GENERATION PARTS
Daimler manufactures and distributes millions of vehicle parts every year. Not every part makes it to its final destination for one reason or another. Sometimes a part order is canceled or dented during transit. All these parts add up, and when sold on the secondary market that adds up to a lot. Generation Parts is a platform that was created to make it easy for Daimler to gain back some of that lost revenue.
VALIDATION
At Lab1886 we started from scratch with this project. After identifying the opportunity and securing funding our next step was to understand the industry. After 60+ interviews with subject matter experts of all shapes and sizes, we were able to figure out where generation parts would fit into the puzzle. Here are just a few of the complex diagrams we used to help make sense of the big picture.
CUSTOMER JOURNEY
After learning so much about the industry it was my turn to focus on our future customers. Understanding their wants and needs was crucial to creating a product they would want to use. One particularly useful exercise that gave us valuable insight was when we hung out at a popular truck stop diner and interviewed truck drivers in person. Their information was crucial in designing the below customer journey.
FEATURE TRACK
I use what I call a feature track as a tool to translate a simplified user journey into a feature list. I use color to distinguish between must have and nice to have features.
CREATING A BRAND
We had to create a brand that fit into the industry without being too flashy but still memorable.
I wanted to design a logo that felt high quality but not too high quality. Our platform was supposed to live in the "Value" category so if it looked too polished the customers might think it's out of their price range.
NEW PRODUCT POST FLOW
I identified the "posting a part" flow as the most exhausting step for users and took extra care to make sure that process was as efficient as possible. Here was the final experience I mapped out to show the different ways a user could post parts onto the platform.
NEW PRODUCT POST DESIGNS
I tried out multiple ways for the user to input information to find the fastest solution. This diagram shows how many taps are needed to complete the test. This helped me pick the most efficient solution.
PRODUCT DESIGN
After the planning phase was finished I started designing the platform one flow at a time. I designed every screen for mobile and desktop making sure to stay one sprint ahead of our dev team. Creating a platform that worked for both sellers and buyers was very challenging but rewarding.
