Craigslist

Craigslist is one of the most well know advertising websites out there, providing services to more than 700 cities in 70 countries. It is a platform that serves millions of people worldwide with services such as Job Postings, discussion forums, and housing, just to name a few.
In this case study, we will focus on the redesign and improvement of the Craigslist website, which will be discussed later on in detail.

Overview

Craigslist

Overview

Craigslist is one of the most well know advertising websites out there, providing services to more than 700 cities in 70 countries. It is a platform that serves millions of people worldwide with services such as Job Postings, discussion forums, and housing, just to name a few.
In this case study, we will focus on the redesign and improvement of the Craigslist website, which will be discussed later on in detail.

Role

UI/UX Designer & Researcher

Timeline

10 days

Tools Used

Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator

Problem

Craigslist's primary focus is to simplistically engage users in trading goods and services and connect people. The website design resembles the classified section of a newspaper, which is simple and effective, and It has worked for over two decades.

With the current market competition, it is essential to keep the users engaged, make it easy to navigate and improve the user's overall experience while maintaining the website's original idea.

There are two main goals:

Enhance the user experience by changing the website's aesthetics and flow while keeping the original idea.
Organize the website in a way it makes navigation easy for the user

Research

I began my research by understanding the website's functions and pain points. The findings of my study are listed below:

Goods and Service Trading Site: This is an e-commerce platform for buying and selling products and services.
Social Platform: It is a platform where users can find information on events or have their questions on discussion forms to get insights or opinions.
Find employment: The platform provides a paid service for users to post Job opportunities, to attract local and international talent.
Organization: The ads are categorized and organized by topic and subtopic, an obsolete design.

I also notice the following pain points:

Secondary research:

After analyzing the website, I searched the internet for articles and blogs that could validate my findings. I found a few articles with similar results. Their research pointed out that users like the existing design as it reflects the idea of classifieds. The articles below capture the most highly rated pain points.

“Why Craigslist Has a Near Perfect Design…For Craigslist” (Vanseo Design)

“Redesigning Craigslist with Focus on Usability” (smashing magazine)

The two articles link the success of Craigslist to its design, as it gives the user an illusion of a “garage sale." However, they also state, “Craigslist’s design is hardly considered beautiful,” and call it “ugly”.

Some of the pain points of the website, which are highlighted in the articles that need to be improved, are listed below:

Design and Layout: “ Create a design and layout that is more up-to-date and pleasant to look at”, This is more on the website's aesthetics.
Calendar: This could have a better design and title.

Headers and Subtitles: These have “visual weight across the site.”

Insights

To conclude, the Craigslist website layout is old, and the user's familiarity with this format is an important aspect which needs to be kept in mind while making any design changes. I learnt that any significant revamp of the design could impact the site traffic. And that said, many issues can be addressed without hindering traffic and rebranding.