Redesign Craigslist (1)

The cover story for the September 2009 issue of Wired takes a look at the current state of Craigslist and the challenges it faces as it continues to evolve. In a sidebar, the magazine’s art director Scott Dadich invited several top web designers to re-imagine and redesign Craigslist itself.

The designers' list include:
Scott Thomas of SimpleScott, who was the former design director at BarackObama.com
Thomas' minimalist take (below) makes a pro-status quo argument, recognizing that the site functions perfectly well in its current form with only minor, mostly aesthetic tweaks.

Matt Wiley of Studio8 Design and Luke Hayman
Studio8 Design came up with a more dramatically different-looking version, prioritizing the all-important photos to make rapid-fire browsing instantly gratifying.

Lisa Strausfeld of Pentagram
While the others go to great lengths to keep the practical side at the forefront, Pentagram seems to all but dispense with the concern, playfully transforming the homepage's text links into an image of the man behind the curtain. The search function, however, moved to the bottom of the page, remains otherwise untouched. Maybe they're onto something.

Khoi Vinh Anh Dang , Paul Lau, design team at NYTimes.com
The solution is here at this link.

adding a couple layers of hierarchy to make it more organized and easier to navigate

To read the article: Extrme MAkeover: Craigslist Edition from Wired Magazine
Also read: Why Craigslist is such a mess