Christie’s LIVE – Mobile and Desktop Bidding Platform

This project was different in aim and objective so I needed to adjust my design process to accommodate. Instead of following the typical step by step design process, I tackled this by setting SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound – instead.

Specific – Enhance user experience by:

• Streamlining the bidding process to reduce friction.
• Optimizing navigation for easy access to important features.
• Implementing a responsive design for a seamless layout across devices

Measurable – success metrics:

• Increase the value of luxury bids on the platform (i.e., artworks valued over $1M)
• Increase the amount of users to the platform by 15% YoY

Actionable – doable on a legacy platform:

• Enhance the speed, reliability, and overall performance of the UI and bidding journey while remaining on the legacy Xcira platform

Relevant – make it look branded:

• Use best design practices and utilize modern design principles and aesthetics to promote a luxury look and feel.
• Design a cohesive and consistent visual language throughout the platform that ties into the larger Christie’s web presence.

Time bound – design for scale and efficiency:

• Ensure any UI and flow improvements made to the legacy platform can handle increased user traffic and data as it scales
• Keep design solutions impactful yet simple to accommodate accelerated delivery timeline

One of the first steps in this process was speaking to current users of the LIVE platform. After interviewing several users some key pain points started to emerge:

• The video of the auctioneer was small and it was hard to see the ‘action’, especially on smaller laptops
• It was impossible to view multiple currencies during a sale
• The only way to bid was on an active lot and in increments – this made it very easy to miss bidding on desired lots if the user had a slow internet connection or didn’t have a chance to hear the progress of the sale
• On mobile, it was very easy to accidentally bid on a lot as the button wasn’t protected

I also wanted to map out the current user flow to see if there was any friction that could be reduced by lowering any unnecessary touch points. I also used experience mapping techniques to visualize and communicate the users’ end‐to‐end experience across various stages of interacting with the product.

Mapping the experience was super helpful in determining priorities and what could be solved by design for an MVP. Unfortunately some pain points identified – adding indicators on sales that utilized the LIVE platform and making those searchable, as well as personalization around recommended lots based on won or lost bids – was out of scope, but it was good practice to identify these pain points for a future north star product.

Though the original LIVE platform tried to directly imitate the excitement and fast-paced nature of an auction in the sale room, the lack of ability to bid on future lots or setting maximum bidding limits meant a lot of users were missing out on lots that they wanted. I considered this a huge pain point as I wanted this product to leverage technology to improve on the live experience, not be limited by it. Hence, I spoke with stakeholders and we agreed that adding max bidding functionality as well as the ability to bid on future lots was to be prioritized.

The mobile version of the app also had its own set of challenges besides the bidding issues. A few users in the past had accidentally bid on lots, which caused high-visibility customer complaints and risked shaking user confidence with the platform. How could this major concern be addressed through a design based solution?

Since the product solution was going to remain on the legacy Xcira platform, I worked with stakeholders to identify what was feasible from my sketches and moved onto wireframes that gave more clarity to some of my suggested solutions.

As a team, we then decided on the finalized scope of features for the MVP:

• Max bidding functionality – allowing the user to set bids in advance and have the system bid up to that amount
• Larger video with the ability to expand the viewport
• Multiple currency display option
• Protected CTA for mobile users to prevent accidental bids

I held several meetings with the vendor’s team to workshop some of my design solutions and discuss ways to streamline some of the ideas. Besides improving the functionality and adding features, the look and feel of the product needed a lux upgrade.

It was important to create a style guide that could provide developers with an overall language that they could build upon.

After working through the detailed design screens and multiple iterations after feedback from developers and stakeholders, we did a soft release internally for user acceptance testing. After clearing some bugs and dealing with edge case design issues, the new Christie’ LIVE platform was ready for wide release!

The launch was considered a success. Because of the easier to use interface, improved response time and newly implemented safety features on mobile, the platform continues to add new bidders, over 15% year over year.

The following year after release, Christie’s LIVE had its highest bid ever – $4.5 million – and continues to add brand value and strong revenue to the larger digital portfolio of the brand.