Introduction
I’ve been assigned by Professor Akselsen to redesign an existing website. For this assignment I chose to redesign Craigslist. I will be employing an iterative design process in order to break down the requirements and fulfill the needs of the user. Envisioning an open-ended project within a restricted time frame will require me to make some assumptions along the way in order to limit the scope, maximize my focus and deliver on time. I’ll be approaching this problem using the material we learned in Module 2.
The Assignment
The Challenge
Use a company or organization of your choice to create a simple, mood board, color palette, sitemap and wire frames. Reconfigure the site structure/sitemap and redesign the look and feel, while working in the content that you have and allocate time to each of the 4 components sensibly time wise. You should be able to pull together some thoughtful visuals on how the site can be improved. Use the text from the site and/or dummy text (except for headings/navigation elements, which need to communicate how you are structuring the site). For images, use only visuals that you own or that are royalty free. Your work will be evaluated based on how you have applied the ideas we’ve discussed in the segment.
Information Gathering
Defining the Problem
After exploring discoverdesign.org/handbook in Module 2, I became familiar with the steps required to solve the problem. I will be employing an iterative design process in order to break down the requirements and fulfill the needs of the user. Before getting started I needed to learn more about Craigslist and it’s users to identify the problem. User research and feedback helped me understand how other people use Craigslist, so I could respond more effectively to their needs with informed and inspired design solutions.
Information Gathering
Research
Craigslist became a web-based service 20 years ago. Studies have shown that Craigslist has replaced the newspaper industry. Between the years 2000 and 2008 Craigslist has left a huge dent in newspapers’ revenues. So much in fact, it has drove down the rates newspapers were able to charge for display advertising and forced them to increase their subscription and newsstand prices. Craigslist took a giant bite out of newspapers’ revenues — some $5 billion between the years 2000 and 2007. It offering a cheap, easy online alternative to their classified advertising pages.