Redefining ultra-luxury in digital for a British icon

Client: Aston Martin Lagonda
Role: Product Design Lead
Agency: Wunderman Thompson
Year: 2022

Aston Martin's storied heritage is marked by the creation of iconic, high-end British cars. As the brand expanded its presence in Formula 1, it had undertaken a comprehensive rebranding effort, introducing a new logo mark, typography, and a strategic pivot towards ultra-luxury offerings.

Our collaboration closely aligned with Aston Martin to translate their fresh brand vision into a captivating digital experience. In tandem with this global rebrand, Aston Martin sought a holistic enhancement of their website user experience.

Objectives

In-depth experience audit of the existing ecosystem & competitor landscape.

Rapid prototype testing on users to provide validation of recommended solutions.

Overhaul of the digital experience to showcase the new brand.

We delivered a thorough audit of the ecosystem and page structures. This bird’s eye view uncovered a fragmented user experience spanning many domains and platforms.

Experience audits

We conducted extensive audits of the marketing and corporate sites to examine the functionality of existing page components and their usage. We identified issues that could negatively affect user experience and brand perception.

To assess the user experience, we employed AI-powered eye-tracking and preference testing on key pages, comparing these metrics against competitor websites. Our findings indicated that Aston Martin had fallen behind in a number of areas.

Journey mapping

By synthesising data, stakeholder interviews, and user interviews, we developed two journey maps: one for potential customers and one for existing owners.

We mapped out user actions and emotions for each stage of the journey, validating these with qualitative data and insights from user testing. Based on these insights, we identified opportunities for improvement, focusing on navigation, storytelling, and personalisation.

This consolidation was instrumental in shaping our key recommendations.

We identified several critical areas to prioritise for enhancing the user experience

01 Navigation was overwhelming the experience and needs to assist rather than be a barrier to discovery.

02 Product storytelling and the brand story lacked engagement and flow.

03 The overall experience required an injection of energy and intensity to match the new brand strategy.

In the pre-design phase, we developed prototypes in Figma to closely resemble a live website. This enabled us to accurately and swiftly test various design hypotheses of the new navigation and homepage with real users.

We gained valuable insights into their preferences by identifying the most effective design options, which we then presented to stakeholders to inform and guide the final design decisions.

Achieving intensity

Our design strategy prioritised a paired-back interface, placing the product and video at the forefront.

Full-screen moments, featuring wide-screen framing and high-intensity video, were central to the new Aston Martin experience. By shifting the focus from product to brand experience, we aimed to create an immersive, ultra-luxury storytelling experience.

Effortless wayfinding

We created a comprehensive navigation system that seamlessly integrates across the entire ecosystem. This intuitive and streamlined approach guarantees a seamless user experience, effortlessly guiding users through their journey with minimal interaction.

Outputs

IA & ecosystem audit

Experience audit

Stakeholder interviews

Best in class analysis & competitor benchmarking

Journey mapping

Figma prototype development & user testing

UI design & digital branding

Development collaboration & documentation

"You don’t get to work on too many projects that are truly E2E from Strategy through to delivery and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished, a sentiment shared by both stakeholders internally and externally."

— Head of CRM and Digital Product, Aston Martin Lagonda

Impact

The uplifted experience and UI was released with the new brand launch to a challenging and fixed deadline of 8 weeks, product discovery to go-live.

Elevations to usability, accessibility & storytelling resulted in a 34% rise in configurator leads and a major uplift in engagement levels.

The Aston Martin website won Best Automobile Website at the WebAwards 2023.

Selected works