Bringing Dealership Data to Every Browser Tab

Sales and account reps at commercial vehicle dealerships spent a significant portion of their day composing emails and communicating with buyers. Every email required pulling vehicle specs, buyer details, stock numbers, and documentation — each piece of data living in a different tab or section of the application. The constant back-and-forth between tabs and windows created friction, lost context, and slowed down one of the most routine tasks in their workflow.

This project was the design of a browser extension built as a companion tool to the existing platform. The goal was simple: give reps a single, always-accessible place to look up and copy the data they needed without disrupting their flow. The result was a docked split-view extension with centralized search across vehicles, buyers, and resources — a lightweight productivity tool that kept the focus where it belongs, on the work.

Sales reps at commercial vehicle dealerships were constantly switching between multiple browser tabs (buyer lookup, vehicle data, invoices, resources) while composing emails or updating external systems. This caused lost context, wasted time, and friction in daily workflows. Copying vehicle specs, buyer details, and documentation required repeatedly navigating back and forth between different areas of the application.

Collaborated with engineers to understand browser extension capabilities and constraints. Conducted stakeholder interviews with internal sales team and dealer contacts who understood daily workflows. Created low-fidelity wireframes exploring split-view extension approach. Validated with core dealer group, which led to adding resources/documentation search as third search type. Solved multi-location dealership access through login and dealership selection. Designed for fixed-width constraints requiring mobile-like optimization despite desktop context.

Docked split-view browser extension (Chrome/Firefox) with persistent login and dealership selection. Three separate search areas (vehicles, buyers, resources) accessible via right-hand navigation sidebar. Type-ahead search with lazy-loaded card results. Detail views with accordion sections mirroring main product organization. Individual copy buttons for each field/section. Links back to the main system for deeper functionality. Simple, linear navigation prioritizing speed over complexity.

Positive beta feedback - dealers appreciated quick lookup and copy functionality for use across multiple systems (emails, external CRMs, tracking systems). This project didn't reach full rollout before I left the company. Strategically, this project alongside CRM redesign established the foundation for a company-wide design system, demonstrating the value of unified design language across the product suite.

Importance of simplicity in workflow tools, flexibility of modern browser technology, strategic value of design systems for brand cohesion.