We recently worked with Rob Infantino of Openbay and the extremely talented team at Dockyard to create the core product. This app lets car owners select and book competitive auto services in their area. What makes the product different (and better) than everything else out there on the inter-muck is the competitive, yet private, quote system as well as reviews and ratings. Customers can make informed decisions and receive the best value, while service providers can get the business they wouldn’t have seen otherwise. A total win, win.

The project required a complete branding, user-experience design, interface design, and some illustration. Dobot decided to begin the project by creating a few personas from the target audiences. One was for the vehicle owner, who we named Jean, and a second for the service provider, named Tim. We won’t give you the complete personas, out of respect for our client, but we will give you a brief overview:

• Jean is married, a mother of two, a financial analyst at a small agency, and a soccer coach (..you might assume she rolls in a minivan).
• Tim is a husband, a proud father of a 14-year-old boy, and a senior estimator at a small auto shop.

The full personas go as far as explaining their personalities, their education, their likes & dislikes, their reasons for using (and not using) Openbay, their major decision making influencers, and so on and so forth. We even created a persona for Openbay itself, which played a major role in choosing the right typography, layout, colors, and ultimately the logo.

For now, only drivers living around Boston will have access to the service. That you? We think you should try it.

6design, user experience, process,