Ethereum explained…(infographic)
We can do amazing infographics for you go to http://metadesign.io
Get 10 usd bonus in btc when you buy 100 usd of Ether:
Hallo! Now in german! (danke to Sarah & Lena of Zukunftsinstitut)
French? Oui bien sûr (mercì to Simon @simonpolrot )
Em português também? Claro, por que não? (obrigado @renanpiva )
Want to republish in your own language?
Send me a google doc via twitter and will send the png back 😉
Feel free to share on twitter, reddit, crypto forums!
(or give it to your mom: click here to download the printable PDF Version)
New story: how to get Ether if you are late to the party.
Update 06–27–2015:
I’m so thankful for the great response this infographic is getting!
It was also posted on the ethereum sub-reddit by @mids106
It was tweeted by @ethercasts, @ethereumita and so many other kind people.
But THIS… is the best thing I could hope for (thanks Andrew, thank you @smartcontract!):
The story behind this infographic (Short version)
When I saw this infographic https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/06/21/ethereum-messaging-masses-including-fathers-via-infographic/ by @diiorioanthony , I couldn’t resist.
I thought I could do things differently and felt I HAD to take action, fast.
Goal of the infographic was to explain Ethereum to the masses.
I went extreme, and tried to explain ethereum to my mom!
UPDATE 08/03 Why my mom? Because:
my mom > technical than my dad
My dad would never understand or want to understand.
On the other hand my mom knows tech a little better and best of all, is more open minded.
This can be considered a “redesign” of that infographic if you agree with me that
“design is not just what it looks like, it is how it works” — Steve jobs
- first iteration was titled “what the f***k is ethereum” but I went deep into blockchain, and blocks (too complex)… and apparently my mom doesn’t like curse words :-9
- So I presented her a much simpler version, thinking about how could I make the infographic more understandable, just for her
- I tested the second iteration with… yep, my mom. Her questions and reasoning contributed to make the infographic even simpler. The result is the third and final iteration that you can see here.
The story behind the ethereum mom infographic (Long version)
aka see how my mind works.
Testing a product / service / tutorial / infographic with your target market is more important that the thing you create itself.
I sharply defined who my audience is.
My audience is my mom.
My mom and tech: owns an old iphone 3gs
What she knows about tech : windows, microsoft office, iphone apps, her company has servers (but who knows where they are…)
What she knows about money: bank account, a little buy & hold investing, Debit card
Let me use these info to design the infographic
I decided to not use “will” or “in the future”. It’s made on purpose, I wanted my mom to feel like: “this is a real thing and works already”.
I assume that faking it, made it easier to undestand. I didn’t loose her attention.
Otherwise… CONFUSION.
One example is Mist.
“You install this special program on your computer and you connect to the Ethereum network”
Easy, uh?
I never mentioned bitcoin. It’s not my goal here
I can say: mission accomplished.
I didn’t tell her how Ethereum exactly works, because the goal was to make her “grasp” ethereum.
It’s like when you explain things to a baby… you create an easier and partial explanation for them, they get the big picture, they are educated at a basic level, but they can go deep if they want.
I used messages as a metaphor to let her understand.
I wrote whatsapp servers instead of facebook servers just because 90 % of the users doesn’t know or remember they sold to facebook.
And it can be confusing, so…
Wrapping up
Ether is like bitcoin but with a clear purpose: it let Dapps work
Ether is not designed to be spent like bitcoin in your grocery store.
We don’t need people like my mom to start adopting ether and using it everyday.
Ultimately the focus of Ethereum should be educating normal people like my mom on why they should prefer an app with a decentralized elements; thus creating demand and bringing developers into Ethereum.
While bitcoin needs millions of normal people to work, for ethereum to succeed a few thousands of developers are enough.
It’s the same with computers (including the ones we have in our pockets): the vast majority of the world population is a consumer, not a creator.
And consumers don’t know how apps work behind the scenes, but they know exactly why they use them.
P.S.
I’m open to suggestions (message me on twitter), and the result will be a 4th iteration of the infographic. Keep in mind that this is for moms, dads and your grandparents if you wish…not full-stack developers.
Thanks!
Upcoming: Etherex explained… to my mom!
