People have been dealing in fine art for millennia, but the way art is sold and displayed has remained unchanged. What if we can display NFTs in our homes just like traditional art? What if we can change them with our mood? With Mint Collective, I'm reimagining the landscape of traditional fine art and fintech.
What if we can display NFTs in our homes just like traditional art?
NFTs stand for Non Fungible Tokens. They're cropping up in the news often; see here and here. The talk surrounding them are pretty polarized.
NFTs are cryptographic assets on a blockchain that you can buy, sell, or auction. Fungible asset refers to commodity where one unit is the same as another— like currency. An NFT is more like a bespoke suit: it's non-replicable, and not one is exactly the same. Their contracts are also self-executing. Artists can use contracts to guarantee that they always gets 10% of all resale profits, regardless of who resells it.
We are now at the start of a paradigm shift.
Sure, NFT contracts might prove a good thing to artists, but can NFTs benefit the rest of us? How can we use this new technology to improve or simplify the way we live? To answer that question, it's important to look at the ways in which NFTs intersect our lives. Because whether we like to admit or not, the rising popularity of NFTs is upending the creative world. We are now at the start of a paradigm shift.
To identify our problems, we first needed to figure out how people buy/sell art and NFTs. Our high-level plan was:
I led the research efforts, by identifying key questions, and conducting insightful interviews. As product manager, I outlined the product vision and set clear goals and priorities. As product designer, I finalized wireframes and validated design decisions using quantitative data.
Afterward, my partner took charge of the style guide and logo. I took those and started high-fidelity prototyping.
The timeline was 8 weeks (cumulative)
We found that 84% of all fine art purchases are online. Note that this does not mean that the online purchases were all digital art. Physical mediums count as well. The most popular digital medium is digital illustration, followed by photography. 3d and pixel art were also popular.
Next, it was important to understand the user goals and pain points. What are the driving forces behind purchases? A whopping 84% buy art with the intention of furnishing their home. The biggest pains of buying online art are as follows:
To give you a ballpark estimate: framing can cost $200 for a small photograph, $700 for a large one. Mixed-media pieces average around $800-1000. The data illustrate trends, which will be helpful in guiding future prioritization exercises. The next piece of the puzzle? Empathize with users and learn how the art world works by talking to industry experts.
Earlier I said who you ask is important. Would you trust an art expert who didn't work in the field? Someone whose livelihood isn't affected by the state of art? You probably wouldn't. Would you heed the skepticism of someone who's never purchased cryptocurrency? You probably wouldn't. Sure, mass opinions are good for identifying trends. But to get to the core of the solution, you'll need people waist-deep in the water.
Vacchio graduated Dartmouth with a degree in Art History. He currently works at Pace Gallery, which has their own NFT platform Pace Verso. Vacchio specializes in art authentication, with over ten years of industry experience.
“I think it's going to move away from the types of collectible, generative stuff that we've seen. I think the future is going to be things that are more artistically unique.”
Since smart contracts define resale royalties, artists continue to earn from their work. Authentication is the cornerstone to smart contracts. It's built-in to the blockchain so art can be ✨automagically✨ verified.
Before the advent of TikTok and viral social media, exhibition records determined price. Nowadays, an artist can get discovered by social media, then get picked up by a mega gallery.
Shintani is a commercial photographer by trade, and an NFT enthusiast. He's collaborated with fellow artists to break into the NFT space.
Shintani aims to sell each piece for 3,000 - 10,000 USD. Difficult to sell anything for over 3,000 USD unless you're on SuperRare.
Volatility introduces risk for artists trying to make a living off NFTs. Challenging for artists to earn consistently from NFTs.
It's got the longest waitlist for artists to begin selling on the platform. High barrier to entry for emerging artists.
Let's be frank. Cryptocurrencies might be a hot topic now, but many people will remain skeptical. Do NFTs really have value? Trading crypto sounds a lot like trading options. You might have $1 one day and 50 cents the next. Volatile markets won't appeal much to the risk-averse. How can we mitigate that?
💡 The key challenge will be to get the public onboard with collecting NFTs.
The barrier to fine art is high to both buyers and artists. For buyers, art is often expensive and quality difficult to gauge. Buyers are often asking the question, is it worth the price?
For artists, the barrier to sell art is often high. They need either a strong internet presence or to endure a long vetting process.
I ordered the problems into contextual categories: buyer, artist, business, and security. From there, we branched out ideas in the form of a mind map. The goal here was to cover as much ground as we can, before narrowing down our focus.
After considering each problem, we agreed on the mission of our product. A mission statement is important to give context to our problem and focus to our solution.
Mint Collective bridges the gap between NFTs and procurable art. With Mint, you can display your art anywhere, and change it up at any time.
Now that we have defined our business context, let's get back to our problem. We decided to only tackle buyer problems due to timeline constraints. Although important, artist scenarios were considered out-of-scope at this point.
I am skeptical about the value, authenticity, and security of NFTs
I don't know how to determine value of art. I don't want to get cheated.
I find buying art a hassle. Too many options and don't know what I want.
Sometimes the best way to move forward is to think backwards. I conducted a reverse-brainstorm exercise on all the reasons a user might not want to use our product. What are all the barrier's that can prevent them from connecting their wallet and buying an NFT? I worked my way backwards to find ways we could change their mind.
Let's put it all together. The beauty of bottoms-up design is that I can start small, and build incrementally. This will help reduce cognitive load of the user. I applied atomic design during this phase of the design. The benefit of designing without style and brand is that I can get critique without visual distrations like color.
Mint Collective began as a niche idea: a platform for NFT enthusiasts to buy quality art. Designing for the hyper-specific is an antipattern for bad accessibility. So how do I make sure our solution works for everyone?
I took a step back to note the spectrum of users, along with their situational constraints. This allowed me to avoid the trap of oversimplification, a common narrative pitfall.
I designed three approaches to visualizing actions on the art detail page. "The Standard" follows a typical e-commerce format of having a call-to-action that scrolls with the screen. However, we are not operating a standard e-commerce site. We don't have an intermediary "cart" which can contain all the items a user might be considering. That means that our call-to-action has a high barrier-to-click.
That leads me to "The Proposal," which groups all three actions very closely. It always floats at the bottom, and our user can save any artwork they're interested in, or immediately start a trial. These are all low-cost operations that can drive users to account creation.
I offered a third "Avant Garde" option, which is the least feasible of the three. This option not only covers on-screen text, but might also incur high engineering costs.
Initially, I included a "More Works by Artist" module under the art detail. I later decided that I should use social proof to help put more weight on their purchase. I think it can be improved further if we can show them that their immediate friends or peers have made similar purchases.
We definitely will need to A/B test this with users to understand the real effect.
Ultimately, the goal is for users to complete their NFT transaction. So let's try to make their decision in finding "the right piece" easier for them. From our user survey, I found that many art buyers will consider several pieces that might fit their taste. If a user has started a trial for one artwork, they might want to consider others as well. Let's make it easy for them to compare different pieces at once, by recommending pieces that are similar in style, color, or aesthetic.
Reduced upfront costs for the skeptic.
For the skeptic who is not sure if NFTs have value, make it easy for them to try out art in their home. Trying out the art in their own home can give NFTs a sense of tangible value.
Heuristics empowered novice to make informed decisions.
For the art novice might feel intimindated by art, let's make them feel more comfortable by giving them the information they need to make the best decision.
Cognitive load reduced, improving the juggler's art buying experience.
For the mentally taxed user, make it easy for them to find art and connect their crypto wallet. Lessen their cognitive load by making it easy to buy art— even with distractions.
I drafted an initial list of metrics. Actual thresholds to be discussed down the line.
| # | Metric | Detail | Problem | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trial to lead conversion | How many trials resulted in rental or purchase? | If below threshold: Determine possible barriers. | |
| 2 | Trial to wallet dropoff | How many initiated trials without connecting their wallet? | Could be: not owning Etherium, not having a Coinbase account, difficult to connect | Can we make connecting wallet easier? |
| 3 | Failed wallet conversions | How many connected their wallet without making a purchase? | Could be: a bug, sudden apprehension or doubt about purchase | Can we reassure? |
| 4 | Buy without rental / Buy without trial | How many purchase without rental first? How many without trial? | Could be: opportunistic buyers | Can this affect the reputation of the platform? |
| 5 | Failed conversions | How many people sign up without any purchase? | Could be: disinterest, can't find practical application, other concerns | Research needed. |
Tackling a project in an emerging space is a lot like running in the dark with a matchstick. We started with the idea of a camera minting app. We hit a dead-end. We took a few deep breaths, and started over from the drawing board. We asked different questions. Paving a new path is difficult and the future always seems nebulous and scary. But that's okay. My job is to make nebulous ideas concrete; to make scary goals seem attainable. I learned the power of feeling comfort in uncertainty. I am thrilled for the future fintech can bring.
My job is to make nebulous ideas concrete; to make scary goals seem attainable.
Can can we bridge the gap between the Metaverse and our physical lives? I believe NFTs hold a key to that future. TVs are now more affordable than ever. They present a good alternative to traditional framing. This is especially so for mixed-media, that can vary in both structure and rigidity.
We've taken a first step together, but there is still much to do. I would love to interview a more diverse set of artists, to better understand their needs.
Can we: