Web3 is a new iteration of the world wide web to transform users into owners through the power of blockchain. What started with cryptocurrencies (i.e., Bitcoin and Ethereum)— which reward participants who secure the network with their native tokens—is becoming prevalent across all software categories, from developer infrastructure and new financial markets in DeFi to consumer products, marketplaces and social. The products and services that will define web3—and the next generation of the internet—are those that transform users into owners through decentralization. The next software revolution is the ownership economy.

According to Jesse Walden’s article on progressive decentralization, the earliest stage of building a web3 application requires all the ingredients of a typical startup. During this phase, the only thing that matter is product/market fit (PMF). However, to move fast towards finding it, a product needs opinionated leadership to quickly test hypotheses and update assumptions.

To develop innovative solutions and achieve PMF, one must adopt a designer's mindset and approach the problem from the user's perspective. Design thinking is an ideology and a process that seeks to solve complex problems in a user-centric way, originally came about as a way of teaching engineers how to approach problems creatively, as designers do. Design thinking focuses on achieving practical results with technically feasible, economically viable, and desirable solutions for the user. Design thinking aims to turn ideas into tangible, testable products or processes as quickly as possible.

Let's look at how design thinking can be applied to designing web3 protocols. I will be using Fiction One as an example to illustrate how it is done.

Conduct research to develop an understanding of your users.

To attract users to a web3 product, such a product must address users’ needs. Therefore, it is vital to understand and observe our target users with deep-rooted empathy. The starting point is not a goal to be achieved but using empathy to address a real-world problem.

Example: Upon researching online fiction writers and readers, I discovered that this community struggles to thrive economically due to lack of well-designed ecosystem and network. Fiction writers struggle to make ends meet, while posting online is difficult for them to generate financial rewards.

Keyword: Persona building

Combine all your research and define where your users’ problems exist.

At this stage, it is time to gather our findings from the empathize stage and proceed to define our target users’ needs. Defining the needs can help us with targeting the correct opportunities. We cannot offer a solution if there isn’t a need, so we must define their needs in order to build a functional web3 product.

Example: We are addressing the needs for online fiction readers and writers to be rewarded financially in an incentive aligned way.

Keywords: Interpret findings, Refine persona

Challenge assumptions and generate a range of crazy, creative ideas.

Now, we are ready to generate as many potential solutions as possible. This involves divergent thinking in deliberating how blockchain technology could be implemented to address these needs, or how those needs could be benefited from the ownership economy.

Example: What if writers can publish their stories as NFTs for their readers to collect? This also mean the readers can trade and resell these story NFTs.

Keywords: Creative confidence, Quantity goes before quality

Build real, tactile representations for a range of your ideas.

This is an experimental phase in making our ideas tangible. The aim is to identify the best possible solution for problems found. In the case of web3, we must ensure that our potential solutions are possible with the current toolings in the blockchain. We also need to keep our target users in mind when designing these prototypes to effectively abstract the tech stacks and provide a user-friendly solution.

Example: Wireframes and interactive prototypes were created with design tools like figma to transform conceptual ideas into tangible interfaces.

Keywords:

Return to your users for feedbacks.

The testing phase enables builders to see where our prototype works well and where it needs improving. Based on user feedback, we can make changes and improvements before spending additional resources developing or implementing the solution. We will run user testing sessions where we observe our target users as they interact with our prototype.

Example: Reaching out to online writers and readers to test out the prototype by assigning tasks such as signing up/in, setting up profile, publishing and reading stories, and making transactions in marketplace.

Keywords:

Put the vision into effect.

RINSE & REPEAT from Step One. Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process; just as our web3 products are evolving projects that we should regularly tweak and improve upon. With an agile mindset, our products are never going to be a ‘finished product’, it is infinitely adjustable to make room for new inputs and developments.

Web3 is a new iteration of the world wide web to transform users into owners through the power of blockchain. What started with cryptocurrencies (i.e., Bitcoin and Ethereum)— which reward participants who secure the network with their native tokens—is becoming prevalent across all software categories, from developer infrastructure and new financial markets in DeFi to consumer products, marketplaces and social. The products and services that will define web3—and the next generation of the internet—are those that transform users into owners through decentralization. The next software revolution is the ownership economy.

According to Jesse Walden’s article on progressive decentralization, the earliest stage of building a web3 application requires all the ingredients of a typical startup. During this phase, the only thing that matter is product/market fit (PMF). However, to move fast towards finding it, a product needs opinionated leadership to quickly test hypotheses and update assumptions.

To develop innovative solutions and achieve PMF, one must adopt a designer's mindset and approach the problem from the user's perspective. Design thinking is an ideology and a process that seeks to solve complex problems in a user-centric way, originally came about as a way of teaching engineers how to approach problems creatively, as designers do. Design thinking focuses on achieving practical results with technically feasible, economically viable, and desirable solutions for the user. Design thinking aims to turn ideas into tangible, testable products or processes as quickly as possible.

Let's look at how design thinking can be applied to designing web3 protocols. I will be using Fiction One as an example to illustrate how it is done.

Conduct research to develop an understanding of your users.

To attract users to a web3 product, such a product must address users’ needs. Therefore, it is vital to understand and observe our target users with deep-rooted empathy. The starting point is not a goal to be achieved but using empathy to address a real-world problem.

Example: Upon researching online fiction writers and readers, I discovered that this community struggles to thrive economically due to lack of well-designed ecosystem and network. Fiction writers struggle to make ends meet, while posting online is difficult for them to generate financial rewards.

Keyword: Persona building

Combine all your research and define where your users’ problems exist.

At this stage, it is time to gather our findings from the empathize stage and proceed to define our target users’ needs. Defining the needs can help us with targeting the correct opportunities. We cannot offer a solution if there isn’t a need, so we must define their needs in order to build a functional web3 product.

Example: We are addressing the needs for online fiction readers and writers to be rewarded financially in an incentive aligned way.

Keywords: Interpret findings, Refine persona

Challenge assumptions and generate a range of crazy, creative ideas.

Now, we are ready to generate as many potential solutions as possible. This involves divergent thinking in deliberating how blockchain technology could be implemented to address these needs, or how those needs could be benefited from the ownership economy.

Example: What if writers can publish their stories as NFTs for their readers to collect? This also mean the readers can trade and resell these story NFTs.

Keywords: Creative confidence, Quantity goes before quality

Build real, tactile representations for a range of your ideas.

This is an experimental phase in making our ideas tangible. The aim is to identify the best possible solution for problems found. In the case of web3, we must ensure that our potential solutions are possible with the current toolings in the blockchain. We also need to keep our target users in mind when designing these prototypes to effectively abstract the tech stacks and provide a user-friendly solution.

Example: Wireframes and interactive prototypes were created with design tools like figma to transform conceptual ideas into tangible interfaces.

Keywords:

Return to your users for feedbacks.

The testing phase enables builders to see where our prototype works well and where it needs improving. Based on user feedback, we can make changes and improvements before spending additional resources developing or implementing the solution. We will run user testing sessions where we observe our target users as they interact with our prototype.

Example: Reaching out to online writers and readers to test out the prototype by assigning tasks such as signing up/in, setting up profile, publishing and reading stories, and making transactions in marketplace.

Keywords:

Put the vision into effect.

RINSE & REPEAT from Step One. Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process; just as our web3 products are evolving projects that we should regularly tweak and improve upon. With an agile mindset, our products are never going to be a ‘finished product’, it is infinitely adjustable to make room for new inputs and developments.