Bitcoin Design Community: The Importance of Bitcoin Design
Bitcoin Design Community is a community helping designers deliver better experiences on top of Bitcoin.
Why is Bitcoin design important and how to join the community?
Better User Experiences Globally
Bitcoin has many benefits for humanity.
But if people have bad and clunky experiences using Bitcoin...
Then they will rarely stay around to enjoy the benefits š
Bitcoin is also global.
But people don't have a global culture.
People around the world use different symbols and units, and have different ways to use money.
Better Accessibility
If Bitcoin is the best money, it needs to have the best user experience.
In a hyperbitcoinized world, Bitcoin needs to be accessible.
For example, visually impaired people should be able to use Bitcoin (without the screen reader reciting aloud the seed phrase!).
Bitcoin Design Community creates an open environment for designers (and marketers, founders etc.) to learn more about good design standards for Bitcoin applications.
Simple and attractive UI/UX can be more accessible for users.
This in turn can reduce fear when it comes to interacting with Bitcoin apps.
In past years, there have been a lot of scams and paranoia around Bitcoin and crypto products.
Smooth and interactive experiences can reduce this negativity and make users tell their friends about Bitcoin, which in turn will increase adoption!
Common UX issues could be e.g.
ā Lightning payment goes through the next day
ā Problems scanning a QR code to make a payment
ā Seed phrase is in a language the user doesn't understand
ā Lightning wallet doesn't prompt a user to send larger amounts to self-custody
Reference Designs to Start off Your Project
Bitcoin Design Community hosts community calls and specific project calls.
The easiest way to get onboard is to join their Discord server.
The community has an extensive design guide on its website.
It provides reference designs for e.g. Bitcoin wallets for specific use cases (spending wallet, savings wallet etc.), and it's great reference reading for anybody working with Bitcoin products.
The reference designs are created with the features and goals of inclusiveness, privacy, sovereignty (self-custodial), and censorship-resistance in mind.
The website also hosts many reference design files as Figma files that you can use as a starting point for your own project.
What do you think are currently the biggest UI/UX mistakes in Bitcoin design?
What are your favorite wallets/products when it comes to design/UX/UI?
Additional Resources
Introduction to the Bitcoin Design Community - Stephen DeLorme - Adopting Bitcoin Day 1 - Auditorium
Good Design Creates Trust - Bitcoin Design with Christoph Ono and Mogashni Naidoo SLP562, Podcast with Stephan Livera (April 2024) @stephanlivera