Bid on This
UX/UI work for an online auction platform, creating a digital experience that needed to make browsing, understanding and bidding on items straightforward for users.
Introduction
Bid on This was an online auction platform where the user experience needed to support both the discovery of items and the process of participating in an auction. Unlike conventional e-commerce, auction services introduce additional interactions and information that users need to understand before they can bid with confidence.
My work focused on UX/UI, helping organise those interactions into a clear and usable digital experience. The project provided an opportunity to consider how interface design could communicate auction information effectively while guiding users through browsing, selecting items and taking part in the bidding process.
Designing for an Online Auction Experience
An auction platform creates a different user journey from conventional e-commerce. Users are not simply selecting a product at a fixed price; they need to understand the item, the current bidding position and how to participate in the auction.
The interface therefore needed to present this information clearly while making the process of moving from browsing an item to placing a bid straightforward and understandable.
Making the Bidding Process Clear
My work focused on UX/UI, considering how the different elements of the auction experience could be organised into an intuitive interface.
Clear information hierarchy and interaction design were particularly important. Users needed to understand what action they could take, what was happening with an auction and how their actions affected the bidding process without unnecessary confusion or uncertainty.
Designing Around User Actions
Bid on This provided another useful example of designing a transactional digital service around the task the user is trying to accomplish.
Although the business model differed from conventional online retail, the underlying UX principles remained similar: provide the right information at the right time, make available actions obvious and remove unnecessary obstacles from the user’s journey.
The project added to my experience of designing interfaces for transactional services where the effectiveness of the user experience has a direct relationship with participation and commercial performance.
Read the Full Project Story
This article provides a short introduction to my UX/UI work on Bid on This. For more information about the project, my role and the wider professional context, read the full Bid on This project page on Mike-Speight.co.uk.