Wheel Pros

Designing a new experience for a family of distinct and well-known wheel brands

Team

Me, the talented development crew at Burkson

My role

Product Design, Brand, Front-end Development

Websites

wheelpros.com kmcwheels.com motometalwheels.com

Introduction

Wheel Pros is a leading aftermarket wheel manufacuter with over 20 well-known brands in their portfolio. In 2019 Wheel Pros wanted to overhaul their websites to better represent each individual brand, incorporate direct-to-consumer e-commerce, and provide a better mobile user experience.

As the designer for this project I was responsible for the creative direction and designing user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and mockups. I collaborated with the developers at Burkson on front-end development, application of the design system, and to create a modular UI system. The result of this project is a redesigned set of websites for multiple Wheel Pros brands that introduced new functionality and improved the mobile experience.

The challenge

The high level goals of this project were to:

  • Make mobile a priority — The majority of Wheel Pros visitors were on a mobile device, so the mobile experience needed to be great
  • Create unique brand experiences — Wheel Pros wanted the design of each of the new websites to be distinct and reflect elements of that specific brand
  • Develop a modular UI — Interchangeable UI modules would help the design of each website to be flexible, scalable, and customizable
  • Include robust features — Faceted search would be necessary to help users navigate a wide array of products, and features like interactive visualization would add value and offer a unique user experience
The KMC Wheels flow diagram established key user journeys and served as a template for the other Wheel Pros websites

The redesign

An emphasis on brand imagery, texture, and color helped drive brand distinction for the redesigned Wheel Pros websites. Here are some screens from the new design:

Project results

Within a year, redesigned websites were launched for multiple Wheel Pros brands. The websites share a common design system and platform, yet offer distinct brand experiences.

The new websites are responsive, incorporate e-commerce functionality with faceted search, and include interactive features such as a visualizer to see a wheel on your vehicle.

Here are some of the project highlights:

  • Designed a flexible design system — The Wheel Pros design system is based on a standard set of UI patterns that adapt to each individual brand, helping save design and development time and resources
  • Created a modular UI system — Each Wheel Pros website includes a set of predefined and interchangeable UI modules that simplify maintenance and provide options for customization
  • Increased user engagement — Overall, the average session duration increased by 29% and the bounce rate decreased by 10%

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out more of my selected work.