Tropos Technologies
Brand, web, and UX design for an electric vehicle startup in the cleantech sector.
Tropos Technologies specializes in electric vehicles (EVs) for urban commercial applications. They are known for their compact electric vehicles designed for various uses, such as last-mile delivery, utilities, and municipal services.
As Creative Director, I led transformative efforts in a multifaceted role through Series B funding. I oversaw the company brand and its subsidiary, Tropos Motors through by collaborating directly with C-Level executives and Go-To-Market teams from esteemed partner companies. My work encompassed the company's design architecture, PR, marketing, and web initiatives.
Time
2020
Role
Creative Director
Tools
Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe XD
Discover
Identifying the problem space
High-priority business problems identified through brand and web audits, competitive and web analysis, and interviews revealed that stakeholders were concerned about web usability issues, verbose brand tone, and outdated brand identity due to inconsistent branding and marketability. The absence of internal design standards led to operational inefficiencies, wasted production efforts, and unnecessary communication overhead.
Key Findings
A tarnished brand perception and web experience for potential investors before Series B funding.
Setting goals and shifting priorities
Impact
Shifting timelines limited the depth of brand and user exploration. Prioritizing goals helped initiatives stay on track.
Scoping the deliverables
The brand was ready for a fresh disposition and identity that aligned with the current technological landscape. The rebrand would translate to the company website with an improved web experience. To reinforce design principles, build trust, and streamline workflows, established design standards were weaved into the fabric of the company.
A design ecosystem was crucial in increasing production efficiency for marketing and web collateral. To avoid biased business decisions, we opted for more research-driven outcomes by baking UX design into our design process.
The Goal
Our success would be measured by maintaining this primary goal: People should feel empowered and inspired when they come across all brand touchpoints of Tropos Technologies.
DEFINE
Defining target users and paint points
Continued research and UX activities facilitated how target user groups were defined. Brand and web design decisions were motivated by personas formed around 3 existing user groups:
Investors found an existing disarray of dated and disorganized PR and news content on the website.
Customers and partners had limited access to product information because the website lacked visibility into the company’s product line because it was hosted on the subsidiary website.
Technician job-seekers were unable to from view open roles due to the absence of a company careers page which prevented the company from efficiently filling open roles.
Target User Groups
Investors, customers and partners, and technician job-seekers.
Design
Design concepts
Solution
Redesigning the website architecture solved for pain points discovered earlier in the process.
Information architecture
Solution
Unclear user flows were addressed with a refreshed site map.
Wireframing
Solution
Low-fidelity wireframes were designed based on the latest IA.
Value propositions
Aesthetic Usability
Users look past usability issues while maintaining brand perception
Centralized Info
Users save time performing website tasks when looking for information or products
Reflect Values
Improve brand trust by aligning with authentic brand positioning
Progressive Enhancement
Web-first strategy for content, user accessibility, functionality
Activating brand design
A revitalized web experience
Customers can learn about the company and quickly view the product line
Solution
Audiences could easily view the product line as a result of more homepage CTAs linked to the subsidiary brand site.
Improved content wayfinding for curious investors
Solution
Organized PR and media content to reduce time to access crucial information about the company.
Enabled job-seekers to learn seek open roles at the company
Solution
Job-seekers and the company benefit from ‘Careers’ and 'Contact' pages with clear CTAs to contact and fill open roles.
Establishing the design ecosystem
I developed a small subset of UI components as part of a foundational design system for the web. An official design approval process was also implemented to boost productivity, eliminate technical debt, and improve cross-functional partnerships between stakeholders.
Impact
Extra bandwidth for increased project volume, reduced technical debt via a source of truth and documented guidelines, and increased efficiency.
Deliver
A successful launch, results, and learnings
After small-scale guerilla testing was conducted by developers after design hand-off, the new website was successfully launched.
Web analytics and site engagement were tracked for 3 months. Task completion, decreased bounce rates, time duration, and most visited pages (home, news, about, careers pages) indicated an effective website redesign with improvements to KPIs.
Architecting the design foundation tremendsouly streamlined workflows, proving that the company had further capabilities to scale its design and marketing function.
Feedback & Sentiment
Stakeholders were excited about the concentrated efforts to elevate the brand and website. Upholding a consistent brand ecosystem and enhancing the web experience bolstered trust from investors.
Impact
Improved brand trust and perception, web UX, and operational design efficiencies.
Get in touch
hi.angelamaximo@gmail.com
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🐚 Made with love by © Angela Maximo
📍 Pacifica, CA