eBay Rolls Out Playbook Showcasing Its Evolved Brand System, ‘Evo’

By Mikelle Leow, 22 Nov 2024

Image via eBay

eBay has shopped a new look and feel, which it calls Evo. Short for “evolution,” Evo was designed in-house and is all about modernizing eBay’s user experience, giving the online marketplace a sleeker, more cohesive design while making it easier for customers to find what they love. Alongside the facelift, eBay has also rolled out a comprehensive playbook to help its teams and partners bring this updated vision to life.

Image via eBay

Evo represents a shift from just a user interface makeover to a full-blown rebranding effort, centered around the tagline, “Things.People.Love.” The transition reflects eBay’s mission to create meaningful connections between people and their favorite items. The new design system introduces a cleaner, more unified visual identity, featuring a broader color palette and a refreshed logo that feels modern but still familiar.

Image via eBay

The design language puts a strong emphasis on responsive UX, with elements inspired by familiar actions like searching, saving items, and spotlighting deals. The goal is to make the site more intuitive, welcoming both longtime users and newcomers by providing a better browsing and buying experience.

Image via eBay

The use of heritage colors—integral to eBay’s identity since 1995—has been expanded into a cohesive 136-color palette, making it visually dynamic and accessible to all viewers, yet rooted in its origins.

Image via eBay

eBay has also refreshed its imagery, focusing on authentic, story-driven visuals that spotlight the passions of its diverse community. The updated illustration style complements this new look, designed to tie into the product experience. Through bold headlines and an enhanced typeface, ‘Market Sans’, eBay seeks to convey a more powerful brand voice that connects with its audience.

Image via eBay

To support this major overhaul, eBay developed an extensive playbook—a 280-page digital resource filled with guidelines, tools, and over 2,700 visual examples to help internal teams and collaborators bring Evo to life. This guide is an interactive toolkit that provides color selection, type testing, and other guidance to ensure consistency and accessibility across the platform.

Image via eBay