Crypto from the perspective of a UX/UI Designer

As a UX/UI Designer, I’ve worked in corporate settings exclusively in web 2.0 apps. Most do’s and don'ts of my profession are actually based on the web 2.0 experience and have evolved into principles that every designer acknowledges and respects nowadays. These principles have become the pillars on what User Experience stands on and we - the designers - don't like to challenge them by ”reinventing the wheel”, but we do like to dance on the edge of that cliff sometimes. The reason for that is that it allows us sometimes to develop better concepts and create a better performing experience for our users.

 Representation of Hick's law - src. https://lawsofux.com/hicks-law/Visual
Representation of Hick's law - src. https://lawsofux.com/hicks-law/Visual

For example, one of my personal favorite laws is “Hick’s Law”. It states that the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. 

When you think about it, it’s true, right?

The more choices we have the harder it gets to choose. In a web design context, long choice times tend to mean higher bounce, lower engagement, and more user frustration for the end-user. The law is based on binary choice, so it’s important to segment the choices you present, and order them in clear, logical, user-centered ways. This will help to break large menus up into smaller “sub choices”. You can find creative ways to do this with things like color, shape, and texture.

(For more information on UX laws you can visit this website ​​https://lawsofux.com)

The takeaways are:

  • Minimize choices when response times are critical to increasing decision time.
  • Break complex tasks into smaller steps in order to decrease the cognitive load.
  • Avoid overwhelming users by highlighting recommended options.
  • Use progressive onboarding to minimize cognitive load for new users.
  • Be careful not to simplify to the point of abstraction**
    **

UX/UI in crypto

When I first entered the crypto scene in 2017 I was lost as probably most of us were by the sheer overload of information that was presented to me on CEX’s. A million buttons, wide menus with endless items, CTA’s in every corner, and lot’s more. I was overwhelmed and intimidated.

Today, unfortunately, most CEX’s have remained the same, with some exceptions like Coinbase and Crypto.com. DeFi has created its own way of communicating to its users and Metamask does not even care (I do love it, but I’m currently talking about the experience of using it).

Long story short - if you’re a crypto nerd, like me, you’re good. But if you’re new here then you’re screwed.

Considering that you (the reader) are probably a crypto nerd, have once been a newbie, I might say that you understand the issue here.

Adoption.

That is the main issue.

For example, there are a lot of cryptographic concepts that you need to learn to be able to use DeFi, concepts such as liquidity pools, yield farming, staking, flash loans, frontrunning, etc. However, learning new concepts creates additional friction associated with acceptance, while end-users learn new concepts and mental models as long as they have a clear and correct motive.

In the early days of the internet, things like URLs, HTTP, FTP, and IP addresses were directly exposed to end-users. Many non-technical people learned to work with these despite the rough edges because they had to get on the internet. Conceptual complexity on its own doesn’t mean you will have a poor UX. The key is clarity of the concepts and having the right motivation for end-users to want to learn them.

​​Whatever the product, a better UX will improve the end-user acceptance of that product. And you can only get better UX if you invest in people with design and UX expertise.

Coinbase wallet introduces new browser extension
Coinbase wallet introduces new browser extension

Conclusion

The development of Web 3.0 should not (only) be driven by the resentment towards the capitalization of Web 2.0 by a few entities and its history of transforming users into products. Web 3.0 should be an upgrade from it, like the number says, it's the superior version of the previous one. It doesn't mean that we should forget all that we have learned from the previous model. If nothing else, Web 2.0 is the most user-centric web we know, but for the wrong reasons obviously. **
**

Let’s upgrade together!

gm

I hope you liked the article. In case you want to hit me up with a collab, feel free to contact me :)

Twitter: @Lorem_Ipsum95

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