The link between decentralised systems & user experience
With the increasing interest and babble about decentralised systems and blockchain technology, there has also been an incline in the demand for User Experience (UX) experts. Companies foraging for the next generation of UX experts to lead the charge are hoping that their product will embody the X-factor like Apple when it hits the market. Multiple education centres are promoting their UX courses to people now living in the design realm, luring writers, engineers, programmers on-board the UX train, to make their offer intriguing. There it goes… I can hear the UX train captain yelling… “All aboard the UX train, where we meet ALL your needs, making YOU feel so very important!”
User Experience
Everyone is a user of something — a user of a mobile phone, a user of the internet, a user of Medium, a user of shampoo products etc. But what is UX all about? It is in the name — USER EXPERIENCE. It is a principle, that some companies swear by as their “way of life”, pushing for their customers to be their №1 priority and the drivers of their business. UX is the experience from the start of when you might have purchased/download something, to the usage of the products/service (e.g. sign up process), to the end (e.g. fulfilling your end goal of purchasing an item), or time of termination/disengagement. Some examples of questions UX experts might ask includes: Are you giving them time to think about what they might feel about their experience with your product? Even when someone wants to stop using your service/product, is your service making them frustrated by having them work hard to delete their account, especially if it’s an account you forced them to create, only to realise that the app that they’ve downloaded wasn’t what they were looking for?
When I first found out and learnt about UX, I was immediately drawn to it. It was or still is the fact that there has been so much thought put into it. For a programmer, you would know what it’s like to have to figure out all the steps of what the computer should anticipate avoiding bugs. For a designer, you would also be asking tonnes of questions to determine your client’s needs and wants to achieve their goal. With UI/UX designers, they incorporate what the company’s needs are as well as give users a voice and advocating for what they want their experience to be like, through data from research, in turn fulfilling the company’s goal. The process not only involving the aesthetics but practising Theory of Mind, putting themselves in the users’ shoes to map out every single step they could ever make — the number of scrolls, the position of the buttons/links on the page, the number of pages to go to finally make that payment for the 35 items they have put into the virtual cart.
Let’s take a look at an example: Flying Business Class. If you have ever sat on a business class flight, you would have experienced and unleashed a carefree spirit of being at the priority check-in lane where you didn’t have to wait very long for your turn or not even wait at all, to the all-you-can-eat buffet at the lounge, to another priority boarding lane and to the entire flight experience in which you are served with 4-course meals with some “free” wine, a reclining flat-bed included with a pillow and blanket (of course) and an in-flight entertainment system. Oh! And did I mention the rare chance of having a crying baby blaring in your ear throughout your whole flight! Just let this experience sink in a little…
The term UX is the “customer service” of our past (non-technology world). In this case, putting it into a UX context, we are able to analyse the experience that the user of the service was beyond excellent. The user had paid a whole lot to gain that elite experience and is definitely satisfied. Comfort needs were met. Hunger needs were definitely met. The need for a worry-free trip was also met. The airline company also meet their business needs.
The Goal for Decentralised Systems
User-centred experiences can be considered without the need to implement it within decentralised systems, however decentralised systems should not exist without considering user-centred experiences.
How is UX linked to decentralised systems?
Here, we shall discuss what the goal of decentralised systems such as blockchain is.
Blockchain technology gain traction due to the features/principles it holds, which are:
- Distributed database
- Peer-to-peer transmission (P2P)
- Transparency with pseudonymity
- Irreversibility of records
These features are created to target the needs of all users of Blockchain, which applies not only to users with P2P who interact through the blockchain (Model 2) but also to private blockchain users who only interact with the blockchain (Model 3).
They have been analysed and tested by probably millions of people around the world, with the use case of cryptocurrencies, which pioneers then started to use blockchain (the backbone of cryptocurrencies) for business and structure purposes. Blockchain companies are then automatically geared toward fulfilling user-centred experiences. This then meets the needs of both centralised and decentralised companies.
The Drive for User-Centred Experiences
Through beautifully developed programs, apps and websites, the hard work of developers and designers can be seen as they work towards the fulfilment of user’s desires.
As seen in Jill Carlson’s “Top-Down Demand” article, we can see the shift in focus to the end users’ demands being placed right at the top of the flowchart. She also mentioned the importance of knowing the demand of elements involved in the process (end users->products->developers->platforms->engineers->protocols). This is because “demand drives value”. There you go. This is essentially why decentralised systems like blockchain are so intriguing and attractive to today’s society. This is why they say the widespread application and adoption of blockchain technology would be what they called “the ideal economy”. Blockchain principles are seen to be user-centred principles which is driving blockchain enthusiasts. But for people who aren’t so hyped up about blockchain, they can’t see blockchain for what it truly is. It might be because of the complexity that they are seeing or the high entry level in using blockchain technology.
User-centred design is the reason why good user experience exists — the design behind which creates unforgettable and addictive user experiences. User-centred design is user experience design. With user experience design, it not only fulfils the end user’s needs but also the company’s needs as the company aligns with blockchain principles. It is not only until recently that there has been a push for UX designers to be included as key members of blockchain companies. We not only want what we see when we interact with blockchain to be beautiful (UI), we want it to be user-friendly and consistent (UX). Thinking about the user’s experiences with blockchain technology is vital in the design which will truly pursue user’s needs.
But do blockchain companies always consider user experience?
“Everybody in this space talks about how the Blockchain is “trustless” and “transparent”. It is (almost) certainly true at a programmatic level, software verifying data, but those two assumptions fall apart when you confront them with the actual end user experience.” — Beltran Berrocal in ‘Web3 Design Principles’
Sometimes, the blockchain itself was not designed with user experience in mind. In cases such as Ethereum and some other dApps, the structure behind it does not satisfy the entirety of good user experience. Anna Rose’s “The Challenge of UX in Ethereum” suggests many reasons why UX has been a problem in the blockchain ecosystem and needs to be addressed promptly before major damage is done, resulting in the larger society no longer desiring to interact with anything blockchain-related. She also emphasised the need for both fields of design and development to function together to pursue user-centred experiences in order to lower the entry level of blockchain use. It is the surface layer in which people interact combined with the complex technology that both meets the user’s eye.
Poor UI Design affects Blockchain embedded UX
Designing for user experience includes designing user interfaces that meet user-centred needs. Even though you often see the words UI and UX next to each other, it’s not always that they are both considered at the same time when dealing with blockchain. When we have good UX in place, UI can come in the way of accessing that desired UX. UI and UX design should technically be working together to achieve the ultimate user experience. However, some developers tend to get caught up with the technicalities of blockchain, which interrupts and bunks UI down the priority list. Poor UI design affects UX in the decentralised realm by adding the unwanted need to understanding technical complexity, backfiring all the good UX-embedded-blockchain features. The screen in which users interact with should be well designed to put user-centred experience at the top.
Take Away
As part of the growing decentralised economy, it is comforting to know that blockchain in itself pursues positive user-centred experiences and has it all under control. Whether you are looking at blockchain from a cryptocurrency point of view or using blockchain as a business/systems strategy, user experience will always be at the forefront in the blockchain world. However, without awareness of this phenomenon, poor design will interrupt the beautifully crafted UX embedded in blockchain, backfiring the mission of increasing adoption of blockchain technology.
It was mentioned in an Unchained podcast that the advocacy for better design is relevant in the field of blockchain. If the field of blockchain put more thought into building products with enhanced UI/UX, you will see increased adoption rates and the use of blockchain technology.
Good design in blockchain will make the user feel as if they weren’t using blockchain. Be it for a 12-year-old who wants to buy a video game using cryptocurrency, or a senior citizen wanting to buy a train ticket using cryptocurrency. Be it a health care organisation using blockchain technology for their database systems of private and confidential files, or an art gallery trying to link RFID onto a blockchain to verify the authenticity of artworks.
