A new UI for Scatter

Read on for where things stand and how you can help.

Scatter needed a design lead, and I’ve accepted the job. I want to talk frankly about that.

I’ve been around the block once or twice, and when my brother Nathan James asked me to join the open-source project Scatter I hemmed and hawed for a long time. I have a solid day job that lets me grow and keeps my family secure. Adding a huge new project to my workload is a big ask that I didn’t accede to lightly. At my age I have started to value my sleep (and my sanity).

I’ll even admit that in the beginning I didn’t even really understand what it was that he was doing or what Scatter was allowing the crypto-community to achieve. Who really knows what the “blockchain” is? Who understands the intricacies of tokens and ICOs? I sure didn’t. Nobody in my daily life does either. It’s all black magic, done by wizards, to us mere mortals.

But, Nathan does understand, and when he said he needed help what could I do but say yes? Learn from the best, or don’t learn at all.

A grand vision

Scatter is something different than anything that I’ve ever worked on before. It is on another level, both in scope (the vision really is pretty grand), and in uptake by the community. It’s huge. Lots of people are using this amazing piece of software to easily connect to Ethereum, EOS, and Tron. They use Scatter to use decentralized applications on those blockchains. It’s is the essential tool for modern apps and we are only seeing the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

I say lots of people, but the truth is that it is a tiny slice of the total population. Lots more people could be using this software — not just tens of thousands as we have today, but millions of people or more. With enough development and a bit of luck, Scatter could become the defacto software for all users who want to securely use decentralized applications.

Considering that the current graph for decentralized applications looks like this:

Holy moly.

You can see why I raised my eyebrows (they still haven’t come down) at the prospect of doing design for this project. Upgrading the UI/UX for Scatter is any designers dream. It is hard, it is interesting, it leverages hot new technologies, and it is growing at an astounding pace. Hell yeah, I want in on that.

Coming to an understanding

So, the first thing that I do when I come into a project is immerse myself in its culture and community completely. When you are up to your gills in new information, you absorb at a higher rate. You take in as much as you can with each gulp, hoping that the next one will bring on exciting new revelations.

It’s been some three months now and I still barely know what the hell is going on. I feel like I can grasp just the faintest glimmer of the real potential of what is being built. Governance is fascinating on so many levels. The underlying technologies are beautiful (really!), in the way that complex things tend to be. There is a vibrancy and an interest from users that I haven’t encountered in years. I’m excited by it all and for a crumpety old fart like me that is saying something.

What I have learned boils down to:

1. This stuff is confusing because a user has to learn a lot of new terminology and a lot of new concepts to be able to do what they consider “simple tasks”.
2. Having a great application is only part of what makes a great application because support, a knowledge-base, and a community fill in the gaps where your UI falls short.

So what is my job, really?

Now we come down to the nitty gritty of it. My job is to learn, and do so with open eyes and alertness. What I’m actually experiencing is what every other user experiences. The big difference, of course, is that I have the honor and privilege of being able to say, “I think this could be better” and actually getting to make it better!

Some pain points (both specific to Scatter and general to crypto) that I’ve encountered during my learning process are:

1. Accounts and public/private keys are confusing concepts that need to be better explained to our users. I am a highly technical user and had a hard time of it the first go. I want our users to have a smoother experience.
2. Onboarding in Scatter was pretty painful, and I‘m sure that I’m not the only one who felt that way. Now we have a quick video tutorial and a FAQ, but I think that we can still do better.
3. There doesn’t seem to be a single place to get the knowledge that you need to be able to do the things that you want. For example if you want to play a betting game on EOS, you need to open an account on EOS, and you need to download Scatter. Then you need to import your account into Scatter. Then you can go to your favorite betting site and connect and only then can you lose all your money. It is a poor experience for users (aside from the losing), and worse it is poorly explained everywhere that I looked. I felt like there was an expectation that people should figure things out the hard way, which is a huge barrier to general acceptance.
4. Speak plainly and you’ll be understood is a motto that I try to live by, and that I also try to design around. Labels should be clear and concise. Buttons should be easy to read. Marketing speak generally gets in the way of understanding. Visual layout should reflect functional hierarchy. I don’t think that is the case in Scatter currently and I’ve gone to great lengths to simplify things wherever I could in my latest round of designs.
5. Advanced technology doesn’t need to feel advanced. Just because we are on the cutting edge, it doesn’t mean that the UI needs to expose that to users. It also doesn’t mean that we should make doing complex things impossible. There is a sweet spot somewhere in there and I have great confidence that we can find it.
6. How do users keep their data safe? How do they maintain backups? If we expect people to keep their life’s savings here instead of a bank, shouldn’t we make it just as safe and just as secure?

A lot of what I’ve been doing the last month is iterating over designs in my head and on paper — trying to find ways to simplify the UX and UI of Scatter so that we can target a broader audience. I want to do this in a way that doesn’t sacrifice the needs of advanced users.

Ready for a sneak peek?

I’m of the mind that I’d rather get input early on in a cycle and iterate on the critical feedback that I receive, rather than put out a new version and let the unwashed masses bathe in the glory of my design skillz. (I’m looking at you, Skype.)

You can see a clickable prototype here.

So, without further ado:

Editing your Identity

Help!

What I need most now is honest feedback. I want to know what feels good and what feels clunky. Play with it. Try to imagine using it. Share your thoughts with me below.

Also, if you guys can share this on social media, that would be a huge help as the bigger the audience, the more data I can sift through to make for a better experience for everybody.

Thanks again for reading, and thanks for using Scatter.