Lead brand, design refresh at Canadian Automotive publication
OVERVIEW
Wheels, a highly respected Canadian automotive publication from the Toronto Star, sought to extend its success into the digital realm. The transition to the web was challenging, particularly in a competitive market.
By leveraging its strong brand equity, focusing on its core strengths, and most importantly, listening to its audience, Wheels.ca was successfully rebranded and redesigned to enhance the user experience and effectively compete online. I redesigned Wheels.ca to improve user experience, featuring a rich media carousel, trending articles, editorial highlights, and videos.
Users could search by editorial style, lifestyle, or keyword for a personalized experience. The redesign aimed to create a layered reading experience with articles linking to related content, stats, videos, and more.
INVOLVEMENT
Product Design
Lead UX/UI Designer
Content Writer
DATE
2016 – 2018
REDESIGN & RESULTS
As part of the editorial team, we developed a new lifestyle-focused automotive publication with article templates reflecting various lifestyles. The experience was enhanced with detailed support, image galleries, videos, and related content, creating a seamless, magazine-like flow.
In my role on the product team, we launched the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) tool, allowing users to search cars based on pricing, insurance, fuel costs, and specifications. Each manufacturer, model, and trim had detailed profiles with links to related videos and articles to keep users engaged.