Blockchain Designer Profile: Sandra Song

Designer at EtherLoan and ConsenSys China

How did you get involved in blockchain?

In the summer of 2016, I found that Consensys had a UX design intern position open. I got in touch with the senior UX designer Eva Shon, and got to know the basic concepts of blockchain in my interview, including hashing, public keys, and private keys. I joined Consensys and have learned a lot through the summer intern program. Since then I have continued to learn about this industry.

What are you working on now?

I am involved with two teams: Etherloan and Consensys China.

Etherloan is a loan standard made by smart contract based on Ethereum. It has a set of features that conduct the communication between the Ethereum blockchain and business loan logic. I work on UX design and front-end application development. Etherloan introduction here.

Consensys China is a team to develop an Ethereum ecosystem in China. Right now, our main focus is on community building, as well as training developers through our upcoming academy program. I have various responsibilities within the team, including preparing marketing materials and translating informative posts and articles into Chinese. Besides that, I also work on designing and developing the Chinese Consensys website and am helping to design the academy curriculum.

What do you enjoy about designing in the blockchain space?

As a UX designer, I enjoy creating human-centered products. It is unique to be working on UX design in a new industry, where design is developing along with the technology. It is fun to work on design while the technology itself is developing, and it makes building user friendly applications easier. Additionally, since blockchain is so new, developers are very patient when explaining the technology. This allows me to better understand the technical aspects of blockchain, and makes it pleasant to work with them.

What are some of the challenges you face when designing for users of decentralized apps?

Most people do not feel that close to blockchain yet, and do not imagine using it in their daily lives. Thus we have limited user groups in the community. This makes it difficult to know if our current designs will be applicable to broader audiences as more people begin using decentralized apps. Additionally, there is a relatively long transaction processing time in decentralized apps, which requires user to be patient. It is important to take this into account when incorporating design elements into the user interface, to provide users with feedback about their transaction.

What advice do you have for a designer new to blockchain?

It is not that hard to get into this industry, and the design process is similar to traditional application design. Having an open mind and being willing to embrace the new technology will help you understand it better. Don’t be afraid.

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DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by the author above do not necessarily represent the views of ConsenSys AG. ConsenSys is a decentralized community with ConsenSys Media being a platform for members to freely express their diverse ideas and perspectives. To learn more about ConsenSys and Ethereum,please visit our website.