Case study · No. 03 · Web3 · art marketplace · 2025
ArtChain: collecting digital art without speaking crypto
A mobile app to discover, bid on and collect digital artworks: a built-in wallet, prices that read in dollars, and every wait or failure explained instead of endured.
- Mobile UX
- iOS UI
- Design system
- Role
- Product designer, from research to prototype
- Duration
- 6 weeks
- Team
- Concept project, solo
- Platform
- iOS
- Tools
Figma 
Miro 
Google Meet 
Google Docs- Deliverables
- Benchmark, Proto-personas, Journey map, User flows, Wireframes, Design system, 49 screens, Prototype
The project in numbers
What was delivered, counted in the Figma file. A fictional product: no usage results.
49
screens
From creating the wallet to reselling an artwork
6
waiting and error states
Pending, failed, offline, bid conflict, empty collection and activity
17
components
Including the artwork card, the bid row and the countdown
01 · The project
Digital art, for people who know nothing about it
The NFT market melted after 2022: $13.7 billion traded in 2024, less than in 2023 and far from the peak. Those who stayed no longer chase speculation: they collect artworks and follow artists.
For a newcomer the barrier is not the art: it is the crypto. Recovery phrase, network fees, prices in ETH, transactions left “pending” with no explanation.
ArtChain is a collecting app that puts the artwork before the technology: a wallet created in a few screens, prices doubled in dollars, bidding on one screen, and plain words for every wait or failure.
Six weeks, forty-nine screens
01 · Weeks 1–2
Discover
The market and its figures, four families of platforms, the vocabulary that blocks people.
- Benchmark
- Desk research
02 · Weeks 2–2
Define
Two proto-personas, the experience map of a first bid.
- Proto-personas
- Journey map
- HMW
03 · Weeks 2–3
Ideate
Prioritisation, bid and purchase flows, wireframes.
- Impact × effort
- User flow
- Wireframes
04 · Weeks 3–6
Prototype
A dark design system, 49 screens including error states, a linked prototype.
- Design system
- High-fidelity UI
- Figma prototype
05 · Weeks 6–6
Check
A review against UX laws and the deceptive patterns to avoid, a test plan.
- Heuristic review
- Test plan
02 · Discovery
A market that changed audience
12 words
to write down before the first artwork
The recovery phrase: a newcomer's first wall.
Hypothesis
< 1 min
from artwork to bid placed
The journey's ambition, wallet already funded.
Hypothesis
Four ways to buy a digital artwork
Named by family: big marketplaces, curated platforms, and direct sales on social networks.
| Criterion | ArtChain · the projectThe project | Large marketplaceGeneralist | Curated platformSelective | Sales on social mediaIndirect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar price beside the crypto | YesEverywhere | Partly | Partly | No |
| Network fees before signing | YesIn the total | PartlyIn the wallet | Partly | No |
| Built-in, guided wallet | YesPhrase verified | NoExternal wallet | No | No |
| Waits and failures explained | Yes6 states drawn | Partly | Partly | No |
| Creators in the spotlight | YesProfile, collections | Partly | Yes | Yes |
The table scrolls sideways.
A desk review, verdicts simplified by family.
Takeaway
Marketplaces speak to insiders, social media to fans. The open space: a gallery's curation with the simplicity of a payment app.
03 · Definition
The newcomer and the insider
Proto-personas: hypotheses to validate in interviews; their quotes are illustrative.
P1 · the newcomer
Sara, 29
Art director, follows digital artists, has never bought an artwork
- Goal
- Bid on an artwork without fearing she'll lose her money
- What gets in the way
- The jargon, the recovery phrase, fees that appear at the last moment
« I want to buy an artwork, not learn the blockchain. »
P2 · the insider
Kenji, 36
Collector since 2021, follows a dozen creators
- Goal
- Spot an auction and outbid fast, from his phone
- What gets in the way
- Slow apps, auctions lost by seconds
« An auction is won in the last minute. »
Sara's first bid, elsewhere
Sara
01Discover
02The wallet
03Buy ETH
04Bid
05Wait
06Win
Does
Thinks
Feels
Opportunity
The map scrolls sideways.
The problem to solve
New collectors need to understand what they pay and what happens during a transaction, because the money at stake is real. Today, the technology comes before the art, and every wait feels like a loss.
The questions the design answers
Q1
How might we create a safe wallet without scaring people?
Why this one · It is the first wall on the experience map.
Q2
How might we state every price in dollars, fees included?
Why this one · Sara counts in dollars, not ETH.
Q3
How might we explain every wait and every failure?
Why this one · The other low point: endless “pending”.
Q4
How might we let Kenji outbid in seconds?
Why this one · Speed wins auctions.
04 · Ideation
What the first version keeps
Impact ↑
Quick wins · Impact high · Effort low
Prices doubled in dollarsIn V1
Q2
Fees in the totalIn V1
Q2
Waiting and error statesIn V1
Q3
Big bets · Impact high · Effort high
Built-in wallet, verified phraseIn V1
Q1
Bidding on one screenIn V1
Q4
Creating and listingIn V1
Nice to have · Impact low · Effort low
A countdown that pressuresLater
Dropped: false urgency
Later · Impact low · Effort high
Cashing out in local currencyIn V1
Closing the loop
Social feed and commentsLater
Effort →
Urgency shows only when it is real: the countdown follows the auction's actual end, never an invented deadline.
Placing a bid
Start
Artwork
Live auction, countdown
Screen
Place a bid
Suggested amount, fees, total in dollars
Decision
Enough balance?
No: buy ETH or receive, then back
System
Passcode or Face ID
Signing the transaction
System
Sent to the network
“Pending” explained
Screen
Bid placed
Funds held until the end
End
Won or outbid
Notification, automatic refund if outbid
Low-fidelity wireframes
01 · Home
02 · Artwork
03 · Bid
04 · Wallet
05 · Bid placed
05 · Design
Dark glass and a single action
An ink background, glass surfaces, one white action per screen, and the Aurora gradient for what is live, done or yours.
Colours
Ink
#030508
Background
Glass
#FFFFFF14
Surfaces, cards
Text
#FFFFFF
Text, main action
Aurora green
#2BFF88
Live, yours
Success
#34D399
Won, confirmed
Danger
#F87171
Failed, outbid
Type
Display
Poppins Bold 40
Bid placed!
Heading 1
Poppins Bold 32
Neon Bust #01
Price
Poppins Bold 28
2.40 ETH
Body
Inter Regular 16
Discover trending NFTs.
Address
Inter Medium 13
0x8f3c…a91d
17 components
- Button
- Input
- Social button
- Stepper
- Chip
- Toggle
- Badge
- Avatar
- Countdown
- Stat
- Artwork card
- Bid row
- Token row
- Top bar
- Tab bar
- Logo
- Backdrop
Welcome: proof before the promise
First iteration
Final version
What changes
The number of artworks and creators on top: you know where you are going in.
UX law · Aesthetic-Usability EffectKept
One way to start, one to log in for people who already collect.
UX law · Jakob’s LawKept
Sign-up: knowing where you stand
First iteration
Final version
What changes
Each step has an icon and a name: verification, profile, security and wallet.
UX law · Zeigarnik EffectKept
Terms are stated before creating the account, not after.
UX law · Postel’s LawKept
The journey, from discovery to resale
Recovery phrase (Q1)
Home
Explore
Artwork
Bid (Q2)
Bid placed
Wallet
Create
Minting
Cash out
Pending (Q3)
Bid conflict (Q4)
06 · Validation
UX laws at work
- Kept
Zeigarnik Effect
Unfinished tasks stick in mind: show progress, invite the return.
Named steps: you know what is left.
Sign-up
- Kept
Loss Aversion
Losing hurts about twice as much as winning pleases.
Fees are in the total before signing.
Bid
- Kept
Doherty Threshold
Under 400 ms, the system feels like a conversation.
Every transaction says where it stands.
Waiting
- Kept
Scarcity Effect
Rare feels valuable, until the pressure feels fake.
The scarcity shown is real: a one-of-one, an actual auction end.
Artwork
- Kept
Von Restorff Effect
The one thing that differs is the one thing remembered.
One white action per screen.
Everywhere
- Kept
Peak-End Rule
People judge the peak and the end, not the average.
The journey ends reassuringly: funds held, refunded if outbid.
Bid placed
Expected results
What a test should show. Nothing has been measured.
| Expected result | Indicator | Indicative target |
|---|---|---|
| A wallet created without drop-off | Newcomer testers who finish creating it | 4 out of 5 in testing |
| Prices understood | Testers who state the total in dollars before signing | 5 out of 5 in testing |
| Waits without anxiety | Testers who can explain the “pending” state | 4 out of 5 in testing |
The test that would validate the journey
ParticipantsSix people: four who have never bought an NFT, two regular collectors, in 40-minute sessions on the prototype.
01
TaskCreate an account and a wallet.
Success criterionPhrase written down and verified, without help.
02
TaskBid on Neon Bust #01.
Success criterionTotal in dollars stated before signing.
03
TaskExplain the “transaction pending” screen.
Success criterionThe person knows the funds are not lost.
04
TaskCollector: outbid after an alert.
Success criterionUnder 20 seconds from notification to bid.
Interview questions
- What has held you back from buying a digital artwork so far?
- How do you count a price in crypto: in crypto, or in dollars?
- What would you have thought seeing “pending” for five minutes?
What I take from it
01
Draw the error states first
The six waiting and failure screens set the tone for all the others: explain before celebrating.
02
Honest urgency
The countdown follows the auction's real end; false scarcity was dropped at prioritisation.
03
Translate, always
Every ETH amount has its dollar equivalent: the decision that simplified everything else.
Got a project in mind?
Describe the screen or the workflow that gets in the way: I reply with a first reading of the problem.