This article is part two of a two-part series, in which I will extend the current best practices with some new ideas. If you haven’t read part one yet, you can go back here by reading about some of the current best practices in mobile cryptocurrency wallets. The concepts below are just a handful of ideas and suggestions to differentiate from other wallets and take them to the next level.
Adding fun
New technologies can be scary at first. But when an app looks fun, it may become less intimidating to try it out. Why so serious? There is no need to keep everything related to technology and finance, so functional and formal. Adding a bit of humor or unexpected delighters can help even the most tedious tasks become a little more enjoyable to complete. Maybe some app developers are afraid of doing it wrong and perhaps hurting their brand by trying too hard. To those I say, keep it small and do not overdo it. But it does not hurt to observe other apps that are successful in mastering these micro-interactions. Even including a single enjoyable moment within your app, might just be enough to stand out from all other apps that do not. Without going into too many details, what could you do in a cryptocurrency wallet? One thing that often works is celebrating success (peak-end rule) after completing something such as a tutorial, payment, or including 2-factor security. Cryptocurrency communities are really into memes and animated gifs. So why not include some of those with sound and glitters? Decide for yourself how “over the top” you are willing to go. Another approach is to include gamification aspects into your app in order to drive positive behavior like learning and mastering self-custody. Adding fun elements doesn’t necessarily have to be a large part of your app. Sometimes something tiny and very unexpected can be enough to bring a smile to your app users’ faces.
Humanizing technology
Mobile apps should help people interact digitally. Great user experiences go beyond nice-looking apps or the number of features it supports. As humans, we appreciate it if technology adapts to the ways we think, communicate, and interact. Unfortunately, most wallet applications still require people to adapt to a technology that does not hide the complexity of cryptography, hashing, and terminology only used by skilled professionals. Teaching the right metaphors (wallet versus keychain) is one aspect. Another is translating the technical language of computers to something more readable, usable, and memorable for people. Machines may have no issues creating and reading lengthy strings of keys and addresses. Humans, however, need a bit more help understanding, using, and verifying them. Developments on improved address formats (e.g., bech32) are a step in the right direction, as are human-readable addresses and identifiers such as ‘satoshi.bitcoin’ or ‘@johndoe.’ But the ideal situation would be to hide these technical complexities and replace them with something that most people already know or have. Something as simple as a verifiable and visual list of contacts or biometrics for access or recovery of keys.
Personalization
Unfortunately, most wallet apps do not allow you to personalize the app to your unique style and expression. If your application is only used occasionally, that is just fine. But if you want your app to be loved and cared for, then you might want to consider making your app a bit more flexible. For years aesthetics and appearances matter in the physical space. Simply look at people’s mobile phones or laptops; many people love decorating them with covers and stickers as a way to express themselves. However, the front of your phone should be as important as the back of your device (if not more). This is where app themes can really help brighten up the look & feel of your app. Even supporting something as mundane as ‘dark mode’ can have a massive impact (just look at Whatsapp). As developers, you can take this as far as you want; adding avatars, using photos, changing backgrounds, picking usernames, selecting soundbites, etcetera.
Social sharing
A nice way to extend and follow up on customization and personalization is by implementing social sharing. People are social beings and love to share their opinions and uniqueness with other peers. Whether you integrate your app with your Telegram community, Slack channel, community forum, or Zendesk support, there is often a strong desire to communicate with other real people about your products and services. Facilitating human connections is also beneficial for wallet creators because it helps gain better customer insights, improved brand loyalty, and more meaningful connections.
Adaptive design
It’s a pity that most apps do not allow much tweaking, as discussed in the Personalization part above. Tweaking it to make it “look” more beautiful is one thing, but optimizing it for use should definitely be a consideration. When it comes to cryptocurrency, it’s a global phenomenon. And every part of the world has its own context and use. Some use it for frequent buying and trading, whereas others use it sparingly for safekeeping and HODLing. In Europe, the default currency is the euro, whereas in the USA they use the dollar. This might seem obvious, but most cryptocurrency wallets are dumb and do not take this into consideration. The way I see it is that there are two different approaches to adaptive design. The first approach is to create an app that uses every bit of information it can find about the context of the user, and adapts itself proactively to that specific user. Basic adaptations can be default language, currency, and timezone. These can be used to offer relevant payment providers or even local cryptocurrency laws. Advanced adaptations often include explicit user permission such as tracking location, behavior, interest or preferences. Based on this information a system is able to learn and offer better and more relevant information. Although some users appreciate these smarter systems, always respect the user’s privacy, and never break trust by selling or misusing personal information. The second adaptive design approach is to give full control to the user to adapt the app content and layout. This can be done by supporting modular UI components which can be dragged & dropped within a view, or by adding filters that include or exclude certain information such as which currencies or exchanges are used and shown. Adding adaptive customizations is a great way to make people more efficient in what they are doing. The more they interact, the more time they will save. As designers, we should always treat people’s time and attention as one of their most valuable assets.
Seamless experiences
Every wallet works perfectly on its own, but how well is it integrated with other products and services? This is what seamless and multimodal experiences are about. It is very rare when a single product is able to service a customer from the beginning to the end. Often a complete ‘user journey’ exists out of multiple products from multiple parties. Multimodal means that several channels are working together to support a single interaction. For example, when someone would like to gift a friend some bitcoin, he/she first needs to go to an exchange, and follow some KYC steps while waiting for a day or so, so that he/she can use his/her bank account or credit card to send fiat money (dollar/euro/pounds/yen/…) to the exchange for trading some bitcoins and sending it to a paper wallet or gift card address. When the friend receives a wallet, he/she needs to import it to a software wallet before sending it back to an exchange or store accepting the bitcoin. All of these steps include multiple interactions, often via multiple hardware devices such as computers, printers, and mobile phones. Seamless experiences take into consideration the transition from one interaction to the next with the least amount of hassle. Cryptocurrency wallets might play a central role in connecting everything together seamlessly if they are willing to look beyond their own scope and core features.
Complementary visuals
Did you ever wonder why most cryptocurrency wallets all look the same? Well, one reason is that some wallets do not have dedicated visual designers at their disposal. Drawing rectangles, including stock icons, and adding numbers and text on a screen is easy, but creating one-of-a-kind artwork requires a different skill set. Still, this is one of the major aspects that could make your app different from all the others. But not just for styling, it really helps people better understand the content they are viewing or the actions they are taking. The same is applicable to sound design. Not many wallets include basic sounds for sending/receiving transactions, scanning QR codes, or completing key actions. Visual design is also an excellent way to explain metaphors visually. Often the combination of two different form factors works the best. Just remember that it is not uncommon to have people wanting to use your app but not being able to do so successfully due to illiteracy, (color) blindness, deafness, or other disabilities physical or otherwise. Is your app ready to support every user?
Augmented reality
It’s true that augmented reality is a bit of a gamble, just like machine learning or any of the other disruptive technologies. But doesn’t this also apply to blockchain technology? Right now the combination of cryptocurrencies and digital assets with augmented reality may seem a bit far-fetched. But don’t forget that one of the struggles of a decentralized system is connecting the physical world with the digital world. And this just happens to be the same space where augmented reality is operating. Maybe the first implementations might be in games such as Pokémon GO. But why not combine QR codes in the physical space with wallet addresses to show digital assets or prove ownership in the digital space? For this one, I’ll just let your imagination run freely.
Conclusion
There are many ways imaginable to extend the features of mobile cryptocurrency wallets. The concepts above should at least give some ideas on what else is possible and possibly desirable. The next steps are to implement and try out these improvements to see if people really like them. If you would like to read more about my ideas, feel free to take a look at the book that I’m currently working on “Redesigning Bitcoin” (open-source). Or if you would like me to have a look at your cryptocurrency products & services (also for free), then send me a message on Twitter. Thank you for reading!
