These are my notes from this panel, which took place March 13.
- Andrei Herasimchuk, Principal, Involution Studios
- Cameron Moll, cameronmoll.com
- Paul Nixon, Apple
- Ryan Sims, Lead Designer, Neubix
- Keith Robinson, Creative Dir, Blue Flavor
Unsolicited redesign of craigslist.org.
Keith: Really liked it. So if it’s not broken, why fix it. Generally unfinished feel. Searching kind of hard. Found out that everyone loves craigslist using Survey Monkey. Research not scientific. Better than nothing. Sat down and watched people use Craigslist. Talked to them.
Findings
- Search could be improved
- Home page organization could be improved
- Personalization would be good
- More professional and trustworthy looking
Paul: kind of an unbrand. Do you brand craigslist, do you not. Driven by people who use the site. Identity should reflect the community.
Underlying theme: keep the logo as simple as possible. Compared against Nike.
Moll: spoke about mobile technology. Mobile web something akin to the fragmented haphazard prestandards desktop web x43.
Four approaches to take a site mobile:
- Do nothing (not a bad strategy if the markup is good)
- Strip images and styling (craiglist zero images)
- Handheld stylesheets (support is inconsistent)
- Mobile specific app
Do we miniaturize or mobilze? We probably need to talk to Craig.
Interface
Embrace constraints. Craiglist is the master of. Wanted to embrace those. Went for a realignment. All had for interface tools was color and type. Sought inspiration from newsdesigner.com, UX Mag, Onion.
Technique: take a step back. Looked at it smaller.
96% of sites on the Internet load slower than craigslist.
When revealed finished product, brought a round of applause. Truly better. Keep everything basically the same. With so few interface tools, used contrast in fonts and color.
Breadcrumbs marginally useful, and often not missed.
Got Craig up on stage. “This is good. This looks pretty clean.”
Does panels research verify Craig’s research. Craig: “Research?”