Radical Tampa Bay
Radical Tampa Bay is the official Radical Motorsport dealer based at The Motor Enclave. They produce a range of incredibly fun, lightweight, high-performance race cars designed for drivers of all skill levels.
The Problem
The Motor Enclave, a licensed dealer of Radical vehicles, needed a dedicated space for their new partnership. They wanted to keep their main race track venue website separate from the Radical vehicle sales site. The goal? Create an engaging digital showroom that highlights the different Radical models, showcases used vehicles, and captures the thrilling experience of owning one. The new site needed to seamlessly blend the established Radical Motorsport brand with the unique, high-energy vibe of The Motor Enclave.
Solution
To bring this vision to life, I designed and developed a custom WordPress website that perfectly marries Radical’s sleek branding with the action-packed imagery and videos captured right at The Motor Enclave track.
Research
Radical Website Exploration
Since The Motor Enclave was teaming up with Radical Motorsports, the visual language needed to feel like a natural extension of the Radical brand, while still letting TME’s identity shine through. I kicked off my research by doing a deep dive into the main Radical Motorsports website, taking notes on a few key areas:
- Typography & Colors
Radical leans into a sleek, dark color palette with punchy yellow accents. They use bold typography to establish a clear visual hierarchy and make important sections stand out. - Imagery & Video
Engaging background videos and crystal-clear, high-resolution photography give the site an incredibly premium, professional feel. - Navigation
The user journey is straightforward, making it super easy to explore the site without getting lost. - General Components & Spacing
I paid close attention to the details—buttons, content tiles, accordions, tabbed sections, and overall spacing—so I could replicate that polished look in new components.
Mixing Two Brands
The biggest puzzle to solve was figuring out how to merge two distinct brands harmoniously. Having previously built The Motor Enclave’s main website, I was already very familiar with their brand guidelines. After dissecting Radical’s visual style, I found the sweet spot: using Radical’s overall aesthetic as the foundation, but injecting The Motor Enclave’s own thrilling track imagery and video. This created a perfectly balanced, Radical-inspired site with unmistakable pops of TME personality.
Initial Conversations
Key Stakeholders Goals
I sat down with the team at The Motor Enclave to map out the scope and goals for the project. We agreed that instead of trying to cram Radical sales into their existing venue website, this partnership deserved its own dedicated, unique experience.
Key insights from our chat:
- Must seamlessly integrate both TME and Radical Motorsports branding.
- Needs to clearly display the different Radical vehicle models and their specs
- Must include a functional system for posting used Radical vehicles for sale.
- Galleries and lead-generation interest forms are an absolute must.
Competitive Analysis
At the time, The Motor Enclave was the exclusive licensed dealer for Radical vehicles in Florida. While that meant low competition right out of the gate, it was crucial to think ahead. I wanted to make sure I built a scalable foundation that could easily grow and adapt if the market became more competitive in the future.
Feature Roadmap
Next, I created a comprehensive list of features and pages needed for a successful launch.
Design
Designing Wireframes
With the structure set, it was time to move into wireframing. I intentionally kept these initial designs low-fidelity. Why? Because focusing on the raw layout and functionality allows stakeholders to visualize the user journey without getting bogged down by subjective design choices like colors or fonts early on.
Visual Design, Branding & Photography
Taking cues from the established brand guidelines of both Radical and The Motor Enclave, I started bringing the wireframes to life. By thoughtfully combining their distinct fonts, color palettes, and high-energy photography styles, I was able to craft a cohesive and exciting online user experience that felt true to both partners.
Testing & Tweaking
Lets Test Usability
Before going live, it’s always crucial to test! I ran some moderated usability testing sessions with the team at The Motor Enclave to make sure everything was running smoothly.
The testing checklist:
- Review the overall site on both desktop and mobile devices.
- Hunt for any visual bugs or layout issues.
- Navigate to the inventory page and test the interest forms.
- Explore the models page, try out the quick links, and submit the Build & Order Request forms.
The TME team successfully completed all the tasks and loved how the two brands came together! However, they did spot one piece of friction: all the contact forms were taking users to a completely separate page, which broke the flow.
The Fix: I updated the UI so that all forms open up in clean, pop-up modals instead. This kept users on the page and made getting in touch much more seamless!
Final Design
