The redesign may have been limited in scope and capabilities, but we were determined to make dramatic improvements. We were intentional to educate the clients along the way, explaining rationale and sharing UX education, empowering them to continue advocating for a better experience.

We had pitched an updated navigation to this team a few times, so we took this opportunity to give it some much needed updates!

Using our past work trying to pitch navigation improvements, the findings of the competitive analysis, data on the most visited pages on the site, the knowledge of the existing kia.com navigation, and an exercise of breaking down the current site map and putting it back together, I proposed some navigation improvements.

There were six key screens in-scope for the pre-login/unauthenticated section of the site. This work was relatively straightforward and focused on reskinning the designs to match kia.com, with some strategic content improvements on pages that warranted it.

• Prioritizing valuable and frequently visited content through additions like quick links below the hero on the homepage
• Improved “Check Availability” experience, focusing on clearly defining what is or isn’t available on a specific vehicle
• Introduced a component for feature-specific pages that updates within the page, allowing quick availability checks without being sent to a new page
• Removing all broken links and dead ends. Replaced with content focused on helping owners find the resources they need for their vehicle, such as scheduling maintenance.
• Clear value propositions and feature communications so users can easily understand what benefits are available for Kia owners
• Extra emphasis on business priorities that offer value for owners:
• The Kia Access App, offering access to even more benefits on the go
• Kia Connect, a monthly subscription that contains the bulk of exclusive features for owners
• The Kia Connect Store, a new business venture that offers even more features
• Direct “How to Activate/Set Up” steps for features, especially Kia Connect, which is the primary source of owner benefits and offers a free trial

Creative collaboration is a critical step of any project. The magic happens when different perspectives and ideas come together, push each other, and meld into one. Morgan Bennet, my UI counterpart, and I had a well-established working relationship at this point. Although this project was focused on reusing existing components wherever possible, there are always opportunities to push and build on each other’s work. She had great ideas on how to combine the “Check Availability” screens and we were able to elegantly consolidate this flow to keep the “Kia Connect Not Available” messaging on the “select your vehicle” screen.

The post-login experience was more dashboard-focused, requiring us to deviate from the “reuse established kia.com components” approach and propose new concepts, looking to highly regarded tech-froward OEMs like Tesla and Rivian for inspiration. There were a lot of small experience and logic improvements that needed to be made which we addressed while breaking down, pulling apart, and putting back together the features of the experience.

• Modular dashboard approach allowing for scalability, easily responsive between screen sizes, quick scanning for users, and establishing a modern design look and feel
• Brought remote commands directly into the dashboard instead of a separate section, removing clicks to access and highlighting easy use and state visibility of each remote command
• Grouping content and actions by category to help Kia Owners find what they need when they need it: controls, maintenance, emergency, and general owner resources
• Improved “Schedule Service” flow to remember contextual information, making scheduling a service quicker and easier without asking for redundant information every time
• Replaced unclear language with layman’s terms for error flows (ex: “Account Reprovisioned” became “Activate Kia Connect” with clear pathways to proceed on web or in the app)
• Add contextual definitions in layman’s terms to make alerts and schedules more clear, with less questions about “what is this, what does this mean, what am I actually doing”

The Store was a unique problem to solve. Originally there were two completely separate stores: one unauthenticated experience linked from the main navigation, and one authenticated experience linked from the dashboard side navigation. When authenticated it was difficult to find your way back to the unauthenticated store, but each store had different offerings and a very different look and feel.

The Kia Connect Store was a relatively new addition and a high priority for the business. We wanted to make sure this experience worked - for the business as a revenue stream, and as an educational and easy to use experience for users. The store should be an area of exposure of additional features that could benefit or improve the experience of Kia Owners. So let’s make it feel familiar to established ecommerce practices, match their mental expectations, and work across all authentication states!