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Designing for Web 3.0

3 minutes 46 seconds read

We’ve discussed blockchain, Metaverse, and  Mixed Reality in our previous blogs showcasing perspectives from different industries on how this virtual world is helping businesses to boost customer experience.

But in order to give an exceptional user experience, it is imperative to know what its target audience wants in terms of design. What will be the role of design in web 3.0 and what will be the challenges in creating a good design for these users?

Since the 1990s the internet world has evolved three times: web 1.0 (1990-2004), web 2.0(2004-Current), & Web 3.0 ( New ). 

Web 3.0 includes modern internet technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), & Metaverse (AR, VR & Mixed Reality). 

Web Trends

The newer target customers – millennials and Generation Z (also known as Internet Generation) are living in Web 3.0. Their life revolves around technology. What they want is a smarter and more intelligent experience. In the world of Web 3.0, customer experience (CX) is based on user recommendations, automatic chatbots, and advanced search results leveraging machine learning, improved connectivity etc. 

Comparison between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0

Image Credit: Navdeep Yadav 

Renowned companies like JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Gucci, Coca Cola are dabbling in the Metaverse.

“According to citi report, the Metaverse could be an $8-13 trillion dollar market by 2030.”

Metaverse Taxonomy

Metaverse taxonomy

Why should you care about ‘Web 3.0’ when designing?

Traction follows the money. That is why huge companies are interested in it. In order to give a web immersive experience to the current audience, we need to understand how designers can create web 3.0 experiences for the audience.

Web 3.0

Design is at the forefront of global transition with a newer set of customer expectations driving the market. The challenges in designing for the metaverse (VR, AR & MR) are numerous, as there is no clearly defined solution. Here are a few points to keep in mind while designing for Web 3.0 users:

Design for Blockchain: For the design industry, there is no clarity about how designers can adapt to web3.0 trends for giving a better user experience. However, some industry leaders suggest that to develop a web 3.0 site, one must first understand blockchain technology from a design perspective, such as the challenges this technology can present. Because the audience is not aware of the blockchain’s advantages & limitations. 

Designers can create web experiences by considering: visitors’ attention, simplifying complex elements, designing unique visual elements, maintaining a brand identity, and other things.

Design for VR: When a designer creates a VR experience for the users it is necessary to create a good immersive experience. Even though there is no final standard design guideline in the industry, what can be useful while designing is understanding people and the platform you design for, visualizing the interaction keeping user convenience at the center, considering head tracking, preventing motion sickness, and creating a guideline for the user.

Design for AR: While designing for AR, understanding the actual problem and ensuring that AR is the right channel to solve the problem, with clear business and user objectives is necessary. Another important thing is to understand the hardware capabilities. When you start designing the visual, don’t limit yourself to rectangles because in the AR experience users have a complete real-world environment.

Design for MR: Mixed Reality is a great change in the new internet world & designing for Mixed reality is a challenging job for designers. You can consider some UX principles while designing,

  • Provide your users with instinctual interactions through hand, eye, and voice inputs,
  • Learn how to interact with holograms at close range with a user’s hands or at long range with precise interactions,
  • Use voice commands as input in your immersive apps to control surrounding holograms and environments,
  • Add a new level of context and human understanding to a holographic experience by using information about what your users are looking at

Conclusion:

According to Gartner, 25% of people will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse for work, shopping, education, social, and/or entertainment, by 2026. 

Today’s new-age customers feel more comfortable interacting and socializing with their peers in the virtual space and the new internet space is offering immersive experiences to people. This new trend has not been fully adopted by the whole world yet, but the pandemic has accelerated its adoption, and industries and users are looking at Web 3.0 as a new opportunity to transact and interact. To remain competitive, designers need to understand, learn, explore and observe more closely this evolving web world to create a better design for today’s users.

About the Author:

Praduman is a self-taught, passionate designer at Mantra Labs’ UI/UX team. His focus is on designing user-friendly interfaces using human-centered principles. Currently he is exploring how the metaverse affects human psychology. He loves to listen to podcasts and read current affairs.

Want to know more about the latest in Blockchain?

Read our blog: Solana: The next in Blockchain

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Design Systems: Building and Maintaining Consistent UI/UX

In the world of product design, consistency is the cornerstone of delivering a seamless user experience. As digital products evolve and scale, the challenge of maintaining design consistency across multiple platforms, teams, and touchpoints becomes more complex. This is where design systems come in. A design system is a comprehensive set of guidelines, components, and tools that help designers and developers create a consistent and cohesive user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). From a designer’s perspective, building and maintaining a design system requires a strategic approach to ensure scalability, flexibility, and alignment with business goals.

Why Design Systems Matter?

Design systems are more than just style guides or pattern libraries. They offer a unified language for design and development, bridging the gap between creativity and functionality. Here are a few reasons why they are critical:

  1. Consistency Across Products

      One of the primary goals of a design system is to ensure uniformity across different platforms and devices. When users interact with a product, whether on a website or a mobile app, they expect a consistent experience. A well-implemented design system ensures that visual elements, interactions, and behaviors are aligned, offering a familiar and intuitive experience for users.

2. Faster Iteration

      With a design system in place, teams can reuse components and patterns rather than reinventing the wheel for each new feature. This speeds up the design and development process, allowing teams to focus on solving new problems instead of reworking existing designs. For designers, it means less time spent on repetitive tasks and more time dedicated to innovation.

3. Scalability

     As products grow and new features are added, maintaining a coherent UI/UX without a design system can become chaotic. A design system provides a scalable framework, enabling teams to add new elements or modules without compromising the overall consistency of the product.

4. Improved Collaboration

      A design system fosters collaboration between designers, developers, and other stakeholders by providing a shared language and reference point. This ensures that design decisions are communicated effectively, reducing friction and misunderstandings between teams.

Building a Design System: A Designer’s Perspective

Designing a system from scratch can seem like a daunting task, but with a clear roadmap and understanding of core principles, it becomes a powerful tool for creating scalable and user-centered products.

1. Define the Core Principles

Before diving into visual components, it’s essential to establish the core principles of your design system. These principles serve as the foundation and guide decision-making throughout the process. Ask yourself:

• What are the key values of your brand?

• How should the design reflect the needs and emotions of users?

• What goals are you trying to achieve with your design system (e.g., accessibility, flexibility, innovation)?

   For instance, if accessibility is a top priority, you’ll need to ensure that your design system accommodates users with different abilities, by providing color contrast guidelines, clear typographic hierarchies, and accessible components.

2. Create a Unified Visual Language

Once the principles are established, the next step is creating a cohesive visual language. This includes defining elements such as:

Color Palette: A well-structured color palette ensures harmony across different UI components. It’s crucial to include primary, secondary, and accent colors, along with usage guidelines to avoid inconsistency.

Typography: Define a typography system that establishes hierarchies and clarity, including font styles, sizes, line heights, and spacing. Consistent typography helps users navigate content effortlessly.

Spacing and Grids: An established grid system ensures a balanced layout and harmony between different UI elements. Proper spacing guidelines prevent crowded or misaligned components.

Iconography and Illustrations: Design guidelines for icons and illustrations help maintain visual consistency. Icons should follow a standard style (outlined, filled) and size, ensuring they align with the overall visual language.

(I

Iconography and Illustrations: Design guidelines for icons and illustrations help maintain visual consistency. Icons should follow a standard style (outlined, filled) and size, ensuring they align with the overall visual language.

Image Source: https://designerup.co/blog/10-best-design-systems-and-how-to-learn-and-steal-from-them/)

3. Design Reusable Components

A design system is incomplete without reusable UI components. These components include buttons, forms, modals, and navigation elements that can be used across various features and pages. Each component should be:

Modular: Components should be flexible and adaptable for different contexts. For example, a button should have variations for different states (hover, active, disabled) and types (primary, secondary, destructive).

Documented: Each component needs comprehensive documentation that explains how it should be used, its variants, and the rules governing its application. This ensures consistency when different team members use the same component.

4. Implement Accessibility Guidelines

Accessibility should be at the forefront of every design system. As a designer, consider:

Color Contrast: Ensure sufficient contrast between text and background for readability.

Keyboard Navigation: Ensure that interactive components are navigable via keyboard for users who rely on keyboard shortcuts.

Responsive Design: Components should be responsive, adapting seamlessly across different screen sizes and devices.

Assistive Technologies: Design components should be compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies to provide an inclusive experience.

Maintaining a Design System: Evolving with the Product

Once a design system is in place, the work doesn’t stop there. Maintaining it requires ongoing effort as the product evolves and new design challenges emerge. Here’s how designers can ensure the design system remains relevant and effective:

1. Regular Audits and Updates

A design system should be treated as a living document that evolves with the product. Regular audits are necessary to identify outdated or unused components. Designers should collaborate with developers to ensure new features are aligned with the existing design system, and updates should be documented to avoid fragmentation.

2. Version Control and Documentation

Version control is essential for keeping track of changes in the design system. Documenting why and how changes are made ensures that the design system grows in an organized manner. It also helps onboard new team members quickly, as they can reference updated guidelines.

3. Foster Collaboration Across Teams

Designers need to maintain an open line of communication with developers and other teams using the design system. Tools like Figma, Sketch, and Zeplin allow designers to share components and guidelines in real-time, fostering collaboration and ensuring that everyone is aligned.

Some well-known examples of design systems that have set benchmarks in the industry:

1. Google Material Design

  • URL: Material Design
  • Overview: Google’s Material Design is one of the most comprehensive design systems available. It provides guidelines on how to create visual, motion, and interaction design across platforms and devices. Material Design is known for its grid-based layouts, responsive animations, and depth effects like shadows and lighting.
  • Features:
    • Comprehensive color palettes, typography, and iconography.
    • Extensive component library (buttons, cards, etc.).
    • Customizable UI components for both web and mobile applications.

2. Salesforce Lightning Design System

  • URL: Salesforce Lightning
  • Overview: Salesforce’s Lightning Design System provides a comprehensive library of UI components and resources to help build applications on the Salesforce platform. It ensures a consistent experience across Salesforce products and enables developers to create custom apps easily.
  • Features:
    • Ready-to-use components, design tokens, and code snippets.
    • Comprehensive accessibility guidelines to ensure inclusivity.
    • Detailed documentation for developers to integrate components into Salesforce applications.

3. Microsoft Fluent Design System

  • URL: Fluent Design
  • Overview: Fluent Design is Microsoft’s design system, created to provide an engaging and scalable UI across all Microsoft products. It is heavily focused on interaction, animation, and motion while ensuring accessibility across various device ecosystems.
  • Features:
    • Focus on depth, motion, and light to create modern and interactive UIs.
    • Cross-platform components supporting web, desktop, and mobile applications.
    • Accessible components with detailed guidelines for developers.

Conclusion

Building and maintaining a design system is an investment that pays off in the long run. It ensures consistency across your product, improves collaboration between teams, and allows for faster iteration and scalability. For designers, a design system is more than a collection of reusable components — it’s a framework that enables you to create user-centric products with confidence and clarity. By embracing modularity, documentation, and accessibility, you’ll ensure that your design system remains a valuable asset as your product grows.

About the Author:

Shristi is a creative professional with a passion for visual storytelling. She recently transitioned from the world of video and motion graphics to the exciting field of product design at Mantra Labs. When she’s not designing, she enjoys watching movies, traveling, and sharing her experiences through vlogs.

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