CNFT.io Marketplace

CNFT.io is one of the largest NFT marketplaces hosted on the Cardano blockchain, launched in July 2021. Still in its development stage, CNFT.io was missing a native minting feature on its platform.

In this project, I researched and designed a thorough, new minting feature for CNFT.io that would allow creators to natively mint and list their NFTs for sale.

Imagine you have a special drawing or a cool song on your computer. Now, think of "minting" as turning that drawing or song into a one-of-a-kind digital certificate.

This certificate shows that you own the original, just like having a unique signature on a piece of art.

This process happens on the internet using special technology called blockchain, making sure everyone knows it's yours and real. So, when people talk about "minting" in Web3, they mean making something digital special and uniquely yours!

So, let me take you back to 2022—NFTs were all the rage! From Gary Vaynerchuk's VeeFriends launch to the whole crypto, Web3, and NFT.NYC buzz, it was a wild ride.

Fast forward to now, almost the end of 2023, and guess what? AI has most definitely taken the reins for the most captivating technology of the next decade. But hey that’s been the crazy narrative shift the past few years now anyways.

In the middle of this NFT adventure, I stumbled upon a big issue in one CNFT.io marketplace. I went through 148 comments on different online platforms to get the scoop on what people were struggling with and how the whole process of creating NFTs worked.

Here's what I found out:

This little investigation not only taught me what's bugging users on NFT platforms but also showed me that CNFT.io might be missing out on some action.

And hey, this is just the start of the story—I'm sure there's a lot more NFT drama waiting to unfold!

I chatted with some artists eager to dip their toes into the NFT world, aiming to figure out what's on the minds of first-time NFT creators when they're picking a blockchain and marketplace for their masterpieces.

Here's the lowdown from my convos:

MD said it best:

Creators are stuck dealing with complicated terms and those pricey gas fees — it’s a real obstacle course out there.

Aspiring creators, like MO, want to stand out but find it hard when everyone's doing the same old thing — selling auto-generated avatar JPEGs.

Picture this: NFT creators are on the lookout for a marketplace that's not just safe and reliable, but also makes minting, listing, and trading their NFTs a breeze.

So to set the stage for this UX project, I boiled down the mission into a simple question:

This project will be about adding a super-easy minting feature that opens the doors for new creators to unleash their art and make a splash in the NFT scene.

And I need to help make CNFT.io the go-to place for hassle-free NFT creation!

In creating this new minting feature, I conducted an analysis of competitor solutions to identify the key steps & flows that successful minting platforms already have.

I took a close look at how big players like OpenSea, Rarible, and Cardahub handle their minting processes.

The idea was to figure out what steps they all share for a successful NFT mint and what makes a user-friendly structure.

After going through this process, I got a good grip on the mix of mandatory and optional steps needed for a smooth minting experience.

It really gave me a confidence boost in understanding what makes minting work seamlessly.

Recognizing areas for improvement in competitor solutions, I specifically delved into Cardahub's UX through a heuristic evaluation for its minting process.

Some key findings were:

• Improved prompting and disclaimers are needed
• Clarity the UX writing
• A more noticeable success modal is required‍

These insights on strengths and weaknesses of competitor solutions guided my path forward, as I created a minting feature for CNFT.io, from scratch.

I laid out a story map to better visualize the user journey and experience, beyond just minting.

Focusing on the journey of a newbie NFT artist, I mapped out steps like setting up a crypto wallet and listing an NFT for sale.

By defining goals and user tasks, I gained the confidence to move from information architecture to sketching and creating low-fidelity wireframes. I was ready for the next steps!

In the initial sketch, I took inspiration from OpenSea, Rarible, and Cardahub for a single-page scrollable minting form. However, I soon realized it could overload our first-time NFT creators.

To keep things simple, I restructured the process into a step-by-step wizard flow, as shown in the exploration above.

At each stage, I incorporated a "Preview NFT" card, allowing users to visualize their final NFT listing continuously.

The last screen in the flow also serves as a preview NFT screen, showcasing the final listing once again. This ensures a straightforward and visually engaging minting experience.

After sketching out the ideas, I noticed a few things that needed fixing:

• Create more breathing room
• Add a final summary screen of all input fields answers
• Let users preview the published NFT
• Optimize for mobile

To tackle these, I came up with a final sketch that not only solved these problems but also gave a clear plan for the next step — creating a low-fidelity version of the design.

To figure out the order of our form fields, I did a little card sorting. I split them into categories (blue cards) and matched them with the right inputs (yellow cards).

And so the steps in this wizard flow look like this:

1. Get Started: Upload File
2. Essentials: Fill in Name, Description, and Collection
3. Settings: Set Royalties, Properties/Metadata, and Supply Number of NFTs
4. Make it Marketable: Add Unlockable Content and External Links to spice things up.
5. Pricing: Choices between Fixed Price, Open for Bids, and Timed Auction

With this exercise, I locked in the plan for my NFT minting feature. Time to bring it to life with some wireframes and a prototype!

Testing this first exploration, I found 3 of 5 users completed tasks at the "Success with Major Issue" level. It was clear that my design required significant changes to achieve better success levels.

And so I went in-depth into data from the usability tests to extract insights, like the following:

Upon reviewing the usability test insights, I needed an improved user flow that would address insight #2 (error prevention issues) and insight #3 (simplifying wallet issue).

In this revised user flow, I introduced new confirmation pop-ups and integrated a different blockchain wallet in Nami, that is compatible with CNFT.io.

Insight #2 informed me that at the end of each test, 100% of participants were shocked to hear their minted NFT was permanent and uneditable.

To combat this, I created a new user flow in which I added two confirmation pop-ups to alert users that minting NFTs is permanent. I hope this point becomes top-of-mind for users when completing their metadata fields.

I originally made the error of integrating an incompatible wallet (MetaMask) with the real CNFT platform. Regardless, insight #3 informed me that 100% of participants ran into issues with the MetaMask wallet.

Yet, solving its UX will be an out-of-scope task for future explorations, but is a very significant problem that I uncovered in this case study.

The following are the solutions I implemented into the high-fidelity prototype, after combining feedback from early findings and most recent usability tests.

This project taught me the importance of giving users guidance when using a very unfamiliar product. Keeping usability at the forefront is essential to increasing user confidence in the product solving their problems and serving their needs.

In addition, no matter how new and complicated the technology is (in this case blockchain and NFTs), the user experience must not suffer.

I’ve identified this as a common theme in Web3 UX, and believe that striking a right balance is crucial as we work towards greater adoption of Web3 products.

Due to time constraints, I was unable to test and validate the high-fidelity prototype. Still, I feel confident in the final design as decisions were based off insights gained from testing the low-fidelity prototype.

Through further testing, we can measure success by reviewing task completion rate to see how well the final prototype helps user accomplish each step in the minting process.

And once this minting feature is implemented, we’d measure change in retention rate and long-term user growth, to see how creators are responding to an improved, full capability marketplace.

If I had more time to find and recruit current CNFT creators, I would have obtained more information on users' needs for an all-encompassing NFT creator solution.

This information could’ve helped me improve the experience for seasoned users, whereas my focus was on brand new users.

I wish I had paid more attention to the fact that CNFT uses the Nami wallet instead of trying to plug in the MetaMask wallet.

I would've gained more focused insights during the original usability test, instead of wasting time integrating a crypto wallet that isn't compatible with the platform in real-life.