elisa

Redesigning BMW's car configurator

Simplifying how people build their car across 196+ models and more than 100 million possible configurations, launched in 40+ countries.

BMW configurator showing a grey BMW i7 with the exterior colour picker on the right.
Role
Design Lead
Timeline
2018 – 2021
Team
Business analysts, designers & US teams
Key tasks
  • Creative direction
  • Visual design
  • Benchmarking
  • Prototyping
  • User testing
  • Design systems
  • Project management
  • Data analytics
  • Qual & quant research
  • 196+Vehicle models
  • 100M+Possible configurations
  • 40+Countries
  • 300kVisits per day

1Challenge

100 million configurations, one simple experience

BMW offers more than 196 vehicle models with over 100 million potential configurations.

The challenge was to simplify the interaction while people configure their vehicle, and to clearly differentiate BMW from its competitors.

2Strategy

From solo designer to team lead

Over the course of the project I moved from being the sole designer to leading the design team, working closely with business analysts, designers and the US teams.

Analytics reports became a key tool: we used them to find friction in the journey and continuously improve the experience.

3Design

A shared language across brands

We established a scalable, multi-brand design system that created a shared language between designers, developers and brands.

Responsiveness and web accessibility were priorities throughout the implementation, from desktop down to mobile.

4Outcome

Live in 40+ countries, 300k visits a day

The configurator launched worldwide across more than 40 countries and reaches more than 300,000 visits per day.

It's a living product, and it's still being optimised all the time.

Teams I've designed with

  • BMW
  • Deutsche Telekom
  • Telefónica
  • UNICEF
  • R+V Versicherung
  • Tangity
BMW, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, UNICEF, R+V Versicherung, Tangity