UX Audit
Craigslist is a great example of a platform whose UX is very closely connected to its UI and graphic design, leading to a less than optimal consumption of the product. It was crucial to explore the existing product to figure out,
- Where are users getting stuck?
- Where are they dropping off?
- Why are they dropping off?
- What do they not understand?
Craig Newmark started Craigslist because people were paying too much for ineffective ads, and he wanted to provide a simple platform where people would pay less for more effective ads.
People didn’t want fancy things, they wanted simple, direct and fast. Although he thoughts that he didn’t understand the value of media and communications, identity and brand, Craigslist’s undesigned style of the early Web because it’s brand.
Once I had an idea of how Craigslist worked currently, I started talking to the different types of users about their interaction with the website and why they did or did not use it, and summarized it as the following:
- Craigslist has an iconic brand identity
- There is an appeal in its simplicity
- Listings seem more authentic than other e-commerce platforms
- It feels like Reddit with different content
- It has multiple different apps in one
Usability Heuristic Evaluation