RaceTrac Rebrand
FOR XPLOR Communication Design Competition
MEDIUM UX Design
DATE February–April 2020
PROJECT OVERVIEW
IN 2020, XPLOR International hosted their fourth annual Communication Design Competition. A handful of schools including Ryerson and Cal Poly were invited to take part in the competition. I joined with 3 of my classmates within the Graphic Communication Major. After we had finished our designs, we were to present them to Graphic Communication professionals via telephone and screen share.
The task at hand was to redesign a bland utility bill to make it more functional, aesthetically pleasing, and accessible through print, web and mobile. The year I participated, we were given a utility bill from the fictitious utility company, RaceTrac.
WHO IS THE AUDIENCE?
Mother of 2
42-year old teacher
Wears glasses with strong prescription
Has Red-Green color blindness
Part of the guidelines of this design challenge was to design for a specific audience. The specs were given to us by the judges: a female 42-year old school teacher with two kids, strong prescription glasses and red-green color blindness (Protanopia).
REAL DATA FROM OUT SAN LUIS OBISPO COMMUNITY
We surveyed 151 people in the San Luis Obispo area, 87% being female and 13% being male. All respondents were between the ages of 18 and 65, and we were able to base a lot of our design decisions off of what real utility bill recipients thought. Here’s what we found out:
Folks rely heavily on electronic bill payment.
If people are not using their provider’s portals to pay their bills, they either use auto pay or go through their bank to do it.
Other ways to pay need to be highlighted on each channel.
Sometimes people aren’t aware of the different options they have when it comes to paying bills. We’d like to make sure that no matter what current channel you use, it is apparent what your other options are.
Printed bills look scary!
Printed bills aren’t designed to be friendly, they are designed to throw as much information at you as possible! We want to make sure that RaceTrac comes across as helpful and friendly as possible, while also making sure you know what you need to know.
THE PROCESS
Initial Bill Sketches
Amount Due and Due Date are repeated throughout.
“Charges Breakdown” is simplified and easier to digest.
Ads included for online channels.
Detachable bottom third for mail-in payment.
Changes Made From Draft 1 to Draft 2:
Move “ways to pay” to back of the bill.
Increase the size of bottom third.
Include more information on bottom third.
Unbold text and instead use color and hierarchy.
Draft 1
Draft 2
ALL TOGETHER NOW
The final bill design included designs for the printed bill (front and back), the mailing and return envelopes, the app, and a few screens for the website.
Final Printed Bill Design
Final App Design (designed and prototyped using Figma)