—internship

CarLotz

Growing brand awareness of a mature start-up in the used car industry located in Richmond, VA

Overview

This project took shape over 3 phases. Each with packed with learning points that determined its path.

Print Collateral

I went through and refreshed almost all of CarLotz's printed materials. Always re-thinking the execution while staying consistent to the new brand identity.

Page portal

Website Design

The used car industry can be competitive, so it was important that the new website not only functioned well but also grabbed attention.

Page Portal

Email Campaign

Creating an entire email campaign from scratch was no easy tasks. We considered the buyer and the seller, ensuring they receive information

Page Portal

warming up

Print collateral gets fresh look

Right before I arrived, CarLotz had begun to implement new branding provided by a local design shop. I decided to take it and... drive.

Letterhead and Business Cards

After multiple rounds we settled on a look that has a playful edge while still uploading a professional look.

Name Tags

From in-store coaches to headquarters employees, they all wear a name tag. Using the orange to catch the eye, I kept it clean with a simple hey! I'm [name] ask away.

Folders

Folders include all paperwork and information that buyers need when driving their new car off the lot. I used this as an opportunity to inject a final friendly note: you're ready to roll

the car wrap

Attention grab

A car wrap can quickly be cluttered with information, loosing the initial appeal. The design was kept simple with one requirement, matte wrap only. The end result was better than expected, a unique looking vehicle that gets people asking about CarLotz.

hitting the pavement

A redesign to reflect innovation

More learnings

Site Map

The small team and I started at the whiteboard, restructuring the current navigation. Taking inspiration from modern web design I landed on a clean layout with the use of only one dropdown, killing over 5 redundant pages.

Information Planning

In order to ensure the proper information is available in the right places, I went through the mind of buyers and sellers. I made sure that information was staggered as not to overwhelm, since car buying is a big decision. The perception of trust through understanding in many ways is imperative to the process.

Final Prototype

A month and a half from the start, the final prototype came to fruition. After review it was approved as a viable re-design with upcoming plans of development.

“

CarLotz aims to redefine the used car marketplace by providing customers with private market values, superior customer service, and transparency.

emails, emails, emails

marketing

At the time CarLotz's email communications were ad hoc and sparse. It was my goal to create templates that would go on to feed into their first email campaign.

summary

Key take-aways

This internship-turned-contract has been a valuable experience, for myself and my future.

Summer 2019

The internship portion of this job experience began in June 2019. I worked with a team comprised a Marketing Director (Brandcenter Alumni - Elizabeth Maksim) and a brand strategy consultant (Rad Tollett). We also worked with a local design shop (Familiar Creatures) on multiple projects. Together we moved quickly to transform the CarLotz image across all mediums and built a strategy that will shape CarLotz as it strengthens its digital presence.

From the start I learned a tremendous amount on the used car industry and marketing operations such as media buying. While working with the team, I improved my communication skills and my ability to juggle multiple projects. It was also important for me to consistently bring in the team early in the design stages. Having their support and feedback helped us moved quickly while continuously improving on the project's effectiveness. Overall, I had an awesome experience working in this role and feel much more equipped as I move forward.

Summer Onwards

Although the summer internship came to an end, CarLotz has kept me on the team. I continue to build on their marketing content and evolve the upcoming website redesign. I've since grown in my role as a source for copy, integration tactics, and user experience improvements.