"Don't make something unless it's both necessary and useful; But if it's both necessary and useful, don't hesitate to make it beautiful." - Shaker Dictum.
It's entirely possible that Craigslist is successful on account of its ugliness. It's also entirely possible that it's successful in spite of its ugliness. I'm inclined to believe the latter.
Aesthetics are extremely important. One can certainly succeed without beautiful design, but more beautiful products are perceived to be more useable.
On the one hand, the right designer could significantly improve the look and feel of Craigslist, without affecting it's structure: a carefully applied colour scheme, better typography, whitespace and a fine attention to detail would help.
On the other hand, Craigslist is the mother of all outliers. Everything they do seems totally counter-intuitive.
Is there room for improvement? Definitely. Should it be improved? It's worthy of a debate.
It's entirely possible that Craigslist is successful on account of its ugliness. It's also entirely possible that it's successful in spite of its ugliness. I'm inclined to believe the latter.
Aesthetics are extremely important. One can certainly succeed without beautiful design, but more beautiful products are perceived to be more useable.
On the one hand, the right designer could significantly improve the look and feel of Craigslist, without affecting it's structure: a carefully applied colour scheme, better typography, whitespace and a fine attention to detail would help.
On the other hand, Craigslist is the mother of all outliers. Everything they do seems totally counter-intuitive.
Is there room for improvement? Definitely. Should it be improved? It's worthy of a debate.