Tropos Technologies
Tropos Technologies offers global and sustainable EV fleet solutions. I led design and marketing for the company.
Time 2021Role Head of Creative Design Contributions Brand, Web, UX Design
As Head of Creative Design, I led transformative efforts in a multifaceted role during the company’s pivotal growth phase, working closely with C-Level executives and Go-To-Market teams from esteemed partner companies.
Responsibilities included overseeing the company brand and its subsidiary, Tropos Motors, which hosts the company’s product line. This encompassed the design architecture, PR, marketing, and web initiatives.
The challenges
Executives and stakeholders voiced concerns about web usability issues, verbose brand tone, and outdated brand identity. The absence of internal design processes and standards led to operational inefficiencies, wasted production efforts, and unnecessary communication overhead.
I conducted research through a comprehensive brand and web audit, web analytics, competitive analysis, and executive and stakeholder interviews.
Problem Statement
Tropos Technologies faces a critical need to enhance brand perception. The lack of brand design, web design, and marketing presence has resulted in diminished trust among potential investors during funding rounds.
Competitive Analysis
Analysis revealed that competitors in the cleantech and automotive sectors had modern web experiences that effectively reinforced their brands.
Hypothesis: Contradiction with the positioning of Tropos Technologies as modern leaders of their industry, dampening the brand’s image.
Analysis revealed that competitors in the cleantech and automotive sectors had modern web experiences that effectively reinforced their brands.
Hypothesis: Contradiction with the positioning of Tropos Technologies as modern leaders of their industry, dampening the brand’s image.
Web Analytics
Analytics showed low site engagement with high bounce rates. Average user visit duration was under 2 minutes.
Analytics showed low site engagement with high bounce rates. Average user visit duration was under 2 minutes.
Hypothesis: Inadequate navigation and wayfinding on the website hindered users' ability to locate relevant information.
Goal-setting
Activate brand strategy and brand identity for a fresh disposition, aligned with the economic and technological landscape.
Redesign the company website to improve the web experience for current and target audiences
Weave design into the fabric of the company through reinforced design principles, building trust, and streamlining design workflows.
Scale visual systems that are crucial to increasing production efficiency for marketing and web collateral.
Adopt an approach deeply rooted in research-driven outcomes to avoid business decisions based on assumptions or bias.
Define what success looks like for the company initiatives by selecting KPIs that will help measure success.
People should feel empowered and inspired when they interact with all brand touchpoints of Tropos Technologies.
Upcoming funding rounds tightened the timelines for my initiatives from 3 months to 5 weeks, limiting the depth of brand and user exploration.
Defining target users
Continued research and UX activities, including How Might We? questions and journey mapping, facilitated the definition of current and target user groups. This process identified pain points and contributed to the development of a more cohesive brand strategy at a holistic level.
Brand and web design decisions were motivated by personas that were formed around 3 existing user groups.
Motivations include learning about cutting-edge and innovative products and technologies to see what’s worth investing in.
Motiations include seeking EV fleet management solutions. They engage with Tropos during work hours on limited time on desktop devices.
Motivations include job-seeking for technician, manufacturing, or office roles.
An existing disarray of dated and disorganized PR and news content on the website, potentially harming interests of investors.
Limited access to product information because the website lacked visibility into the company’s product line because it was hosted on the subsidiary website.
An absent careers page prevented job-seekers from viewing open roles, also limiting the company from efficiently filling open roles.
A new site structure
I renewed the architecture of the website to solve for user pain points. A new site map addressed duplicated content and pages, weak CTAs, and poor wayfinding due to unclear user flows. From there, low-fidelity wireframes were designed based on the new site architecture.
Influences users to look past usability issues while reinforcing brand consistency and awareness.
Users save time to perform tasks on the website when seeking information or products.
Improve and reignite trust into the brand by aligning with authentic brand positioning.
A web-first strategy for emphasis on web content, user accessibility to basic content and functionality.
Activating brand design
A new web experience
People found the new applied brand identity more attractive. CTAs on the homepage linked to the subsidiary brand site, allowing people to easily to view vehicle products.
Content was organized by press releases, media coverage, and case studies, reducing the time it took for people to learn about company innovations.
A ‘Careers’ page benefits both the company and job-seekers to fill open roles, share more about the company culture, and highlight work benefits. A ‘Contact’ page allows people to easily contact the company.
A regulated design ecosystem
I advocated for and championed design and best practices to optimize workflows, providing me extra bandwidth for all web design, branding, marketing, PR & communication priorities. This led to the implementation of an approval process that boosted productivity, eliminated technical debt, and increased collaboration with stakeholders.
A successful launch
Small-scale guerilla testing was conducted after developer hand-off and the new website was successfully launched. I tracked web analytics and site engagement for 3 months.
Task completion during testing, decreased bounce rates, time duration, and most visited pages (home, news, about, careers pages) indicated an effective website redesign with improvements to KPIs.
Executives and stakeholders provided enthusiastic and positive feedback on the concentrated effort.
Upholding a consistent brand ecosystem and enhancing the web experience bolstered brand awareness and trust in Tropos Technologies.
Establishing standardized design foundations and optimizing design workflows resulted in improved internal communication.
“As we expand global reach, our brand instills confidence among investors, partners, distributors, and customers alike, across both physical and digital domains.”
John Bautista, CEO
Tropos Technologies & Tropos Motors
Tropos Technologies & Tropos Motors
Surprising myself
It was challenging to be the sole designer at a company while managing a diverse range of design and marketing projects on tight deadlines. However, I learned how to incorporate quick and dirty UX methods and become efficient throughout the design process. I also enjoyed the abundance of free rein and opportunities that developed trust in my intuition.
Research led to impactful, effective solutions. I learned to reduce assumptions and bias by having neutral dialogue with users. Data-driven insights also aid in diplomatic negotiation with non-designers during the design process.
In the absence of feedback from fellow designers, I was able to connect with designers online or seek mentorship. If unavailable, I often turned to design literature for learning opportunities and enhanced my communication skills and empathy with non-designers.