Craigslist Makeover

Challenge

I had three weeks to makeover a website for my UI Design class using the principles and patterns of Actions and Commands. I chose Craigslist; and even though this site doesn’t bombard their users with advertisements or pop-ups, after analysis I came to the conclusion that it ignores design and innovation, which makes it uninteresting and sometimes hard to navigate.

I mapped out a user flow of their journey from Point A (entering Craigslist) to Point B (completing goal), and began to visualize which principles and patterns I needed to add or omit to make achieving their objective quick and easy.

Troubleshooting

Userflow

Obstacle

I decided I was happy with the user flow, so I dove in to a mid-fi wireflow, experimenting first with patterns and structures, before I messed with colors and fonts. I asked for a critique from a colleague and my reaction to it was a bit defensive, which surprised me, because I am usually open minded to criticism, especially when learning. I reacted this way because I thought what he questioned was trivial; but after I heard him out, I was grateful for, and enlightened by, his feedback.

Progress

Lesson

Navigational patterns aren’t all that I’m trying to hone, I’m also observing the behavioral patterns I fall into as a designer. I noticed many of my Craigslist struggles matched those I experienced during my MCG Case Study, revealing that I need to continue to practice humility and strengthen my confidence.

Craigslist’s aesthetic isn’t a well of visual inspiration. I wanted something cute and cheerful, opposite of what it currently looks like. I started with a warm color combination tweaked them until I thought they looked “happy”.