Design for Web3.0

Shivani Holkar at UXDX Community: Design for Web 3. Video: https://youtu.be/2D9gmwz5ya4

Readable transcript: edited from the recording's captions for readability (fillers and false starts removed, punctuation and section headings added). Wording is the speaker's own. Timestamps are positions in the video. Names marked [?] could not be verified against the audio.

From web1 to web3

[00:00:00] Shivani: Hey, hi everyone, thanks for joining and having me today. I'm Shivani, a product designer and a web3 enthusiast. How I started in this space was designing bounty projects with Superteam. Superteam DAO is a community of operators, devs and angels working on promising Solana projects.

[00:00:25] No one asked for a history lesson here, but here it is. With each internet evolution there have been fundamental differences in the way people use the web, and therefore in how design for users was done. Everyone seems to be talking about blockchain. More importantly, it's on the radar of huge companies, and we know where there's money, there's traction. Web3 is the talk of the town these days. With new technologies in progress, web3 stands out as the next big thing. But how does design, especially UX, fit into this equation? What do these two terms mean, and can one exist without the other? Want to know more? I'll take you further in the talk and give you some more tips on designing the web3 way.

[00:01:13] Before that, let's see how the evolution of the web happened. Web1 was characterized by users being passive consumers of content. There were limited creators, and pages were designed in a static environment. Web2, also known as the internet largely, is characterized by heavier user participation, interaction and personalization. Web3, what everyone's hyping up, is the next phase in the evolution of the web. It's a combination of multiple technologies, including blockchain, to create a web that is open, trustless and safe.

[00:01:49] For the next few minutes, I want you to see how design, or UX, will be taking us ahead. Maybe you're thinking, "Tell me how I can improve the design of my product." Is it deciding on the precise angle of the gradient or the corner radius of my buttons? Or is it choosing the right item in the food pyramid to name my product after? For the record, we are over-indexed on sweets with almost no carbs, which says something about the state of web3 as a whole. No, not exactly those, but yes, I will be sharing some tips for designing better web3 products.

[00:02:30] For the next few minutes, I want to challenge you to zoom out from your specific product interface and think with me as a human of web3: all the messy transactions, channels, Discord, decisions that we individually and collectively experience in web3. We think we have the potential here to build things a bit differently.

A new industry full of jargon

[00:02:52] We know the new industry can seem daunting, and the problem that we have is more around the new terms, the new abbreviations, the jargon that's floating around. There is so much talk surrounding web3 but only a little understanding, because the culture is primarily motivated by fear of missing out on the movement, fancy terms and hype, so people are inclined to join this trend despite having little to no understanding of it.

[00:03:26] The new technology is difficult for people to adopt, because users are typically new to the space, and this being new means less familiarity with and understanding of what the technology is. This is the part where UX comes into play: to educate the users and guide them. We know that when we're performing any actions, when there's a case of instructing users, there are high chances that you are overwhelmed with a lot of information in the user experience.

[00:04:00] There's a whole new lingo floating around when it comes to web3, signaling in the web3 community: web3, airdrop, tokens, metaverse, gas. What do these terms even mean? Sure, I could just Google them to know their definitions, but what's in it for me as a designer? Most people still have no idea how it can improve or provide value to their lives. The challenge for us as designers is to hide complexity in web3 products and focus on what really matters to our users.

The mass adoption problem

[00:04:35] We have a problem in web3, and that's mass adoption. Throughout the summer I happened to attend Solana Hacker House and Avalanche Summit. I learned about awesome projects built across the space and the amazing builders powering it all. But there was one thing that was missing, and has often been missing when I try to objectively look at the products in the space: this focus on mass adoption. People's anchors are set, their mental models are formed, and most importantly, their expectations have reached an all-time high. Simplification is the key to mass adoption.

[00:05:10] Web3 requires a non-savvy internet user to understand things that go beyond the scope of a lazy buyer. What is gas? How do I transfer my crypto into MetaMask or any other web wallet? Where should I store the keys to my web wallet? Which web wallet should I use? How do I know if my bid is successful or not? And so on. Often words like decentralization and open source can instill a false sense of security in users that blockchain is impenetrable.

[00:05:42] We are in the early adoption phase, and there are three big barriers right now. First is the onboarding experience: wallets are not the easiest to navigate. Second, the transaction fees are high for chains like Ethereum, although innovation is well underway in this space with chains like Solana and Polygon. And third, there is no central authority. Yes, this is one of the best parts of web3, but it's something users need to get accustomed to. You can't call your bank or a credit card provider and ask them to void a transaction. When it's gone, it's really gone.

[00:06:21] Adoption is easier when I as a user can use decentralized applications easily and quickly, and this is how design plays an important role in the uptake and adoption of web3. As most users will be onboarded into the world of blockchain through apps, how they journey through this technical space can be heavily hindered or supported by design.

Designing for trust

[00:06:46] Now let's talk about web3 design. When something is new in the market, it's comparatively difficult for people to trust it, and guess what, if it involves finances, then all the best, because the case is worse. But wait, don't lose all hope in it: UX is still there. Gone are the days when big, giant companies used to show only the data that they wanted to show. The world is going to be more honest and transparent in the upcoming times. It's time to build relationships based on transparency.

[00:07:20] The good news is the design process is the same. If we don't design with equity in mind, we are going to create a system that perpetuates the inequalities of web2. During its early stages, it's best to keep the look and feel of your web3 apps familiar, similar to web2 products, in order to get more people onboarded.

[00:07:45] In web2, our identities are tied to some centralized provider, which almost always requires users to hand over their personal and confidential information. Examples of such identities are your Google account, your Facebook, Twitter, etc. In web3, you simply link your wallet to a decentralized application to be able to interact with it, and unlike web2 authentication methods, wallet addresses are pseudo-anonymous by default.

[00:08:14] Increasing scams are making people anxious about losing their assets by accidentally connecting to the wrong websites. Reassure them about the permissions you need, and show your contract audits or social proof. Blockchain is slow and takes time to confirm transactions, and this often leaves people thinking, "Oh, the app is broken." Communicate these steps or states using loaders, and use error and success messages wherever needed.

[00:08:44] People using your app for the first time are still figuring out how to use it and are often overwhelmed by the number of choices, so onboard people with product tours, walkthrough videos and help docs. People using these apps are also not very familiar with the terms. Unless your target audience is developers, you can't throw very heavy crypto jargon at them. Using human-friendly labels, something they are already familiar with, and adding descriptions and tooltips will educate them on the go.

[00:09:20] Ethereum provides a great example by mentioning Twitter when citing their freedom from censorship benefits. This is a platform that users would already be familiar with. As people learn about blockchain and its potential, it's on designers to help people overcome this learning curve. Another great example of communicating value is Deems'[?] website, which provides users with three levels of cards. The first level shows the headings, the second level, on hover, shows more information, and the third level lets users read more and takes them to a page with more details.

Transparency builds trust

[00:09:58] Trust and transparency are key characteristics of blockchain, since it's decentralized, and particularly for decentralized applications that host many transactions, all relevant information should be available to the users. Giving users the ability to see all the fees affiliated with all the transactions is very important. To build the trust of users, it's important to be transparent, especially when it comes to decentralized applications, where people are trusting the application with their assets.

[00:10:31] UX can definitely help in building trust in products by going with a transparent design approach. By transparent, I mean that we should show them enough of the details of the transaction and their asset details, clarify the actions that are not reversible, clarify actions that involve risk, provide a history of their transactions, and the delay it could take to complete any action. We should make them aware of all these complexities, all the things that are happening when they take any action. The more transparent we are about these things, the better we will build the trust of our users.

[00:11:10] As a user, when you get this feeling that you can access all your information, everything that is going on in front of you, this is definitely leveling up the trust, all because of transparency. You see the depth of details Uniswap is providing to users when they interact with their app. That's one way of building the trust of the user.

Rethinking the design process for speed

[00:11:35] Now let's see what the future of the industry is and how design will be playing an important role in it. Web3 is coming faster than any one of us could have thought. The transition from web2 to web3 is huge, and when the transition is huge, we cannot compromise on the design processes or the UX part either. Expedited Design[?] has been working on designs for web3 for quite some time now, and we realized that the need to redefine a few processes is very important, because one of the most important factors in the success of web3 products is speed: the speed of executing your idea and launching it in the market.

[00:12:19] If we talk about the most followed sequence of UX design, it can now be obsolete for web3 products. What we can do is design the MVP product with some basic functionalities after conducting user interviews about the pain points, wants and frustrations, and launch the product in the market. After launching, gather real data with the help of heat maps and surveys, and then reconsider your UX decisions based on those real facts and figures. Iteration is the key here. I know it will take time, but eventually we will be able to achieve mass adoption of this new technology with the help of UX.

[00:13:00] Since it's a new space, this is a chance to set the standard of user experience. And as we know, the key flows are going to impact millions. Whether you agree with this vision or not, as builders of web3 it's crucial to formulate the vision of a world you would like to live in. Maybe even more important than what we build is how we build it, especially when we are in the formative years of web3.

Design from the smart contract onward

[00:13:28] I also discovered that design has to be present from the moment the smart contract is being drafted. A huge part of the user experience is decided there, and if you don't pay attention to that step, you cannot do anything later on. Immutability is both good and bad, and it tells us that there is very little tolerance for mistakes. One wrong action can lead to disastrous results. This is the part where UX comes in when technology is so crucial. You must give users enough understanding of the action they are taking and give them the margin to cross-check the action being performed.

[00:14:05] Double confirmations and warning alerts can help reduce these mistakes. Let's consider the example of wallet creation. If you lose the seed phrase, all the money in it is gone, and there are zero chances of recovering your account. Do you see how crucial it is? A huge amount of the losses that have been happening could have been prevented just by putting thought into designing the experience of the product. Here are some examples of double confirmations and warnings, even if one has to compromise on the UX, because the real assets of people are involved.

[00:14:39] The deliverable is always the user-facing product, not a technical smart contract or a back-end product. This is not the product; this is the product.

[00:14:51] UX design in web3 goes beyond design. In fact, even in web2, UX designers cannot solve the problems of users alone through design. They are collaborating with developers and product managers, and it's the product that a user loves. In web3 the attention will be on the user, because the user will actually be the key part of the product. Hence what will matter most is the actual incentives a platform is providing, for example lower gas fees, high transaction speeds, more return on investment, etc.

[00:15:27] If we actually want to make this technology easier to understand and increase its adoption, then designers, product managers and developers must work together, so that they can be on the same page about whether the thing a designer is designing is technically feasible or not, and if it's not possible, how we can find a middle ground for it. In the end, it's about making combined efforts in one direction.

UX will bridge the gap

[00:15:54] Designers are playing an important part in the future of blockchain technology. For those of us familiar with user-centered design, this is not much more complicated than knowing your users. The way we are is the result of our surroundings, and our surroundings are just a bit different in web3. To sum it up, the days are not far off when most of the applications we use in our daily lives might be shifted to web3, and more value will be provided to users for their contribution. There is so much going on in the world of web3, and people might not be ready to adopt the changes that are on their way. User experience can play a huge role in making people ready for this change, by not making the changes look so huge, through design.

[00:16:36] We have a very good example that recently came up from Polygon. They launched Affinity[?], a user-first interconnected system of elements. That is a design system that will allow teams to quickly prototype, launch and scale their products without compromising on aesthetics and usability. You see how people have started thinking about the web3 design world. It's not too late; it's a good time to start thinking the web3 way.

[00:17:05] We are at the early stages of a truly decentralized internet. More and more decentralized services, tools and technologies are appearing on the horizon, and I believe that UX design will play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between our centralized internet and the new decentralized technologies. Let's see how the journey goes. Thank you everyone for having me today. I hope you walk away with some interesting learnings from my talk, and if you have any questions, feel free to DM me on my Twitter handle or on the Slack community channel.

Q&A

[00:17:43] Host: Excellent, thank you very much, Shivani. I always like the bigger challenges of something brand new. It's always so daunting: you're trying to sell a product as well as educate people, which is very, very challenging. As Shivani said, if you have any questions, please feel free to write them in on whichever platform you're watching this on, and I'll put those questions through to Shivani.

[00:18:08] I'll kick off, and I guess it might be a slightly controversial one. I'm very guilty of this: I see a technology and I think, "Oh, that would be great," and then I start looking for the problem, whereas from a design perspective you start with the customer problem and then figure out how to solve it. Is web3 an example of that? As you mentioned, it's the blockchain, it's all these amazing technologies, but are we trying too hard to find a problem, starting with the technology? Or can you give me some examples of technology or products that are really innovative and solving customer problems?

[00:18:50] Shivani: It's also about the technology, like your first point. There are some challenges. It's not like we start our design and then do the coding. We first do the smart contract, and a smart contract is nothing but the code that is written on the blockchain. There is a challenge there that people are finding difficult: most of the decisions are being taken at that step itself. When it comes to design, the designer is just blocked. He has limitations; he can't change anything at that time. That's what I'm trying to tell everyone: the companies or products should adapt to this.

[00:19:36] Not everyone is doing it. Polygon is doing great work there. They have a big team of designers who are actually trying to bridge this gap. They're working with their developers, so it's not a design team, it's a product team, everyone working together on a project, not individually in different parts. They have this Cope Studio[?], which they recently acquired, working on the brand side of things. I think UX designers especially have actually become part of the key decisions that are being taken during product making, so they're playing a crucial role. But technically, the technology does have some limitations, which are this hindrance we hear about in the market: people say it's not a very usable app, or it's very complex to understand, or there's a lot of text in it. But now people are trying to come up with different design systems, like what I showed with Finity[?].

[00:20:45] Host: Great. The way I like to think about any new technology is the Gartner hype cycle. Many of them get really hyped. I think last year it was all web3, and now the market is down, with many things that happened.

[00:21:02] Shivani: Yeah, yeah.

[00:21:04] Host: So I guess now we're probably looking at the real... So, navel gazing: what do you think the future is going to hold, or what do you think is going to be really impactful over the next year or two?

[00:21:19] Shivani: I think people will keep working and trying to bring in innovation, and the market is going to be really good. What I've seen, especially traveling to different summits like Avalanche Summit: in India I didn't see that much, but abroad I've seen that there's scope. People are actually building in the space, giving full time to all the technical work and innovations there. This space is really going to grow.

[00:21:54] Host: Makes sense. It's always interesting. I guess now we're in the hype cycle of AI, so we'll see where that goes as well over the next year. Maybe GPT-like AI and web3 is the next thing.

[00:22:06] Shivani: Maybe, yeah. Innovation is happening in that.

[00:22:13] Host: Well, I think those are the questions that I have. If anybody has any other questions, send them in, and we can always post them onto our Slack community. But thank you very much, Shivani, for sharing all of your insights.

[00:22:28] Shivani: Thank you.