Redesigning Ford Finance
and Lease Web Platform
Partnered closely with a cross-functional team to drive a design overhaul of the web platform from concept to launch. I owned the redesign of key account service user flows, championed an intuitive and scalable information architecture and contributed to modernizing UI components.
Additionally, I led end-to-end research to evaluate the old finance and lease web platform, synthesizing insights that guided the design overhaul. This case study highlights my design contributions.
My Role:
Product Designer
Collaborated with:
2 Product Designers, Design Manager, Product Managers, Software Developers
Organization:
Ford Motor Credit
Tools Used:
Figma, JIRA
CONTEXT OF BUSINESS SPACE
What does Ford Credit do?
Ford Credit is the financial services subsidiary of Ford Motor Company.
It provides:
- Retail Financing and Leasing
- Commercial Financing
- Dealer Financing
project brief
The Ford finance and lease web platform is built for retail customers to make payments, view their contract details and manage their account.
Why redesign the web platform?
Research on the legacy platform exposed critical usability issues, hidden features, and an outdated design system, creating friction for users trying to manage their finance and lease accounts.
Legacy Web Platform - Lease Dashboard
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we transform the platform into an intuitive, modern hub that streamlines key financial flows and makes features effortless to find?
Overview of Redesigned Web Platform (Finance)
Legacy Web Platform (Finance)
My design contributions
Championing an Intuitive and Scalable Information Architecture
I reorganized the web platform's information into clear content structures and hierarchies that aligned directly with users' mental models and intent.
To ground the new architecture in real user needs, I analyzed key friction points from our research.
Key Research Insights
Poor Feature Discoverability
Users primarily utilized the old web platform to make monthly payments, remaining unaware of other account management features.
Critical features like 'manage autopay', access digital contract', 'payment extension request' were hidden deep in hierarchy, driving high customer support volume for easily self-serviced actions.
8 Step - User Flow to Manage Autopay
Dashboard
Settings
Drop Down
Menu
Select
Autopay
Manage
Autopay
Done
Select
Payment
Date
Select
Payment
Method
Select
Autopay On
Significant lease and finance details are hidden under the ambiguous label 'PLC' (personal lifetime communication). Users remained unaware that these details could be accessed on the dashboard.
Dashboard
PLC
Lease / Finance
Contract Details
Digital Interactions Contradicting User Mental Models
Users perceived Ford's digital products to be a unified, one-stop digital ecosystem. In reality, features are divided among two distinct digital spaces. The mismatch in users mental models of the digital ecosystem vs the operational reality caused significant confusion.
User Expectation
Real Experience
New Information Hierarchy
Old Site Map
