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If good UX is like driving auto, Web3 is ‘driving stick’ — UX designers

July 13, 2023No Comments


The current state of the Web3 user experience is similar to driving a manual transmission car: there's more control, but most users will find it unnecessarily clunky, according to several UX designers.

Over the years, discussion of the mainstream adoption of Web3 has centered on the need to improve the crypto user experience and "ease of use."

However, in a July 12 Twitter mailWeb3 UI/UX designer “0xDesigner” argued that certain properties of the blockchain make it difficult to create user-friendly Web2-like applications.

According to 0XDesigner, one of the main problems with cryptocurrency apps is that every action is "irreversible": there is no "undo button" on the blockchain, and mistakes are costly. They added:

“Think of it this way: Web2 is like driving an automatic car. It's simple; you walk in, step on the pedal and off you go. Web3, on the other hand, is more like a driving stick.

“You have to understand the gears, the clutch, and constantly monitor the tachometer; otherwise you will damage the transmission or stall the car,” they added.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, 0xDesigner argued that the majority of the “broader population” may not even care about the sovereignty (control and ownership) that blockchain offers.

The Web3 UX Paradox

Thomas Ling, former user interface designer at Blockchain technology company Immutable and Web2's game studio Riot Games told Cointelegraph that the user interface is often simpler on Web2 because with Web3, ownership and control rests with the user.

While this makes Web3 unique, it adds more complications on the backend, Ling explained:

"Whereas a Web2 app only needs to display 1 step out of 5, a Web3 app needs to display all 5 for a user to achieve an action and retain the Web3 value proposition."

Because of this, Web3 UI/UX designers are "limited" in how they can make "magic" happen by creating a user-friendly application, Ling explained.

Ling said this is particularly challenging when product teams are faced with making design decisions with tradeoffs:

"It's a bit of a paradox: by making Web3 streams simpler, we have to take some control away from the user, which starts to make Web3 less important."

0xDesigner believes that another problem lies in the lack of priority given to the user experience in Web3 projects.

“From what I've seen, most product teams are engineering driven. Designer to developer ratios are lower than in web2. That usually results in more technical solutions.”

This could be due to the high stakes in Web3, especially when it comes to financial applications, which means more staff will be focused on security and error prevention.

Related: This platform improves UX by providing CEX users with ENS names

0xDesigner believes that mass adoption of Web3 will come when there is a truly useful application, such as games and music.

“The adoption problem is utility first, not usability. It has to be a good game, or good music. I don't think it matters that it's web3.”

Cryptocurrency apps should also "feel invisible," they added.

"I think the next crypto cycle will be driven by consumer apps that run on crypto, but users won't know it's crypto unless they look closely."

In a contrasting view, Messari CEO Ryan Selkis minimized the UX/UI adoption issue during a July 11 Twitter Spaces.

“Wallets are ok, there are definitely a few things to be desired [...] but it's actually a lot of the off-chain, social and regulatory things that cloud adoption in the long run.

Magazine: Web3 Gamer: Will Apple fix games? SEC hates Metaverse, Logan Paul trolled on Steam