A car enthusiast blog
View it live: These Rides
The product:
These Rides is a Los Angeles based car enthusiast blog featuring profiles of owners and their rides.
Project duration:
2014-2017
My role:
UX/Content Designer
Responsibilities:
Designed, built, maintained, and contributed content to the blog, created logos and brand assets and integrated them across multiple platforms.
The voice:
These Rides is a community-centered blog that invites car enthusiasts of all kinds to share their rides and the stories behind them. The featured stories are a mix of personal anecdotes and technical details that you might find in a car magazine. I made the attitude of the brand professional, but accessible and friendly at the same time.
The not-so-boring fine print:
Sample post, and social media posts with logo design
Owner: Markus Rutledge, Creative Director
Location: Los Angeles, CA
The Story: "My dad had the same car when I was a kid, and I always dreamed of having my own one day." said Rutledge, from the roof of his parking garage in downtown Los Angeles. That dream came true four years ago when he found this one on eBay. He stayed up all night to win the bid, then took the train to Santa Barbara to pick it up.
It has low mileage (139,000 miles) because the previous owner developed an illness and was unable to drive it, keeping it garaged for many years. The gas mileage is terrible; about 11 miles to the gallon on a good day. It's slow when it comes to climbing hills, but it'll tow anything. Rutledge likes taking it camping as he and his English Mastiff, Baby Huey, can sleep comfortably in the back.
The Land Cruiser is famously reliable. It was once the official car of the United Nations, and has been used worldwide by many other humanitarian organizations since 1954.
Future Plans: He has absolutely no plans to sell it and hopes to replace the engine. He'd rather spend the money to keep it running than buy a new car, and we can't say we blame him.
Check out Rutledge's blog. His show "Christmastown, USA" airs Sunday, Dec 14 at 7PM & 7:30PM on Travel Channel.
What I learned:
When profiling cars in media, the instinct is usually to showcase how expensive and high-performing they are. While designing the content for These Rides, I found the opposite to be true. Users were more likely to return to the blog if they felt the rides being featured were cars they might see in their own neighborhood. I chose to keep the point of view light and approachable, while also informative. Because readers felt like their own ride could appear on the blog one day, they were more engaged with the content.