Stratus
Web Redesign for Stratus
A platform revamp designed to streamline operations for dealership staff, providing a unified experience across sales, service, and finance.
Why are we doing this?
Stratus is intended to improve dealership efficiency by centralizing tools and data for managers across different departments. Dealership staff can monitor productivity, handle claims, manage sales, and access reports, all in one place. This redesign focuses on creating a seamless and user-friendly interface to support daily operations.
RESEARCH
Get to Know the Pain Points from Current Users
Dealers across multiple roles have varied needs. Through user research, we identified pain points in the existing system, such as slow navigation, lack of customization, and difficulties in finding frequently accessed tools. User interviews were conducted to define user stories and understand key improvements needed in dashboard customization, navigation, and task management.
Sara Z.
Service Manager
I need to see the service team's performance and pending tasks quickly, but the current system feels cluttered and time-consuming to navigate.
Justin E.
Finance Manager
Tracking financial data and claims submissions is critical for my role, but switching between multiple tools slows me down. I wish everything was in one place.
Dizard G.
Office Manager
I often struggle to find documents or tools quickly, and it disrupts my workflow. A smarter search function would save me a lot of time.
• Goals & Objectives •
To make our design thinking clearer and more targeted, we defined our final goal and objectives based on the pain points summarized from the research.
• Design Road Maps •
To finally reach the goals, I break down the process into 5 milestones and create a road map. This can help us prioritize features and effectively guide the end-to-end design process.
• User Personas & Journey Maps •
To guide the design decisions based on their specific goals and daily workflows, I developed personas for each user type — Service Manager, Finance Manager, Office Manager, and Sales Manager
Creative Design
Always Being Creative and User-Friendly
According to the user feedback we collected and marketing strategy, I experienced a cycle process of brainstorming, decision-making, prototyping, and iterating.
• Refresh Dashboard •
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UI Refresh
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Created a clean and modern interface that prioritizes visual clarity
2. Global Header
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Redesigned the global header, including more essential features, like smart search, dealership selection, etc.
3. Navigation Bar
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The horizontal navigation bar was reorganized, the interactions were changed, and a landing page was added for each tab
Switch the Stratus logo and Tenant logo, to allow tentant selection
Welcome Message creates a user-friendly connection and belonging
Marketing Carousel
Hero Section Provides a quick snapshot of key dealership metrics
Tenant Selection
A smart search bar: Can search across the website
Dealership Selection
Grouped Key Features: Feedback, Notifications, FS Learnings
Customize the details in the section, modify tools, links, reports, etc.
Add a chatbot feature to help reduce call volumes.
Page module customization
4. Marketing Elements
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Designed a dynamic banner carousal to show key updates, offers, and campaigns.
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Added Announcements section to list daily important news.
5. Modular Design
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Adopted the modular design approach, allowing for a flexible, customizable and scalable interface that meets the diverse roles of dealerships
6. Page Customization
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The default homepage layout is role-based customization.
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Personalized layout customization by preference.
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Sectional customization by needs.
7. Redesign Chart Module
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Use as much as Salesforce Lightning Design System
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Apply Stratus and Tenant-based styling
• Customization •
The redesign of the Stratus platform emphasizes personalization to enhance usability and meet the diverse needs of dealership staff. This helps to create a highly personalized and effective workspace. The customization feature operates on the following three levels:
Role-Based Default Homepage Customization
Each user role—whether a service manager, sales manager, financial manager, or office manager—is assigned a default homepage tailored to their specific responsibilities.
This ensures that the most relevant tools, links, charts, reports, and metrics are immediately accessible, minimizing navigation time and increasing efficiency.
User Preference-Based Layout Customization
Users can modify the dashboard layout to reflect their personal workflow preferences and support individual productivity.
This includes rearranging modules, removing modules, adding modules from the library, removing sections, rearranging sections, and adding sections from the library.
User Need-Based Sectional Customization
Beyond general layout adjustments, users can customize individual sections of their dashboard based on their day-to-day tasks.
• Global Header •
The redesigned global header is more functional and intuitive and prioritizes functionality, adaptability, and user efficiency, making it a cornerstone of the platform’s usability improvements.
Quick Switching for Admins
Allow administrators to seamlessly switch between multiple tenants and dealerships.
This functionality ensures that administrators can manage different tenants/dealerships without navigating through complex menus, streamlining workflows and improving efficiency.
Smart Search Across the Platform
A newly integrated smart search feature enables users to quickly locate tools, modules, reports, documents, and more, all from a single search bar.
This enhancement reduces time spent searching for resources and improves user productivity by offering contextually relevant results.
Enhanced User Profile Functionality
The user profile section has been enriched with additional features, including quick access to settings, help center resources, and problem reporting.
This ensures users have all essential tools at their fingertips, fostering a more personalized and user-friendly experience.
• Navigation Bar •
The navigation bar in the Stratus platform has been completely reimagined to provide a more intuitive and efficient user experience. The redesign focuses on structure, interaction, and discoverability, ensuring users can seamlessly navigate throughout the platform.
Each major tab in the navigation bar now includes a dedicated landing page that acts as a centralized hub. These pages provide quick access to frequently used features and offer a summary of relevant information, improving overall usability and task completion rates.
• Interactive Prototypes •
Try to interact with it
REFLECTION
Working on the Stratus project was a transformative experience that allowed me to refine my skills in user-centered design for complex, role-based systems. It presented an opportunity to craft efficient solutions tailored to diverse user needs while managing a multidisciplinary design team to deliver a cohesive and impactful product.
One of the biggest challenges in this project was navigating the ambiguity at the beginning. There were no clear directions, blueprints, or requirements from the client. Compounding this, the client wanted to visualize ideal states as early as possible, creating a significant gap between the undefined starting point and their expectations.
To bridge this gap, I adopted a systematic approach. I broke down large, abstract goals into smaller, actionable components and moved forward step by step. This method not only clarified the path forward but also enabled the team to deliver incremental progress that aligned with the client's evolving vision.
Throughout this process, I honed critical design and leadership skills, including:
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Ideation for Redesign: Generating creative solutions to address user pain points and improve workflows.
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Information Architecture Creation: Structuring content and functionality to ensure logical, intuitive navigation.
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Design System Development: Establishing a consistent and scalable design language for Stratus.
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Prototyping: Crafting interactive prototypes to visualize and validate design concepts effectively.
This project underscored the importance of adaptability, clear communication, and a user-centered approach. It not only strengthened my technical expertise but also deepened my ability to collaborate with clients and guide a team through complex design challenges.