Multilingual Website (JP / EN) + Interactive Custom Van Creator
A Japanese camper van brand needed more than a website. They needed a digital showroom that replaced the in-person consultation entirely — in two languages, with a custom 3D van configurator built from scratch.
THE SITUATION
DreamDrive is a Tokyo-based camper van brand selling a very specific kind of purchase decision — one that's personal, considered, and almost always made after an in-person showroom visit. The problem was that a lot of potential customers weren't making it to the showroom at all.
Their existing website was informational but passive. It described the vans but didn't let you experience them. With a bilingual audience of Japanese and English-speaking customers who think and shop differently, an added layer of interaction could help carry more of the story before a visit ever happened.
The sales team also needed a way to connect with potential buyers online and track that interest over time. Not just a contact form — a system that captured leads, monitored behavior, and gave the team something to work with before the first conversation.
The goal: build a digital presence that warmed potential customers before they arrived, worked natively in both languages, and turned passive browsing into trackable sales interest.
SCOPE DELIVERED
Multilingual UX/UI (JP / EN)
Interactive Van Configurator
3D Visualization
Integration HubSpot Integration & Lead System
SEO Content
ROLE
UX/UI Lead + Project Management
TEAM
3D Designer, Dev team (Prismic), Internal Project Manager
CLIENT
株式会社Dream Drive. Tokyo, Japan.
TIMELINE
2023 — 2024
Visit www.dreamdrive.life/
THE CHALLENGE
DreamDrive needed three things working together that their original site wasn't delivering:
A way for users to actively explore and configure van builds before visiting — reducing the cold-start problem of first showroom conversations.
A bilingual experience that felt native in both Japanese and English, not translated.
A lead capture and nurturing system that turned site interest into booked appointments rather than lost traffic.
THE SOLUTION
I led the full UX/UI redesign of the DreamDrive site on Prismic, working with a 3D designer and a separate development team to bring an interactive van configurator to life. Users could explore models, select features, and visualize custom builds directly on the site — arriving at the showroom with a clearer picture of what they wanted.
The visual direction shifted deliberately. Topographical textures and earthy tones grounded the experience in the vanlife aesthetic — adventurous but approachable, modern without feeling corporate. Navigation was simplified and content condensed so both Japanese and English users could move through the site at their own pace without friction.
To close the loop between interest and conversion, I recommended and helped implement HubSpot integration — connecting the configurator and contact forms to a lead tracking and call scheduling system. HubSpot integration (still live and running) connects the configurator and contact forms to a lead tracking and call scheduling system, giving the DreamDrive team visibility into who's interested and why before the first conversation happens.
The result: a site that warmed potential customers before they ever stepped through the door — and gave the DreamDrive team visibility into who was interested and why.
A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
This project involved a 3D designer who built and delivered the van visualization assets, a Prismic development team who handled technical implementation, and an internal project manager on the DreamDrive side. I led UX/UI direction, managed the design-to-development handoff, and coordinated across all three teams to keep the build coherent and on schedule.
CarmelloVision is a Tokyo-based digital partner for companies expanding between Japan and global markets. Founder Shane Allen combines cross-cultural UX strategy, design execution, and over a decade of experience working inside Japanese and global teams to help brands navigate unfamiliar markets and build meaningful connections across cultures.
