lockchain is often pitched as the next big thing. However, when it come to design, it’s a totally new realm of challenges. Blockchain acts as a thick layer of complexity on top of traditional products. If you’re a designer, blockchain is a space that needs your help! Here’s the basics to get you up to speed, and what you should be thinking about as a designer.
1. 🚫 No Jargon
Blockchain and cryptocurrency is a formidable space to get involved in. The result is a core group who are passionately involved. But to the average person or designer, outside of the hype bubble, it’s really hard to get excited. There’s so many new and abstract concepts. There’s no easy way to get involved. The industry has a bad reputation as being a get rich quick scheme.
Looking from the outside, you’ll see terms like DLT, Dapp, and altcoins being used. They’re overcomplicated jargon!
As a designer, my mission is to make blockchain technology accessible in the mainstream. The first step in this is removing jargon. I encourage a no nonsense, no jargon, approach to everything. That means ruthlessly reviewing and simplifying copy (unexplained acronyms are enemy #1!).
Nobody cares what software Netflix runs on. Users only care about what a product lets them do. Focus on value, not jargon.
We want to get more people involved, so we need to make products that are really simple to use and understand, in layman’s terms.
2. ✂️ ️️️Ruthlessly Break Down Barriers to Entry
When I tell my friends and family about cryptocurrency or blockchain, it’s often a blank look staring back. The market is full of people inside the bubble, people who understand. But to outsiders, it’s an unwelcoming, impenetrable bubble.
Unfortunately, if you want to get involved, you really need to be determined. You’ll probably have to battle through terrible UX, and a complete black hole of knowledge. There’s nobody to easily explain core concepts, or walk you through the daunting process. It’s like the first generation of the internet. Where it’s technically there, but not very usable.
Products like Coinbase are really focusing on great and simple user experiences.
The next wave of blockchain will be to make it useable in the mainstream.
Be ruthless. Radically simplify at every point. Make it so that your parents can understand and use it.
More details:
https://uxplanet.org/5-design-principles-for-blockchain-14f9745fa61d
