Built for what OfferUp was becoming.

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OfferUp 2.0 redesigned OfferUp's brand, navigation and design system across iOS, Android and web. I led the design work, keeping the app simple for casual sellers while making room for power sellers, local services, booking and payments.

Three years after launch, OfferUp wanted to become the app for everything local, with services, booking and payments, and its busiest sellers needed better tools. I led the redesign of the brand, navigation and design system across iOS, Android and web, and the team built and tested about 50 prototypes with users. The new brand and logo shipped before the company changed direction.

Company: OfferUp
Role: Design lead
Team: Design team, with platform and app teams

At a glance.

Background. Three years after launch, OfferUp wanted to become the app for everything local. I led the redesign of its brand, navigation and design system across iOS, Android and web.

~1.5items sold a year by the average person

20%of people never sold anything

Problem. The app was built for casual sellers, while power sellers and local services needed real tools.

Solution. Room for services, booking and payments without crowding the core: the tabs people knew stayed, and everything for pros moved into one menu.

~50prototypes tested with users

3platforms, one design system

Outcome. The new app was fully mapped and tested. The company then changed direction, and the new brand and logo shipped.

The context

More than buying and selling.

OfferUp launched to help people sell the odd chair or bike. The plan had grown to everything local, from house painters and lawn care to booking and payments, and the original navigation wasn't built for any of it.

Two kinds of seller

Ten percent of sellers, forty percent of the listings.

Most people sold one or two things a year, but a small group sold every day. Research with hundreds of these power sellers showed the same problems, like offer threads that were slow to find and slower to work through. The redesign had to stay simple for casual sellers and give power sellers real tools.

Making money

Revenue without ads in the feed.

Ads were the obvious answer, but in tests each ad in the home feed cost 5 to 7 percent of session time and pulled daily and weekly users down with it. We bet on local services instead: booking fees, pro subscriptions and promoted listings from real local businesses.

Structure

The whole app, mapped.

Casual users kept the tabs they knew. Everything for pros, high-volume sellers and services moved into one menu, so it stayed out of everyone else's way.

**The five tabs, with the account menu branching off Home.**

Shop

Services beside stuff.

In the new Shop, handymen and landscaping sit next to furniture and gaming.

Brand

Friendly, and ready for business.

The original brand was humble on purpose; people had told us an app that looked too nice must be expensive. The new one kept that feeling of a good deal, but had to look right for someone listing a laptop or a painter trying to look professional. We started with the brand because it could ship whichever way the product went.

**Search in the new design system, light and dark.**

The outcome

Nine months, then a new direction.

After nine months the new app was fully mapped, with booking and payments, and the first service categories were chosen. Then the company changed direction, and the new brand and logo were what shipped.

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