How 58.com Reimagined Its Homepage: From User‑Centric Design to a Youthful Brand Experience

Starting from “Why”

58.com has invested heavily in several major redesigns since 2016, moving from city‑landmark concepts to a lifestyle‑centric approach, and finally to a user‑driven strategy that aligns with diversified user needs and business growth.

Understanding the User: Redefining the Plan

Using design thinking, the team mapped key elements of the redesign into a structured plan, ensuring each insight translates into concrete design actions.

Brand Revitalization – Younger and Fun

The brand’s core values were excavated to create a younger image, targeting the dominant 20‑30‑year‑old user base while also appealing to white‑collar and small‑town users.

Visual Language Evolution

The new visual style centers on “young, fun” themes, featuring distinctive icons, animated hero images, and a palette derived from the 58.com logo’s four colors, symbolizing user‑first, ecosystem integration, innovation, and progress.

Icon color overlay groups red‑yellow and blue‑green to reduce contrast clashes while adding detail, enhancing visual durability.

Design principles such as simplicity, unified color schemes, consistent corner radii, and thoughtful details were applied to reduce cognitive load and create a cohesive experience.

Design Language Research

Color choices convey the brand’s spirit; the overlay technique blends colors harmoniously, while the overall layout maintains clarity and rhythm through spacing, lines, and gradient sections.

Emotional Extension

Emotional design is emphasized through layered illustrations that reflect the “simple and beautiful life” philosophy, evolving from city landmarks (2016) to lifestyle scenes (2017) and finally to 24‑solar‑term themed hand‑drawn artwork that resonates with users.

Optimizing Information Architecture – Efficiency First

The homepage’s product goal is to distribute traffic efficiently, meeting user demands for relevant life‑service information. A top‑down, structured content layout prioritizes search and core services, while secondary sections (news, community) increase stickiness.

Visual hierarchy is reinforced through spacing, single lines, and gradient areas, guiding users through primary business zones, recommendation modules, and feed streams.

Personalized Multi‑Side Market – One‑Size‑Does‑Not‑Fit‑All

By analyzing user behavior, the redesign introduces linked search entries that surface niche services on the first screen, balancing stability for core services with exposure for emerging ones.

A “scene‑aware” approach tailors notifications and content based on time, location, and user history, delivering timely interview invites, property reminders, or local updates.

Designers Talk

The article concludes with acknowledgments to the team members who contributed to the redesign.