OLX
Category
Mobile / App Design
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OLX is one of the world’s most successful online classifieds businesses, operating in over 40 countries. Despite huge growth and dominating many of the markets it operated in, its brand and digital experience were a long way from best-in-class. And this was putting the long-term defendability of the business at risk. Facebook’s rapid growth into community classifieds and Amazon’s dominant position as ‘the cheap option’, meant OLX needed to connect with people around a new sentiment – something that took them beyond classifieds.
Introduction and role
One of the key takeaways from the re-brand phase of the project was that many potential customers in the companies key markets had a negative perception of buying second-hand. In order to shift this perception the brand aimed to deliver a more positive sentiment around second-hand trade, by tapping into the practical side of things — using OLX just makes sense. It makes it easier for people to sell almost anything, and make some extra cash. It saves money, keeps it in local communities, supports small businesses and saves the planet. Ultimately, it’s the smart thing to do.
'Smart Choices' became the brands key strategic proposition. It helped to drive creative decisions not only for brand and marketing touchpoints but was also a sentiment that would run through to the customer's entire journey when using their product.
My role was Digital Design Director. I was responsible for translating the brand identity into a highly functional digital platform which brought elements of delight alongside a sizeable design system.
The smart choice
Although there was now an established brand identity in place, one of our first challenges was to identify which brand elements would translate well to a product UI. Many of the inherited brand assets looked great in marketing and social comms, but in many cases lacked the flexibility and nuances required to deliver a comprehensive user interface. This meant revisiting and evolving certain elements of the brand for digital outputs, this included; typographic hierarchy, refining colours (with accessibility in mind), simplifying icons and photographic art direction.
