RETHINKING UX IN A WEB3 ERA

28.07.2023

Gleb Specter

10 min

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The increasing adoption of blockchain technology promises to revolutionize the internet, ushering in the era of Web3. As decentralized technologies gain traction, they present a multitude of new possibilities for fintech platforms and digital products.

The core idea behind Web3 is a decentralized economy. While the user experience may resemble that of conventional fintech products, the UX design in Web3 and blockchain is far from simple, given the innate characteristics and complex jargon of this technology.

Consequently, understanding the challenges of UX/UI design in Web3 has become crucial for business owners and product designers aiming to remain competitive in this new digital age.

Many users find it daunting to interact with dApps, despite the elegant and functional principles of Web3. To ensure smooth and comprehensive interactions for users without a technical background, meticulous attention is required.

The overcomplexity of blockchain terminology, including terms like "swap," "gas," "consensus mechanism," "private key," etc., can confuse new users. Thus, explaining concepts that may seem obvious to us and developers, becomes a critical challenge in Web3 design. In contrast, conventional fintech products require less explanation for basic tasks like depositing funds for trading.

In DeFi products, designers must create predictable user journeys, such as guiding users to make deposits. When trading on DEX or a DeFi protocol, gas fees may constantly fluctuate depending on the network, making it essential to inform users about these changes and their reasons.

Transparency is crucial in Web3 products to increase trust among users. Clearly illustrating how blockchain immutability works, even in simple UX cases, is essential. Building a clear algorithm for users on the concept of immutability helps them navigate the product smoothly.

Tactile features on mobile devices and urgent security warnings on desktops can enhance the user experience and increase trust.

It is a standard for most Web3 products to impress users with a creative design and fascinating animations or website flow. The aspect of the decentralization of the industry gives products the flexibility and freedom to unveil their creativity and build a whole brand identity based around a sushi emoji, for example.

Now that we know the 3 main challenges facing UX in Web3, and the possible solutions to them. Let's take a look at the principles to follow when making a seamless user experience for your followers.

In Web3, a lack of clear explanations combined with the inability to facilitate transactional rollbacks or disputes through customer support can erode trust in a product. Due to the nature of blockchain, all transactions are immutable, permanently recorded on a public ledger.

When it comes to the Web3 design, it takes an additional toll for designers to convey this into the UX/UI.

Web3 design requires a display of additional security warnings for users that help prevent them from losing their assets by an accident, or even worse by a poor interface. It’s always good to think three steps ahead of users in Web3 design to increase product trust. When a user’s expectations match the transactional outcome it’s a win.

A highly comprehensive Web3 design will mean an effortless user experience for newcomers. It is important to tackle the complexity of Web3 jargon for mundane features, that users will be using daily, such as swapping (trading or exchanging one token for another), transferring assets on-chain, etc. Using simple and clear messaging and communications is thus essential, especially during any transaction stages where users might face the risk of permanently losing their money.

As Web3 continues shaping the future of the internet, confronting UX challenges is crucial. By enhancing user experience through transparency, trust, and creativity, you can usher in a new era of decentralized innovation and foster meaningful connections with your audience.

Building a highly informative design is key, but it must strike a balance to avoid overwhelming new users with excessive information. Offering a lightweight version of the product for less experienced users can be a good solution in such cases.

• One of the ways to tackle this is to deliver the most user-friendly prompts in the shape of pop-ups or warning on-screen notifications;

• Another way is to invest in user-friendly guidelines and documentation. For successful Web3 product, these are very much a must.

To make the guidelines and documentation easy to understand, provide a summary of each section, linking them to all relevant technical parts. Offer users access to interactive glossaries that will enable the easy check of the Web3 definitions, slang and jargon. To make guidelines even more comprehensive and engaging designers can mix in infographics and animations that illustrate Web3 concepts.

Furthermore, there should be a seamless display of all the events on a network that may affect the user experience. Transaction delays, estimated processing times, or even the simplest things like wallet balance reflection should be openly communicated and connected with the events on a network in real-time.

For Web3 products it’s crucial to stand out. Because it should be exciting and memorable for users, while creating a strong connection with a specific crypto target audience. On the other hand, many different products in Web3 are trying to compete with their extraordinary brand identity. By doing so, many Web3 product owners can lose the sharp image of their audience, and hence lose the valuable connection with the potential users.

Clarify important information, such as contact addresses, blockchain usage, irreversible actions, and actions involving money or value. Display transaction data in a human-readable format and offer access to program codebases and relevant technical parts.

Address the decentralized nature of blockchains and manage users' wait time during network congestion. Clarify the relationship between gas fees and waiting time, provide progress indicators, and offer potential solutions when transactions take longer to process.

Reinforce trust by maintaining a consistent visual design language throughout the product. Use purposeful UI elements and present information in line with users' natural communication patterns.

Provide context-based feedback at every stage of user actions, guiding them through the process. Use tooltips and interactive onboarding to educate users and anticipate potential mistakes.

Actively educate users, offer guidance, and create a user-friendly environment, especially for new users. Anticipate mistakes and provide a newbie mode that simplifies complex features and information.

Leverage transparency to increase users' understanding of the system. Present actionable data that builds trust and educates users about the decentralized nature of Web3.

• Clarify the relationship between gas fees and waiting time;
• Show progress or waiting icon until the transaction is approved or denied;
• Provide feedback on potential causes and/or solutions when a transaction takes more running time to process.

Example: “If transaction X take takes more than 10 mins” Consider the following options:

1. Ask users to wait longer.
2. Increase gas fee to speed up processing. (with user’s permission).
3. Notify user of transaction status; Successful or declined. Either way provides transaction details. Eg: Transaction Hash.

1. The data must be actionable.
2. Use data to build trust and educate users.
3. Use human Readable Hashes formats:

• Show abridged versions of transaction hashes — always show the initial and end parts. ie: 0xABCD…EFGH
• Use 0x to show it's a hash.
• Allow users to see the full address/hash.

It’s important to capture the last 4 characters rather than just the initial. Revealing only initial values pose security issues because the first 4 characters can be easily generated using Vanitygen, but the last 4 are ungodly difficult to fake.

To build trust:

To manage time:

Ensure the following:

Provide the following:

Ensure the following for data exposure: