How good UX will allow blockchain to reach its full potential
By: Bethany, Snap Out
Tags: User Experience, Snap Out, UX Design, Blockchain, UX

Blockchain technology certainly isn’t known for its user-friendly nature. If anything, the majority of people view its users as an elite club, namely made up of the lucky few that had the tech and financial know-how to invest in cryptocurrencies like BitCoin at their conception. So, whilst blockchain has the potential to completely revolutionise the way that our modern world functions, influencing not only the finance sector, but healthcare, digital voting and beyond, it needs to radically improve its accessibility and usability to do so.

Here at Snap Out, we make emerging technologies user-centric, allowing businesses to create experiences that generate more profit and more joy. Since blockchain has the potential to have such widespread applications, there is no cookie cutter formula for good UX in all products or services that use the technology. However, its implementation into the mainstream world is accompanied with its own set of general challenges, many of which could be solved with good user experience design.

Challenge One: Forgetting about design.

Of course, in its infancy blockchain has had to focus primarily on its tech. Whilst this was completely necessary, it means that blockchain based companies often leave user experience based design until the last minute or forgo it all together. Download any cryptocurrency app and it’s not difficult to tell why only 0.5% of the population have invested! Conor Fallon for Hackernoon talks about the UX design of blockchain apps here — it’s a great read for anyone interested in the topic.

Whilst it’s impossible to suggest that blockchain couldn’t completely change the way we live, bad design will slow down its acceptance into the mainstream. Powerful technology can only reach its full potential when the user is considered and heavily accounted for. This is the key to building the positive customer experiences that will lead to higher retention rates and trust in this new tech.

Challenge Two: Accessibility to “ordinary” people.

As the case stands in 2018, you either understand blockchain and have some very strong opinions on it, or you’ve only heard of the term “BitCoin”. You either know it all or you know very little.

In order for blockchain to become a mainstream part of society this “elite club” needs to be dismantled through positive user experience. Quite simply, the tech needs to be made easy to use and even easier to understand.

For this to be the case, the user journeys in services, products and applications that use the technology may need to provide explanations related to it. That is to say, that businesses using blockchain need to fill in the knowledge gaps of their potential users whilst designing. They also need to understand the purpose they will be using it for and how they are struggling with it through observations and interviews. By conducting user research, it is possible for businesses to understand what their users need in order to remain informed whilst designing the technology.

As such, they will be able to engage with and retain markets of people that want to use the technology (for example, those with a desire to invest in cryptocurrencies), but are put off by its complexities.

Challenge Three: Implementing Blockchain for people that aren’t ready.

Alternatively, positive user experience for blockchain may require the exact opposite of explaining the technology to users. In some cases, it may be better to forgo jargon entirely. In fact, Eamonn Burke for uxplanet.org suggests that it is one of the 5 key design principles for blockchain.

When the vast majority of people outside of the tech world hear the term “blockchain” they think it’s interchangeable with “cryptocurrency”. The huge hype and the stories that have circulated about overnight millionaires have only fuelled this misconception. Of course, cryptocurrencies alone are a powerful tool and an integral part of blockchain, but they are only the beginning.

One way to generate great user experience in this area is to create services and products that utilise the technology, but whereby the technology itself is not necessarily evident. After all, users can enjoy Facebook without understanding the coding. We can drive cars without an in-depth understanding of the mechanics. And, in much the same way, we could utilise blockchain without being able to draw a diagram of the system!

This highlights what is ultimately the crux of creating blockchain technology with users at the heart: It is not necessarily about the tech itself, but about showing people the way that it can help them in their everyday lives. It’s about bringing it into the “real world” — a world that exists beyond tech enthusiasts and that considers average users — to provide services and products that people want, need and can be comfortable using.

Our Thoughts

Blockchain has a number of ‘real-world’ applications. However, from smart contracts to digital voting, it is the technology that is in need of design to allow people to use it.

As the Blockchain Review suggests, blockchain needs to be a technology that people want, designed for humans, designed for trust and credibility, designed for understanding to be used intuitively and designed to stand out.

Designing blockchain for people will reduce adoption barriers.

The Snap Out Team 🚀