Revitalizing Craigslist: Addressing design and safety challenges
Background
Craigslist, the online classified advertisement pioneer, established itself as a household name in the early 2000s by connecting people worldwide to buy and sell within their local communities.
However, the platform’s reputation took a dark turn when it became associated with numerous homicides and scams. While Craigslist paved the way for online marketplaces, its persistence with outdated UX/UI design, anonymous accounts, and lack of safety features, alongside increasing competition from modern alternatives, has resulted in a decline in web traffic and revenue. These persistent safety concerns and declining trust among users pose significant barriers to Craigslist’s continued success in today’s evolving digital marketplace landscape.
Role
UX/UI Design
User Research
Tools
Figma
FigJam
Maze
Zoom
Otter.ai
Project type
Student capstone for Designlab
Research
To explore the problem, I completed a competitive analysis to understand a broader context of the problem and industry landscape. Then, I conducted interviews with four past and present Craigslist users between the ages of 31 and 67 to learn about experiences and emotions related to the site.
Research goals
- To identify what users need and value when purchasing something from another user
- To understand the biggest challenges users have encountered during the process of purchasing something for sale on Craigslist
Sample of interview questions
- What are your top priorities when deciding to purchase something for sale on Craigslist?
- What challenges have you experienced during the purchasing process on Craigslist?
- How does the anonymity on Craigslist influence your perception of safety and trust?
Key findings:
Competitive Analysis
Building trust through multiple features
All competitors have a combination of trust and safety features (as shown in the feature comparison chart below), leveraging well-established strategies for building trust and accountability.
Communication stays on the platform
Competitors have a messaging feature included within their platform, eliminating the need to communicate through personal emails or phone numbers and creating a paper trail in case of emergencies.
User Interviews
Rampant scam concerns
Users express high frustration and decreased trust due to a steady surge in scams over the years. Perceptions are particularly negative when compared to past experiences on Craigslist when scams were not as prevalent.
Anonymity vs. security dilemma
Anonymity is both a crucial draw and a point of concern. Some view anonymity as a valuable form of self-protection against potentially dangerous situations, while others blame it for shielding bad actors from accountability.
Reliability is rare to come across
Users struggle to find reliable sellers, often facing misleading or ghosting behaviors. Differing communication and behavioral expectations amongst users causes significant frustration.
Email: a conduit for bad behavior
Even with Craigslist’s email masking, users still utilize separate dedicated emails to protect their identity, as bad actors frequently exploit email interactions with phishing scams and harassment.
Define
User personas
I developed two personas to represent the types of Craigslist users that emerged from the interviews I conducted. The personas steered my decision-making. ensuring a steadfast focus on addressing user needs.
Exploring ideas
I developed two user personas to represent the types of Craigslist users that emerged during the interviews,. The personas steered my decision-making. ensuring a steadfast focus on addressing their needs.
How might we foster transparency and accountability among Craigslist users to ensure safer and more reliable interactions?
Identity verification ⎯ Implementing an optional identity verification program will help establish a foundation of credibility and security, alleviating some users’ concerns about anonymity.
Filter to hide anonymous users ⎯ Introducing a search filter to display posts exclusively by verified sellers will help increase confidence in transactions for those wishing to avoid anonymous user accounts.
2-way user feedback system ⎯ A user feedback system will foster trust and increase accountability, while rewarding positive interactions and friendly behaviors.
User profiles ⎯ Creating user profiles with reputation and behavioral insights will reinforce accountability and cultivate transparency, enabling informed decision-making.
User flows
Informed by the research findings and in support of our user personas’ goals, two user flows were designed: searching and making an offer on an item posted for sale by a verified seller, and reviewing a recent experience with a seller.
Design
Lo-fi wireframes
I designed low-fidelity wireframes for the key screens in both user flows, each carefully designed to minimize distractions. While I focused primarily on mobile designs, I also created responsive desktop wireframes for three of the key mobile screens.
Light brand refresh
While the scope of a responsive website redesign would typically not include branding, Craigslist presents as an edge case as their brand is essentially a lack thereof. Research insights also suggest that Craigslist has a brand reputation problem, supporting the need for change.
Brand refresh goals
- Maintain what’s good: the simplicity and its the performance
- Preserve the essence of the original “branding”, but modernize it
- Enhance the “brand” to improve its reputation by evoking feelings of safety, trust, and friendliness amongst users
Dive deeper into the design decisions
Typography design decision
Craigslist currently uses Arial for its site and Times New Roman for its wordmark, likely for functionality, as both are web-safe and ensure fast loading and accessibility.
I decided to keep Arial for body copy and choose a more distinctive typeface for headings. After exploring options, I selected Poppins, a web font that, while not as seamless as a web-safe font, offers a modern, friendly look that complements Arial nicely.
Color palette design decision
When you think of Craigslist, purple might come to mind due to its use in the peace symbol and CTAs, but the current homepage is dominated by blue hyperlinks.
To refresh the brand’s image while staying true to its roots, I chose a dark violet-blue as the primary color, offering a calming, modern feel. Complemented by viridian green, this new palette creates a serene and trustworthy brand identity, maintaining a connection to Craigslist’s original color scheme.
Logo design decision
After making updates to Craigslist’s typography and color palette, I decided to largely leave the brand’s logo alone. Retaining this symbol, along with the color purple, is crucial for maintaining any potential brand recognition.
For a light refresh, I updated the wordmark to Poppins and changed the color to the new primary violet-blue, giving the logo and favicon a more modern, friendly appearance.
Hi-fi wireframes
I translated my low-fidelity mockups into high-fidelity wireframes by adding in copy and applying Craigslist’s slightly refreshed branding.
Diving deeper into a few screens…
Verified sellers only filter
To suit their safety preferences, users can choose to see posts from all sellers or only verified ones. If meeting up with anonymous sellers makes them uneasy, users can apply a filter to hide their posts.
User profiles
Users can check out a seller’s profile to assess their reputation and read reviews about their past transactions, providing them with peace of mind about who they’re dealing with.
User profiles
Users can check out a seller’s profile to assess their reputation and read reviews about their past transactions, providing them with peace of mind about who they’re dealing with.
Reviews & ratings
After meeting with a seller to purchase an item, users can write about their experience with the seller, to help create a culture of accountability that celebrates positive interactions.
Testing
I conducted usability testing using a prototype for two task flows, involving five participants between the ages of 23 and 65 who reported having used Craigslist in the past. The testing was unmoderated and conducted via Maze. I organized the results in an affinity map to highlight key insights and then prioritized those insights using an Impact-Effort matrix.
Results
Overall, the testing went well and the vast majority of the feedback was positive (especially on the implementation of a user verification program).
One important concern was flagged by two participants, who both attempted to complete the review seller flow through an alternate path I had not originally anticipated for. Both participants initially missed the alert indicator and in their pursuit of the review screens, they both tried to find a transaction history screen ⎯ highlighting a need for revisions.
In response to this finding, I made two important updates to the prototype:
Challenge discovered:
Users didn't notice the alert indicator and struggled to find the seller review screen.
New alternate path to seller review
I updated flow 2 with an alternative path through the new transaction history screen (nested in the account menu) to help users with different mental models reach the seller review screen.
Color swap for alert indicator
I swapped out the lighter purple shade that was used in the initial prototype for the alert indicator with vibrant viridian, making it easier for users to notice and navigate to the happy path.
Final prototype
After updating my prototype with the testing revisions, the project was complete! Feel free to explore the prototype below to either search for an item to make an offer on or review a seller.
Conclusion
Key takeaways
Good design builds trust between users and a product but can also foster trust and connections amongst users.
Products that lack transparency or do not facilitate self-identification but encourage in-person meetings can hinder the development of safe connections.
Adapting to the rapidly evolving expectations and norms related to trust and safety is crucial to avoid user disconnection and ensure success.
Next steps
Explore how to expand the foundation of trust designed in this project to other categories on Craigslist. What does building trust look like in discussion forums, in job listings, or housing posts?
Dive deeper into identity verification. I researched a few methods (like legal documentation and biometric data) and developed some understanding of their respective trades-offs. However, my time for this complex subject was limited so I’m sure there is much more to learn in order to truly determine the best option for Craigslist.