Recordsale: marketplace redesign
A mobile-first redesign that makes browsing feel guided and personal, improving clarity, trust and usability across a huge catalogue.
2020
-
Multi-phase redesign
· E-commerce · Mobile-First ·
Scroll
Overview
My role
UX & UI
Team Composition
1 UX/UI Designer (me) + 1 Project Manager + 1 Stakeholder + 2 Developers
Recordsale.de is one of Europe's largest online stores for new and used records. The existing site was functional, but struggled to help people discover records beyond what they already knew, especially on mobile since the marketplace wasn't responsive before. This redesign focused on making browsing feel more guided and personal, while improving clarity, trust and usability on smaller screens.
The work balanced two realities: a huge catalogue with many genres and sub-genres, and customers who often have partial preferences, like a handful of artists, a couple of genres or "something in between." The outcome was a new structure and new product features centred on recommendations, following and a want list, supported all by a clearer mobile UI.
Challenge
Record buyers needed a simpler, clearer experience, especially on mobile, to find records they actually like without getting lost in an overwhelming genre structure.
Business Goals
The main business goal was to improve activation and retention by:
Helping new and mobile users discover relevant music faster.
Encouraging repeat purchases through ongoing discovery after someone buys their “must-have” records.
Increasing trust and credibility for new customers through clearer communication.
Key Pain Points
01
Activation
New users struggled to discover what they liked because navigating many genres and sub-genres was confusing and time-consuming.
02
Retention
Returning purchases were low. People bought the records they had in mind and then stopped due to limited guidance on what else they might enjoy.
03
Mobile Navigation
It was non-existent, there wasn't a proper responsive design implemented.
Problem to solve
How might we help record buyers on mobile discover records they'll like more easily, without feeling overwhelmed by a complex genre structure?
Discovery
I started by aligning on the business intent with the client, then validated and refined the problem through lightweight high-signal research.
Research and discovery methods used:
Usability tests on the existing website.
Heatmaps from the existing website.
Review of existing website data.
Research Discovery
01
Customers accessed on mobile
68%
02
User drop-off during discovery
High
"I like Recordsale, but after I buy what I came for, nothing pulls me back in. There's no clear next steps or easy way to keep exploring"
Key Insights
Early discovery drop-off:
The browsing structure didn’t help users navigate “in-between” tastes, so exploration stalled quickly.
Post-purchase retention was structurally limited:
Users still valued Recordsale, but after completing the first purchase they lacked clear pathways to continue exploring, reducing the likelihood of a second purchase.
Strategy
With the problem framed as discovery + retention, I focused the strategy on reducing cognitive load and creating lightweight "signals of taste" that the system could use to personalise over time.
Design Principles
Make exploration feel guided, not manual
Progressively reveal complexity
Personalisation should be earned through small actions (follow, wantlist, purchases…)
Mobile-first navigation must be simple, consistent and forgiving
Strategy methods
Problem statement
Aligned with stakeholders around "simpler experience and clearer communication on mobile".
Sitemap / IA
Restructured how artists, genres and recommendations connect, reducing dead-ends and creating multiple discovery entry points to improve growth.
User Journey
Arrive → Explore → Follow or Wantlist → Receive better recommendations → Repeat purchase.
Solution
I moved from structure to interaction through progressive fidelity, validating navigation and content hierarchy before investing in visual polish:
Low-fi sketches: to quickly explore layouts and navigation patterns.
Mid-fi wireframes: to validate spacing, hierarchy and flow.
Interactive prototypes: to test end-to-end journeys.
High-fi UI: to polish and apply the final design.
Key screens narrative
Artists Page:
An exploration hub showing followed artists, recommendations and artists with records available. Detail pages connect to albums, related artists and related genres.
Genre Page:
Structured to reduce overwhelm: followed genres, recommendations, all genres, and sub-genres surfaced for targeted browsing. Detail pages connect to sub-genres, artists and albums.
Recommendations:
Improve as users buy, follow or wantlist. Quick overflow actions let users follow or remove to keep them relevant.
Following:
Positioned as a way to never miss new releases and to improve recommendations (transparent value exchange).
Wantlist:
A simple "save for later" behaviour: search or browse → open release → add to wantlist. Supports repeat visits and purchase intent over time.
Testing
Once there was a first design, I ran task-based usability testing, with people from the target group, and iterated based on observed confusion, hesitation and feedback.
Mid-fidelity usability testing was used to catch navigation and comprehension issues early. Iterations focused on reducing uncertainty at key decision points, like what to tap, what happens next and how to recover.
What usability testing helped uncover
Users navigated Artists and Genres more directly and reported clearer understanding of where recommendations live.
Stakeholder alignment achieved around a product direction that supports retention through discovery features.
Why UI decisions worked
Clear, mobile-friendly browsing:
Strong typographic hierarchy, larger tap targets, and simpler scanning patterns reduced the “where do I go next?” feeling.
Multiple discovery paths:
Users can explore by Artists or Genres, then branch into related content without needing to backtrack.
Taste signals that power personalizations:
“Follow” and “Wantlist” give users quick ways to express intent, creating a foundation for recommendations.
Results
Iteration driven by the usability testing revealed the following:
Improved usability confidence on mobile during testing rounds. Users navigated Artists/Genres more directly and reported clearer understanding of where recommendations live.
Stakeholder alignment around a product direction that supports retention through discovery features.
🚨
Results Caveat
Implementation note: At the time of writing, the live site has applied style and accessibility improvements, while Follow and Wantlist were still pending development.
Learnings
What I've Learned
In large-catalogue commerce, "better UI" is not enough; discovery needs product mechanisms, like signals, loops and return paths.
Mobile-first work is most successful when IA and interaction are simplified before visual polish.
What I'd do differently
Add clearer measurement upfront, like activation rate, repeat purchase rate and discovery engagement, and define an experiment plan before development.
Prototype and test a dedicated onboarding moment to capture early preferences and accelerate personalisation.
Next Steps
Ship Follow + Wantlist, then measure: engagement with recommendations, repeat purchase rate, time-to-first-discovery action.
Expand recommendation controls: explicit "show me more / less like this" feedback.
Continue iterative mobile optimisation based on post-launch analytics and heatmaps.
Recordsale: marketplace redesign
A mobile-first redesign that makes browsing feel guided and personal, improving clarity, trust and usability across a huge catalogue.
2020
-
Multi-phase redesign
· E-commerce · Mobile-First ·
Scroll
Overview
My role
UX & UI
Team Composition
1 UX/UI Designer (me) + 1 Project Manager + 1 Stakeholder + 2 Developers
Recordsale.de is one of Europe's largest online stores for new and used records. The existing site was functional, but struggled to help people discover records beyond what they already knew, especially on mobile since the marketplace wasn't responsive before. This redesign focused on making browsing feel more guided and personal, while improving clarity, trust and usability on smaller screens.
The work balanced two realities: a huge catalogue with many genres and sub-genres, and customers who often have partial preferences, like a handful of artists, a couple of genres or "something in between." The outcome was a new structure and new product features centred on recommendations, following and a want list, supported all by a clearer mobile UI.
Challenge
Record buyers needed a simpler, clearer experience, especially on mobile, to find records they actually like without getting lost in an overwhelming genre structure.
Business Goals
The main business goal was to improve activation and retention by:
Helping new and mobile users discover relevant music faster.
Encouraging repeat purchases through ongoing discovery after someone buys their “must-have” records.
Increasing trust and credibility for new customers through clearer communication.
Key Pain Points
01
Activation
New users struggled to discover what they liked because navigating many genres and sub-genres was confusing and time-consuming.
02
Retention
Returning purchases were low. People bought the records they had in mind and then stopped due to limited guidance on what else they might enjoy.
03
Mobile Navigation
It was non-existent, there wasn't a proper responsive design implemented.
Problem to solve
How might we help record buyers on mobile discover records they'll like more easily, without feeling overwhelmed by a complex genre structure?
Discovery
I started by aligning on the business intent with the client, then validated and refined the problem through lightweight high-signal research.
Research and discovery methods used:
Usability tests on the existing website.
Heatmaps from the existing website.
Review of existing website data.
Research Discovery
01
Customers accessed on mobile
68%
02
User drop-off during discovery
High
"I like Recordsale, but after I buy what I came for, nothing pulls me back in. There's no clear next steps or easy way to keep exploring"
Key Insights
Early discovery drop-off:
The browsing structure didn’t help users navigate “in-between” tastes, so exploration stalled quickly.
Post-purchase retention was structurally limited:
Users still valued Recordsale, but after completing the first purchase they lacked clear pathways to continue exploring, reducing the likelihood of a second purchase.
Strategy
With the problem framed as discovery + retention, I focused the strategy on reducing cognitive load and creating lightweight "signals of taste" that the system could use to personalise over time.
Design Principles
Make exploration feel guided, not manual
Progressively reveal complexity
Personalisation should be earned through small actions (follow, wantlist, purchases…)
Mobile-first navigation must be simple, consistent and forgiving
Strategy methods
Problem statement
Aligned with stakeholders around "simpler experience and clearer communication on mobile".
Sitemap / IA
Restructured how artists, genres and recommendations connect, reducing dead-ends and creating multiple discovery entry points to improve growth.
User Journey
Arrive → Explore → Follow or Wantlist → Receive better recommendations → Repeat purchase.
Solution
I moved from structure to interaction through progressive fidelity, validating navigation and content hierarchy before investing in visual polish:
Low-fi sketches: to quickly explore layouts and navigation patterns.
Mid-fi wireframes: to validate spacing, hierarchy and flow.
Interactive prototypes: to test end-to-end journeys.
High-fi UI: to polish and apply the final design.
Key screens narrative
Artists Page:
An exploration hub showing followed artists, recommendations and artists with records available. Detail pages connect to albums, related artists and related genres.
Genre Page:
Structured to reduce overwhelm: followed genres, recommendations, all genres, and sub-genres surfaced for targeted browsing. Detail pages connect to sub-genres, artists and albums.
Recommendations:
Improve as users buy, follow or wantlist. Quick overflow actions let users follow or remove to keep them relevant.
Following:
Positioned as a way to never miss new releases and to improve recommendations (transparent value exchange).
Wantlist:
A simple "save for later" behaviour: search or browse → open release → add to wantlist. Supports repeat visits and purchase intent over time.
Testing
Once there was a first design, I ran task-based usability testing, with people from the target group, and iterated based on observed confusion, hesitation and feedback.
Mid-fidelity usability testing was used to catch navigation and comprehension issues early. Iterations focused on reducing uncertainty at key decision points, like what to tap, what happens next and how to recover.
What usability testing helped uncover
Users navigated Artists and Genres more directly and reported clearer understanding of where recommendations live.
Stakeholder alignment achieved around a product direction that supports retention through discovery features.
Why UI decisions worked
Clear, mobile-friendly browsing:
Strong typographic hierarchy, larger tap targets, and simpler scanning patterns reduced the “where do I go next?” feeling.
Multiple discovery paths:
Users can explore by Artists or Genres, then branch into related content without needing to backtrack.
Taste signals that power personalizations:
“Follow” and “Wantlist” give users quick ways to express intent, creating a foundation for recommendations.
Results
Iteration driven by the usability testing revealed the following:
Improved usability confidence on mobile during testing rounds. Users navigated Artists/Genres more directly and reported clearer understanding of where recommendations live.
Stakeholder alignment around a product direction that supports retention through discovery features.
🚨
Results Caveat
Implementation note: At the time of writing, the live site has applied style and accessibility improvements, while Follow and Wantlist were still pending development.
Learnings
What I've Learned
In large-catalogue commerce, "better UI" is not enough; discovery needs product mechanisms, like signals, loops and return paths.
Mobile-first work is most successful when IA and interaction are simplified before visual polish.
What I'd do differently
Add clearer measurement upfront, like activation rate, repeat purchase rate and discovery engagement, and define an experiment plan before development.
Prototype and test a dedicated onboarding moment to capture early preferences and accelerate personalisation.
Next Steps
Ship Follow + Wantlist, then measure: engagement with recommendations, repeat purchase rate, time-to-first-discovery action.
Expand recommendation controls: explicit "show me more / less like this" feedback.
Continue iterative mobile optimisation based on post-launch analytics and heatmaps.
Recordsale: marketplace redesign
A mobile-first redesign that makes browsing feel guided and personal, improving clarity, trust and usability across a huge catalogue.
2020
-
Multi-phase redesign
· E-commerce · Mobile-First ·
Scroll
Overview
My role
UX & UI
Team Composition
1 UX/UI Designer (me) + 1 Project Manager + 1 Stakeholder + 2 Developers
Recordsale.de is one of Europe's largest online stores for new and used records. The existing site was functional, but struggled to help people discover records beyond what they already knew, especially on mobile since the marketplace wasn't responsive before. This redesign focused on making browsing feel more guided and personal, while improving clarity, trust and usability on smaller screens.
The work balanced two realities: a huge catalogue with many genres and sub-genres, and customers who often have partial preferences, like a handful of artists, a couple of genres or "something in between." The outcome was a new structure and new product features centred on recommendations, following and a want list, supported all by a clearer mobile UI.
Challenge
Record buyers needed a simpler, clearer experience, especially on mobile, to find records they actually like without getting lost in an overwhelming genre structure.
Business Goals
The main business goal was to improve activation and retention by:
Helping new and mobile users discover relevant music faster.
Encouraging repeat purchases through ongoing discovery after someone buys their “must-have” records.
Increasing trust and credibility for new customers through clearer communication.
Key Pain Points
01
Activation
New users struggled to discover what they liked because navigating many genres and sub-genres was confusing and time-consuming.
02
Retention
Returning purchases were low. People bought the records they had in mind and then stopped due to limited guidance on what else they might enjoy.
03
Mobile Navigation
It was non-existent, there wasn't a proper responsive design implemented.
Problem to solve
How might we help record buyers on mobile discover records they'll like more easily, without feeling overwhelmed by a complex genre structure?
Discovery
I started by aligning on the business intent with the client, then validated and refined the problem through lightweight high-signal research.
Research and discovery methods used:
Usability tests on the existing website.
Heatmaps from the existing website.
Review of existing website data.
Research Discovery
01
Customers accessed on mobile
68%
02
User drop-off during discovery
High
"I like Recordsale, but after I buy what I came for, nothing pulls me back in. There's no clear next steps or easy way to keep exploring"
Key Insights
Early discovery drop-off:
The browsing structure didn’t help users navigate “in-between” tastes, so exploration stalled quickly.
Post-purchase retention was structurally limited:
Users still valued Recordsale, but after completing the first purchase they lacked clear pathways to continue exploring, reducing the likelihood of a second purchase.
Strategy
With the problem framed as discovery + retention, I focused the strategy on reducing cognitive load and creating lightweight "signals of taste" that the system could use to personalise over time.
Design Principles
Make exploration feel guided, not manual
Progressively reveal complexity
Personalisation should be earned through small actions (follow, wantlist, purchases…)
Mobile-first navigation must be simple, consistent and forgiving
Strategy methods
Problem statement
Aligned with stakeholders around "simpler experience and clearer communication on mobile".
Sitemap / IA
Restructured how artists, genres and recommendations connect, reducing dead-ends and creating multiple discovery entry points to improve growth.
User Journey
Arrive → Explore → Follow or Wantlist → Receive better recommendations → Repeat purchase.
Solution
I moved from structure to interaction through progressive fidelity, validating navigation and content hierarchy before investing in visual polish:
Low-fi sketches: to quickly explore layouts and navigation patterns.
Mid-fi wireframes: to validate spacing, hierarchy and flow.
Interactive prototypes: to test end-to-end journeys.
High-fi UI: to polish and apply the final design.
Key screens narrative
Artists Page:
An exploration hub showing followed artists, recommendations and artists with records available. Detail pages connect to albums, related artists and related genres.
Genre Page:
Structured to reduce overwhelm: followed genres, recommendations, all genres, and sub-genres surfaced for targeted browsing. Detail pages connect to sub-genres, artists and albums.
Recommendations:
Improve as users buy, follow or wantlist. Quick overflow actions let users follow or remove to keep them relevant.
Following:
Positioned as a way to never miss new releases and to improve recommendations (transparent value exchange).
Wantlist:
A simple "save for later" behaviour: search or browse → open release → add to wantlist. Supports repeat visits and purchase intent over time.
Testing
Once there was a first design, I ran task-based usability testing, with people from the target group, and iterated based on observed confusion, hesitation and feedback.
Mid-fidelity usability testing was used to catch navigation and comprehension issues early. Iterations focused on reducing uncertainty at key decision points, like what to tap, what happens next and how to recover.
What usability testing helped uncover
Users navigated Artists and Genres more directly and reported clearer understanding of where recommendations live.
Stakeholder alignment achieved around a product direction that supports retention through discovery features.
Why UI decisions worked
Clear, mobile-friendly browsing:
Strong typographic hierarchy, larger tap targets, and simpler scanning patterns reduced the “where do I go next?” feeling.
Multiple discovery paths:
Users can explore by Artists or Genres, then branch into related content without needing to backtrack.
Taste signals that power personalizations:
“Follow” and “Wantlist” give users quick ways to express intent, creating a foundation for recommendations.
Results
Iteration driven by the usability testing revealed the following:
Improved usability confidence on mobile during testing rounds. Users navigated Artists/Genres more directly and reported clearer understanding of where recommendations live.
Stakeholder alignment around a product direction that supports retention through discovery features.
🚨
Results Caveat
Implementation note: At the time of writing, the live site has applied style and accessibility improvements, while Follow and Wantlist were still pending development.
Learnings
What I've Learned
In large-catalogue commerce, "better UI" is not enough; discovery needs product mechanisms, like signals, loops and return paths.
Mobile-first work is most successful when IA and interaction are simplified before visual polish.
What I'd do differently
Add clearer measurement upfront, like activation rate, repeat purchase rate and discovery engagement, and define an experiment plan before development.
Prototype and test a dedicated onboarding moment to capture early preferences and accelerate personalisation.
Next Steps
Ship Follow + Wantlist, then measure: engagement with recommendations, repeat purchase rate, time-to-first-discovery action.
Expand recommendation controls: explicit "show me more / less like this" feedback.
Continue iterative mobile optimisation based on post-launch analytics and heatmaps.