Harley Davidson

The Challenge

Retail staff across Harley Davidson’s dealerships were working with a collection of disconnected systems covering point of sale, customer relationship management and bookings. The fragmentation created friction at every turn: staff could not efficiently do their jobs, customer data was hard to access and act on, and the booking system was limited in what it could support. The knock-on effect was felt in customer satisfaction and the dealerships’ ability to build lasting relationships with buyers.

Our Approach

An insight-led design process rooted in the real day-to-day challenges of dealership staff drove every phase of this project, from on-the-ground research through service design and rapid prototyping to UI, with close collaboration with the Harley Davidson global brand team throughout.

Research & Discovery

Building a thorough understanding of the challenges and day-to-day realities facing retail staff across Harley Davidson’s dealerships was the first priority. Time was spent in their environment, researching the key tasks and objectives of the sales teams to understand how they worked, where the current systems slowed them down, and what a better experience would need to look like. This on-the-ground understanding shaped everything that followed.

Service Design & Journey Mapping

New service journeys were mapped to reflect the actual day-to-day tasks and activities of retail staff, rather than the logic of the underlying systems.

Those maps became the foundation for rapid iterative prototypes, allowing exploration of how the disparate systems could be brought together into a unified interface. The focus throughout was on the tasks staff needed to perform most often: accessing sales data, creating and managing test rides and producing management information reports. New approaches were tested quickly and iterated based on feedback.

UI Design

The UI phase centred on creating a design system that felt authentically Harley Davidson. Close collaboration with the global brand leadership team ensured the new digital product aligned with brand guidelines that had not previously accounted for a product of this kind.

A structured UI library was developed covering all the necessary interface elements, giving the development team a clear and complete handover package. The finished product delivered a user experience that felt like a natural part of the Harley Davidson portfolio rather than a bolt-on tool.

User Testing

Testing ran throughout the project to validate design decisions and ensure the interface held up under the real-world conditions of a busy dealership. Prototypes were put in front of retail staff to check usability, task efficiency and overall confidence in the new system, with findings used to refine the design before handover.

The Results

The new unified platform gave Harley Davidson retail staff a tool that matched the quality of the brand they represent, reducing friction in the sales process and improving the consistency of the customer experience across dealerships.