A beautiful one-of-a-kind NFT marketplace built for artists & entrepreneurs.
(A marketplace for everything Moonbirds & PROOF)
Summary
When the founder of Pudding approached me with this project, he had 3 wireframes and a powerful idea - to create an NFT marketplace that empowers the artist to own and champion their art and their story. The task was to create a marketplace for the PROOF ecosystem, the NFT collective that has some of the most renowned artists and collectors in the space.
This community is responsible for some widely successful projects and collaborations like Moonbirds, Oddities, Grails and Emotes to name a few.
Although these projects were widely successful, there was no single roof for PROOF Collective where the artists and collectors could share, purchase and sell their art. The collections from these artists were fragmented across dozens of platforms and the story of the collective was diluted.
This community is responsible for some widely successful projects and collaborations like Moonbirds, Oddities, Grails and Emotes to name a few.
Although these projects were widely successful, there was no single roof for PROOF Collective where the artists and collectors could share, purchase and sell their art. The collections from these artists were fragmented across dozens of platforms and the story of the collective was diluted.
OBJECTIVES
• Make the NFTs from the PROOF Collective accessible under one Marketplace (Pudding)
• Become a one-stop-shop for all things PROOF
• Create a community that honors the artist first
• Create a logo, landing page, and brand identity that embodies creativity and fun
• Create a marketplace where collectors can stay up to date on PROOF’s upcoming and newest collections, stats, and highlight each artists story
• Become a one-stop-shop for all things PROOF
• Create a community that honors the artist first
• Create a logo, landing page, and brand identity that embodies creativity and fun
• Create a marketplace where collectors can stay up to date on PROOF’s upcoming and newest collections, stats, and highlight each artists story
EXISTING DESIGNS
Before I was brought on there was 3 existing wireframes that consisted of a landing page, an explore page, and a standard connect your crypto wallet to login.
There was a lot of work to be done and I was eager to get started.
There was a lot of work to be done and I was eager to get started.
COMPETITOR RESEARCH
Key market platforms like OpenSea, SuperRare, Known Origin, Rarible, Blur were researched to provide feature insight, market position, and user experience knowledge.
Similar platforms, providing a marketplace for a specific category of art like Sansa with a focus on generative art, and Art Blocks who also focuses on contemporary generative art from artists in their collective were used to research markets who focus on a specific type of art or collection of artists like Pudding.
MARKET TAKEAWAYS
• Existing applications have features that are limited, don’t offer much flexibility and are complicated to navigate
• Existing applications are more collector oriented vs. artist oriented
• A Lot of these markets take about 10-15% commission fees and don’t honor smart contracts or artist royalties
MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
• Have features such as Make a Collection Offer, Sweep, and filter by collection OR attribute to offer flexibility
• Have features such as an artist page where you can explore all of their work and collections in one place
• It’s time to make the people who are the heart of this experience the priority - the artist!
• Develop a marketplace that takes 0% commission fees and honors smart contracts
UX TAKEAWAYS
• The majority of the crytpo markets you see today are undersigned and have light UI
• Cards are designed differently across all markets, and many use different grids
• Some are highly branded, with lots of illustrations and visuals, others are completely minimal
UX OPPORTUNITIES
• Go with a dark UI to:
1. Stand out from the other markets
2. Keep up with increasing popularity of Dark UI in web3/design trends
3. Help emphasize the colors and details of the NFT artwork
4. Reduce eye strain in low-light or evening environments
2. Keep up with increasing popularity of Dark UI in web3/design trends
3. Help emphasize the colors and details of the NFT artwork
4. Reduce eye strain in low-light or evening environments
• Add key statistics to the cards with intentional visual hierarchy
• Keep branding and visuals to a minimum and take a “the art is the focus” approach
Design
After goin through some branding exercises, we wanted Pudding to come across as friendly, fun, magical and efficient.
The key feelings we wanted to cultivate was a sense of awe, delight, and a sense of accomplishment for the creators.
The key feelings we wanted to cultivate was a sense of awe, delight, and a sense of accomplishment for the creators.
THE BRAND
The evolution of the brand was anchored around the phrase “The proof is in the pudding”. The logo we wanted was to be less rigid than the stuffy stuff out there, more organic, playful and iconic.
PRODUCT DESIGN
The early phase of the design process relied on user flows in Whimsical to figure out the basic architecture of the site. After the flows were established, I used sketching and wireframes to get the basic UX to validate decisions.
ESTABLISHED DESIGN
The wireframes were updated to be high-fidelity to give the engineers a head start for the backend and implementation. In this stage, I was able to finalize copy, data points, and the high level architecture without being slowed down by the visual design explorations.
The final delivery consisted of each feature being broken down into desktop, tablet and mobile. Here I worked through the different types of navigation for each breakpoint.
The final delivery consisted of each feature being broken down into desktop, tablet and mobile. Here I worked through the different types of navigation for each breakpoint.
PRINCIPLES
• The product should look and feel like it belongs in the Web3 space
• Empower the user to make the right decision with clear and focused design
• Create a flexible but familiar user experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile
PROTOTYPES
Throughout the process, I would make prototypes in Figma for complex interactions so that our developers would have a clear vision of how it functions.
The make an offer for a specific NFT was an example of a feature where a prototype was needed.
The make an offer for a specific NFT was an example of a feature where a prototype was needed.
Design System
Because we were pressed for time to launch, a speedy version of the design system was created to get us started. This consisted of brand styles like fonts, UI components, cards, and icons. This was to ensure that the team wasn’t straying from the established guidelines.
COMPONENTS
Components are “special” in that they contain a “master” and an “instance”. If the master component is changed or updated, every single instance of that component being used across the designs will be automatically updated. And thank goodness! This is a real time saver.
Some examples of the more complex components called “organisms” are:
Some examples of the more complex components called “organisms” are:
1. Top Navigation
2. NFT Filter Side Bar
3. Artwork Cards
4. NFT Collection Cards
2. NFT Filter Side Bar
3. Artwork Cards
4. NFT Collection Cards
Interviews, Feedback & Bugs
I conducted artist interviews on Zoom and spoke to artists who were part of the PROOF community on Twitter and Discord to get feedback.
We also added a slack channel to keep track of customer feedback to make note of feature requests, bugs, and anything the artists particularly liked or disliked.
We also added a slack channel to keep track of customer feedback to make note of feature requests, bugs, and anything the artists particularly liked or disliked.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS
• Offer the ability to add their collection page and marketplace directly to the artist’s personal website
• Provide a more detailed about section for the artist to add even more color for collectors
• Spend time with developers improving load time for key pages
• Conduct more in-depth user testing with curated questions over the span of 2-3 weeks
Illustration
Over the course of the 4 months, we explored many hero images for the landing page that we would rotate out depending on new collection releases, collaborations and contests. There was one image that was by far my favorite to create.
We wanted to show our love for the PROOF community by dedicating a hero illustration to core collections such as Chromie Squiggles, Moonbirds, Oddities to name a few. I included over a dozen iconic characters from NFT collections in this illustration.
I made this over the span of 5 days in Procreate.
We wanted to show our love for the PROOF community by dedicating a hero illustration to core collections such as Chromie Squiggles, Moonbirds, Oddities to name a few. I included over a dozen iconic characters from NFT collections in this illustration.
I made this over the span of 5 days in Procreate.
Conclusion
During this time, I completely immersed myself in all things NFT from attending events, going to launch parties, listening to podcasts, and interviewing the NFT artists. I was intrigued by all of the different types of markets out there and how fast things were changing day to day in this economy.
I became fond of this community and the artist and collectors that make it.
As new tools and technologies emerge, art and tech blend, and boundaries of what is possible are pushed, I am looking forward to seeing what new experiments are in store for the future.
I am happy to be part of making this community an exciting and dynamic place to be.
I became fond of this community and the artist and collectors that make it.
As new tools and technologies emerge, art and tech blend, and boundaries of what is possible are pushed, I am looking forward to seeing what new experiments are in store for the future.
I am happy to be part of making this community an exciting and dynamic place to be.