#3: A Bad Website
The example that I will be using as a bad website is the well-known and somewhat notorious selling website, Craigslist. This site was what people used before Facebook Marketplace was cool, but it has always had a bad reputation for being a little shady. Honestly, I think a solid redesign could help resolve at least a small fraction of this perception (because there’s not much I can do to stop shady people from using it, unfortunately).
To demonstrate just how dated the site is, the images show the Craigslist from 2006 and currently in 2021. While it may be difficult to discern, the one on the right is actually the “updated” version. There have clearly been very few modifications over the past 15 years, even sticking with that same bright blue font. I understand that user expectation likely isn’t high and it serves its very basic purpose, however, I do think that other selling platforms offer a superior user experience that makes using Craigslist less appealing. By improving their interface to appear more friendly, modern, and clean, I feel that they could make themselves a better contender in their market.
One of the first and most simple changes I would make is changing the color of the type. Currently, it is a horribly harsh and bright blue that makes the page very difficult to read, especially because of how congested the information is. Here is an example from a designer named Chad Phillips, who opted for a much more calming, light blue. Already, by establishing a hierarchy amongst the titles and categories, creating a banner for quick access to important pages, etc., the home page appears much friendlier and accessible. Even without any major changes to how the user interacts with the page, the clean and basic look makes the information much more digestible.
One of the other major hinderances of the Craigslist is how the listings appear on a page (left). It is very obnoxious how the information is somewhat scattered. While I think the consolidation of the information on the right hand side of the page is helpful, I think they could take this further and adopt the Facebook Marketplace approach on the right. Here, you get a nice, full view of the images, all of the information about the listing and seller on the right, as well as a very apparent button to quickly message the seller.
I think the interface is actually much more well executed on their mobile app in comparison to their website. I find it interesting that they would choose to devote all the effort to just improving the app without applying any of these improvements to their website. The colors and layout are much easier on the eyes, and there is actually a pretty decent hierarchy of information.
Overall, I think the Craigslist website has set an expectation that meets the minimum of their users’ needs. However, the interface could definitely use a makeover to meet the standards set by its competitors to help improve its functionality. Improving readability, establishing hierarchy, and modernizing the features only really brushes the surface on the amount of work that could be done to take this site to where it should be.
