Bitcoin Design Guide: Use Cases and Interviews

[mouxdesign]

The Bitcoin Design Guide is an extensive resource used by builders. Like any resource collecting user feedback and documenting this will provide insight as to:

• Use cases: Understand how the guide is being used by builders
• Areas for improvement: Which areas of the guide can be improved

Interview method

The data in the repo will vary and be collected from various sources:

• One-on-One interviews using the following script
• Publicly available information

Consent privacy

People who are interviewed are asked for their consent to place an edited version of the interview in a public repository where all private information is removed.

This will help to build a higher level overview from various resources.

Previous research done

In 2022 a survey was done on the Bitcoin Design Guide, the survey results can be found here.

[mouxdesign]

Interview 1

Transcript

Background

X is a developer building and designing a bitcoin lightning wallet, this is a solo wallet builder that also contributes to various initiatives in the ecosystem. A lightning wallet is being built that has more advanced features.

Resource/s used

• Bitcoin Design Guide
• Bitcoin UI kit

Most used part of the guide

• Daily spending wallet
• Glossary

How is it used?

1. Daily spending wallet:
   The daily spending wallet is used as a reference design as he is building the lighting wallet. He uses it to envision how the user flow is going to look like from the design side. he uses it as a starting point to understand what the first screen should look like in a particular part of the user flow.

2. Glossary
   The glossary is used as a educational tool to explain seemingly complex topics to others. It is also used at bitcoin meetups to explain concepts to less technical people. When the code in the repo does not make sense to someone to understand he'll go over to the guide to see if there is an explanation or glossary entry about that topic.

Areas for improvement

None

How was research done to build the wallet?

The builder started using himself as the main user of the wallet, building a wallet for people like himself. The wallet is being built with the following thoughts in mind:

• What does the user exp feel like?
• Do I trust putting my bitcoin in this wallet?

Main takeaways

The Bitcoin Design guide is being used by a solo builder who is building a lightning wallet with more advanced features. The daily spending wallet is the most highly used part during the building process and it is used as a starting point for the builder to understand what the starting point of a design would look like in a particular part of a user flow.

The glossary of the guide is used as an educational tool to explain technical concepts in a more human way to others.

[mouxdesign]

Discord chat 2

Link to chat record

Background

The following info was collected in the Discord server of a wallet team. The wallet is a self-custodial lighting wallet. The wallet is being built by a small team. The front end-developer also has the role of UX designer. The builder was in the process of re-designing the wallet and spoke specifically about what was useful during this re-design phase in terms of resources and help received.

Resource/s used

• Bitcoin Design Guide
• Bitcoin Design Community Newsletter

Most used part of the guide

Daily spending wallet
The following parts of the guide were referenced during the conversation

• Backup and Recovery: recovering with a manual backup
• Contacts
• Activity

Other resources and help received

Other apps and wallets:

• Venmo
• Signal
• Other wallets
• Fantasy redesign: A design problem was presented to an engineering cohort and a redesign was done using that problem, this design was then presented by the UX designer in the cohort and he used quite a lot from that fantasy re-design.

Reasons the guide may not be used

• Time constraints
• Guide has more screens and steps
• Used design directly from another wallet or designed something he really likes

Main takeaways

The wallet builder has used the Bitcoin Design Guide from time to time during the re-design of the wallet. The most used section was the daily spending wallet.

During the redesign process the designer consulted with various sources to refine the design, it is usually a mixture of referring to other wallets, using a fantasy re-design done by another UX designer and referencing the guide.

The Bitcoin Design Community Newsletter was also mentioned as being discussed during meetups in the city of the builder.

[mouxdesign]

Case studies interviews which could be added:

• JAM/Joinmarket
• 10101

[mouxdesign]

A more focussed research initiative has kicked off. We are looking to speak with atleast 10 builders who have used the Bitcoin Design Guide.

Project Overview

The Bitcoin Design Guide was established 4 years ago with the goal of helping builders build more intuitive accessible products. It is a valuable resource packed with:

• Reference designs (Daily spending wallet, Savings Wallet, Inheritance wallet)
• Designing Bitcoin products
• How the technology works
• Case studies
• Glossary of terminology

While it has been around for 4 years now little is known as to how and why it is used. This research study aims to use a research method called Jobs to be Done to help to understand how the guide is being used by Bitcoin builders.

Resources:

• Research plan
• Interview script

We'll use the Jobs to be Done frame work to understand

• Understand how the Bitcoin Design Guide is being used by builders
• Understand what users typically love about the Bitcoin Design Guide + Community resources
• Understand what friction points exist when using the guide
• Collect a list of key takeaways as to how the Bitcoin Design Guide is useful as a resource to builders as well as how it can be improved