating users about the Repair
Valet process was key to building user trust. We broke down the
information into scannable chunks. We also added social proof,
trust cards, and an About Us section. I then created the user
interface, explainer visuals, iconography, CSS code snippets,
comps and prototypes.
During the project, we ran through different types of tests. The
completion of each test would launch us, once again, into the
discovery and design phases. The most fruitful one was a beta
test of the entire Repair Valet process. I gave each participant
a diary to log their thoughts and feelings during their Repair
Valet experience and then logged all the information onto a
journey map for each user. This gave us a bird's eye view of
what was going on with the drivers, the shops and the customers
at the same time. This test lead us to make major improvements
to the app.
Information has been hidden to protect confidentiality.
Repair Valet was a bold project with many moving parts. Nothing like it existed at the time. I learned about the benefits of working on a cross functional team and how to pay attention to the parts of the user experience that happen outside of the UI. It was a valuable experience.
