Silvia Grossmann
© Silvia Grossmann

Case Study: Fintech | Sr. UX Designer

AUTOSMART

Brand-Agnostic Responsive Vehicle Sales & Financing Platform for Credit Unions

Challenge: How to deliver a complex, end-to-end automotive sales and financing application in an intuitive, responsive hub that easily scales across diverse credit union visual identities.

PROBLEM

Credit unions needed a robust automotive sales and financing tool, but each institution demanded a distinct visual identity. Delivering a hard-coded solution per union was inefficient and unscalable.


Additionally, to get the buyer through the process online there were significant challenges:

• Data Latency & Trust Gaps: In a high-velocity automotive market, “real-time” inventory updates can fluctuate within seconds. If a vehicle sells between a user starting a search and attempting to click "Reserve," it creates a massive trust gap and massive user frustration.


• Complex Multi-Step Flows: Combining vehicle customization, local inventory browsing, test-drive scheduling, and full financing applications into a unified, responsive interface inherently risks high user drop-off if the UI feels cluttered or overwhelming.

Overview Page

Research Page

Customize Page 1

Customize Page 2

Trims Choice Page

Monthly Payments Calculator page

SOLUTION

An interface that bridges the gap between digital lending and physical inventory.


Key Features:

• End-to-End Automotive Hub: Streamlined the complex user journey into a responsive experience. Users can seamlessly transition from high-level research and vehicle customization to browsing active inventory, reserving a local test drive, and locking in pre-approved financing deals from any device.


• Agnostic, Customizable UI Architecture: A highly scalable, responsive user interface backed by a flexible, tokenized CSS system. This allows individual Credit Unions to seamlessly inject their own custom branding, colors, and typography over a standardized structural layout.


  • • Real-Time Inventory Management: Developed a robust display system that tracks vehicle availability to the minute.

  • • Dynamic Availability UI: To manage user expectations during high-traffic periods, I implemented high-visibility status badges (e.g., “Just Reserved,” “In-Transit,” or “Price Drop”) and integrated a reservation countdown timer to prevent "stock-outs" while a user is completing their application.


  • • Conversion-Focused Tools: Integrated a dynamic financing engine that generates certified offers based on individual customer data, allowing users to "lock in" deals before stepping foot on a lot.

SCOPE

Scope goes here

ROLE

User Experience Designer, User Interface Designer, Interaction Designer

VISUAL DESIGN SYSTEM

INSIGHTS

Turning complex backend financial data into clear consumer confidence.

We built the AutoSmart Insights layer to strip the intimidation out of auto financing and reduce drop-off.


• By transforming dense credit union lending tiers and real-time inventory volatility into intuitive, color-coded health indicators and interactive affordability sliders, we empowered users to stress-test their loan scenarios safely within a single, responsive layout.


• By acknowledging the frustration of inventory data latency, the interface uses active UI feedback to manage expectations, integrating real-time status badges to denote the actual availability of vehicles.