Client
Bonzah
Skills
Deliverables
UI/UX design
IxD design
Desirability testing
A/B testing
Prototype
Agile planning
Presenting
Visual competitive analysis
Style tiles
Prototype app
Prototype marketing site
Style guide
Process
Research
Design
Test
Iterate
Test
The client
Bonzah
Bonzah is a startup that provides car rental insurance for renters in the US. Prior to Bonzah, the founder and his companions ran a car rental comparison website for 12 years. The biggest complaint from those users was the high price of car rental insurance. The solution for this was a stand-alone third-party insurance app that sells insurance for a cheap price. Three types of rentals can be covered by Bonzah:
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Docked rental cars like Hertz
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Undocked carshare like Zipcar
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peer to peer similar to Turo and Getaround
The stakeholder for this project was Steve Sherlock, the founder, and CEO.
Most Bonzah users find Bonzah on comparative websites, where they fill in their destination, duration of the trip and residence. Bonzah does not need to know where the car is from. The app is a vetted process — finding the right insurance coverage for the user. Bonzah insures the person for the duration of their car rental and does not ensure the car itself. As long as the user doesn’t violate the terms and conditions: the user is older than 18 years, the car is worth less than $40.000, and the trip takes less than 45 days.
What is the problem we are helping to solve?
Our team, Wig, Elizabeth and I, a UI Designation team, were asked to design for the already existing MVP prototype, designed by a Designation UX team. Given that almost half of the users are mobile users, the app is intended to accommodate those users with easy accessibility and a streamlined process.
The challenge for this project was to design the UI for the app that could function as the sidekick for the Bonzah website. The UI should be in line with the existing brand, but not mirror the website.
The design solution
Analyzing the existing website
By analyzing the website, I became familiar with the existing look and message of the brand. Bonzah did not perform desirability testing on their current website. I was excited to test my future designs, convinced that adding value this way was important for the success of the app.
For the app, I planned to use colors and photography in a more consistent and balanced way to avoid confused users. The excited and carefree photography theme is in line with how a user would want to feel after purchasing a car rental insurance. I was curious how this mood and feel was going to resonate with our testers. And like the website, the app needed to have a clean, transparent and glanceable layout, suitable for users on the go looking to quickly buy insurance.
The app needed to differentiate from the website with easy glanceability and a consistent clear layout when it comes to color use, photography and overall feel, to ensure a fast user flow. I was excited to other than reviews used on the website, establish trustworthiness with fonts, photography, colors and a very clean and thoughtful layout.
Takeaways
Color combinations
The green accents give a certain freshness to the website as a whole, complementing the gray and the fuchsia well. The Trustpilot and the Nerdwallet green aren't part of the color palette of the website. Curious how these color combinations are going to test with users.
Glanceable screen layouts
The first part of the webpage is clear and glanceable which could work great for the app, to ensure a fast user flow. Clean glanceable screen-layouts is a good objective for the Bonzah app. The general look and feel is fresh and clean, because of the use of negative space and the visual hierarchy.
Clear icons
The icons are clear and understandable
Font use
A rounded sans serif font is in line with the Bonzah brand and would work well for the app as well.
Opportunities
Inconsistent use of colors
The current website shows an inconsistent use of colors. The first part is predominantly white while the 2nd part of the page has a dark grey filter overlay on pictures. An opportunity here for the app is color dynamics consistency, making the layout recognizable for the user.
Trustpilot
Opportunity: The Trustpilot review section is a prominent feature of the website. I wanted to find out the best way of showing reviews. Navigating the page around this section was confusing because the page as a whole stops scrolling and you unexpectedly and unwillingly start interacting with the feature.
Consistency in subject photography
The subject photography could be more consistent. From driving in a convertible to high up in the mountains, back to an ocean view. This shift can be confusing because of the inconsistency.
Target audience
For the target audience, Steve did not want to focus on a specific group within his broad target audience. In the product briefing, he let us know he also wanted to focus on small to medium businesses and enterprises. Even though we were not focussing on one group, we could clearly see some trends. The majority of the users, 60%, is between the ages 25 and 44. A big part of this group consists of the so-called millennials that are said to be drawn to the sharing economy where car ownership is in decline. These users can be seen as budget conscious. Another significant statistic was that roughly 65% of all users are male. And that 15% of all users are return users, representing 64% of all revenue. It was good to know about these majorities, so I could create a more effective design based on these statistics. A narrow majority of users use IOS which could be the reason why we were designing for iOS first.
Analyzing the wireframes
The UX team provided us with wireframes which were a solid starting point. After we each analyzed the wireframes we came together to talk about a communal user flow for our final design. We selected the screens for a communal user flow for our final designs. A quick return user flow for the MVP prototype, which are the most trafficked screens.
The design principles composed by the UX team gave me a good insight into their design decisions
Password confirmation is added
Add Sign up and change it into a link
Delete Sign up button
Change icon into menu icon
Delete chat icon, this function is not a part of the MVP.
Improve visual hierarchy with type, cards, negative space
Good glanceability is important for a fast user flow, considering the user will probably purchase a Bonzah insurance while traveling. The screens have a simple, straight forward and clean layout. A takeaway from our meeting with the UX team was: Users value the flexibility of booking last minute, and users want a competitive quote fast. Most users find out about Bonzah on a desktop, and a fast user flow is a priority for guiding users from website to app to buying their insurance.
With a good visual hierarchy, and the use of negative space I can give the user a good overview of the complex information. A friendly, rounded font can be used to exude an approachable friendly feel. Another takeaway was the existence of distrust among the users because the Bonzah insurance policy is so cheap. That’s why a UI that looks reassuring and comforting is important.
The design for the app should be in line with the Bonzah brand, but not a copy of the website and the web app. By using different colors, but creating the same feel of the website. This app is catering to all ages, but specifically to return users, and these users they found, value a personalized feel for the app, which instills trust.
What did these takeaways mean for the beginning of the project?
The UX team did not interview return users. Since return users represent 64% of the revenue it was important to be able to test on return users in the coming sprints. Another good thing to know was that the founder never tested the Bonzah website for desirability.
Up until now, I was used to designing websites and apps for a specific user persona. This was a big tool for me in explaining my design decisions. I was a little caught off guard by the lack of a user persona. After the kickoff meeting, I found out the pros and cons of using a user persona in the design process.
The screens with the most text needed the most revisions when it comes to glanceability. The login screen needed the most revisions when it comes to functionality. These changes will all help in achieving a faster and more intuitive user flow. I sketched out the changes we made to the wireframes and we started preparing for our very first client meeting.