#72 Beyond the Interface
Why the user experience starts long before someone downloads an app
Sitting across the table from a human rights defender and conducting a one-on-one Jobs to be Done interview. Imagine a person who is silenced by their country not only on social media but also financially. Someone who is unable to have a bank account, unable to live safely simply because they stand up for what they believe in. A woman stands pacing the board room sharing the truth of her life as a political activist. I am speechless, moved and eventually in tears. The pace at which she lives her life, the fear, the level of privacy needed and the potential for Bitcoin to serve as a real solid use case is extremely real.
While we in the west live comfortably in our homes, thousands of people around the world just like her don't have access to a regular bank account, yet they are hesitant to use Bitcoin because it's this "technology" that they don't quite fully understand yet.
Onboarding a large percentage of the population is then not only about improving the UX—it's about understanding the touch points people make and how those touch points affect their decision making process. This is the user experience before they hold the actual application in their hands.
The last few weeks have felt like multiple touch points with various projects, there's been much collaborating, deep thinking and moments of insight. It's been a pleasure to collaborate with the many others that choose to dedicate their time to moving the Bitcoin ecosystem forward. More about that below:
UX Education
Working alongside Christoph, we've been deep in the thought process of strategy development, specifically about how we can bring new UX designers into the ecosystem. What would that education pathway look like?
We've been crafting a pathway that ensures every new designer gets the knowledge they need while at the same time get hands-on by working with actual projects in the ecosystem. It's in draft mode right now but together with Christoph and input from others am confident we will bring it to the finish line.
AI & UX Design + Research
AI is used by many of us in the space to process research to analyze UX. But can we really trust where all the data lives? AI can be used to expand our potential in our work yet it can also be used against us. How do we prevent that? As a researcher in the Bitcoin space, I now run 2 AI models.
One to process UX research which is data sensitive and one to process research which is less sensitive. Also on this angle have been working towards doing an AI meets UX design call series in the Bitcoin Design Community to educate and learn from others on how they are using AI as UX designers. If you'd like to provide input on the call series feel free to hop in here.
The Future of Money: Presidio Design Week
I've been incredibly fortunate to work with someone who truly pushes boundaries and brings inspiring energy to everything they touch. That someone would be Mat Balez who's just joined the Spiral team. Often I am in awe at the caliber of people who we get to collaborate with, Mat is one of them, he's a visionary and has the get-things-done approach. We have been working together on creating a 5 day event which will take place later this year at Presidio Bitcoin in SF. The event is geared toward rallying together Silicon Valley UX designers and getting their take on Bitcoin UX as well as how they see the future of money. This one is moving along nicely and very grateful to the support of Presidio for hosting the event.
Bitcoin Design Foundation
Supporting the grantees in the Bitcoin Design Foundation has been another focus. It's about ensuring clear and open communication, providing support during their thought processes, and being genuinely available when they need guidance. Watching the work of all the contributors has been a joy to see. Eric who is the eCash champion and Yashraj who is the privacy champion, kudos to you both!
Looking Ahead
Next week the focus is clear, it will be moving forward the event planning for Presidio Design Week and also analyzing research. We have months of research that needs to be analyzed and summarized thereafter bringing it into written form so that it can be visible to the rest of the community. Next week will be head down analyzing a bunch of research that's been done over the last few months and writing.
The focus will be on understanding the key insights from the data and then the best ways to present it.
Gratitude
I've come to appreciate even more the power of collaboration and the quality of work that it brings. There's been many many conversations over the last weeks which have led to new collaborations, new directions and new strategy documents forming. These all feel like individual efforts yet they are woven together by one thing
Humans
We must understand what users really need, we must really be able to hypothetically walk in their shoes, if we do not do this we do not know who we are building for or the "jobs" they expect the software to perform when they use it. A pretty interface will not ensure that someone uses it on a daily basis.
Collaborate and remain curious, invite the humans who you work with to be open and free in sharing their wisdom, you might never know what you might learn from them.
As always, see you in the Bitcoin Design Community
✌️Mo.