Decrypt Media
Decrypt University
Decrypt Media's Hub for crypto educational content. It holds courses with NFT certificates.
Education
Web3
Crypto
Date:
Jun 2022 - Jun 2023
Project Type:
Web App / PWA
Role:
Senior Product Designer
Team:
CTO, Head of Product/PM, 3 Developers, Product Designer, Head of Educational Content
Responsibilities:
UX/UI
Information Architecture
Prototypes
User Flows
User Research
Competitor Analysis
Responsibilities UX UI Information Architecture Prototypes User Flows Quantitative Research Key Stakeholders Alignment
Quantitative Analysis
Key Stakeholders Alignment
Why did we build this?
Crypto educational courses were gaining traction on platforms such as Coinbase, Binance and other mainstream crypto projects. Decrypt had been publishing Educational articles for years with great traction, but attempts to expand their educational offerings had been unsuccessful due to unrealistic implementation strategies and the lack of an incremental approach for building a new product.
Decrypt Media
Decrypt University
Decrypt Media's Hub for crypto educational content. It holds courses with NFT certificates.
Education
Web3
Crypto
Date:
Jun 2022 - Jun 2023
Project Type:
Web App / PWA
Role:
Senior Product Designer
Team:
CTO, Head of Product/PM, 3 Developers, Product Designer, Head of Educational Content
Responsibilities:
UX/UI
Information Architecture
Prototypes
User Flows
User Research
Competitor Analysis
Responsibilities UX UI Information Architecture Prototypes User Flows Quantitative Research Key Stakeholders Alignment
Quantitative Analysis
Key Stakeholders Alignment
Why did we build this?
Crypto educational courses were gaining traction on platforms such as Coinbase, Binance and other mainstream crypto projects. Decrypt had been publishing Educational articles for years with great traction, but attempts to expand their educational offerings had been unsuccessful due to unrealistic implementation strategies and the lack of an incremental approach for building a new product.
Decrypt Media
Decrypt University
Decrypt Media's Hub for crypto educational content. It holds courses with NFT certificates.
Education
Web3
Crypto
Date:
Jun 2022 - Jun 2023
Project Type:
Web App / PWA
Role:
Senior Product Designer
Team:
CTO, Head of Product/PM, 3 Developers, Product Designer, Head of Educational Content
Responsibilities:
UX/UI
Information Architecture
Prototypes
User Flows
User Research
Competitor Analysis
Responsibilities UX UI Information Architecture Prototypes User Flows Quantitative Research Key Stakeholders Alignment
Quantitative Analysis
Key Stakeholders Alignment
Why did we build this?
Crypto educational courses were gaining traction on platforms such as Coinbase, Binance and other mainstream crypto projects. Decrypt had been publishing Educational articles for years with great traction, but attempts to expand their educational offerings had been unsuccessful due to unrealistic implementation strategies and the lack of an incremental approach for building a new product.
Decrypt in Numbers
#
3
Crypto News Website
#
3
Crypto News Website
#
3
Crypto News Website
~
4M
Monthly Unique Visitors
~
4M
Monthly Unique Visitors
~
4M
Monthly Unique Visitors
#
1
USA Main Audience
#
1
USA Main Audience
#
1
USA Main Audience
+
65
%
Native English Speakers
+
65
%
Native English Speakers
+
65
%
Native English Speakers
#
1
Traffic Source: Educational
#
1
Traffic Source: Educational
#
1
Traffic Source: Educational
Impact & Achievements
252k
NFT Certificates Minted
252k
NFT Certificates Minted
252k
NFT Certificates Minted
+
10
Partnerships Unlocked
+
10
Partnerships Unlocked
+
10
Partnerships Unlocked
5
Sponsored Courses
5
Sponsored Courses
5
Sponsored Courses
↑
Ad Revenue
↑
Ad Revenue
↑
Ad Revenue
+
20
Courses Launched
+
20
Courses Launched
+
20
Courses Launched
1st
🇸🇦 Arabic Market Partnerships
1st
🇸🇦 Arabic Market Partnerships
1st
🇸🇦 Arabic Market Partnerships
1st
🇸🇦 Arabic Market Partnerships
1st
🇸🇦 Arabic Market Partnerships
1st
🇸🇦 Arabic Market Partnerships
Branding
Launched
Branding
Launched
Branding
Launched
Project Goals
↑ Accounts Creation
↑ Newsletter Subscriptions
↑ Ad & Partnerships Revenue
↑ Avg. page/session
↑ Time p/page
↑ Time p/session
To develop a comprehensive educational crypto product including: courses, articles, certificates, videos and gamification
I was asked to draft a PRD (product requirements document) and a possible Product Roadmap that could help us build this with our given resources.
With a lean and realistic approach, the plan was to build the product throughout multiple iterations and taking into account our shortage of resources.
I was asked to draft a PRD (product requirements document) and a possible Product Roadmap that could help us build this with our given resources.
With a lean and realistic approach, the plan was to build the product throughout multiple iterations and taking into account our shortage of resources.
Iteration 1
1
Decrypt Learn pages: • Decrypt Learn Homepage •Learn Articles •Courses
2
Organizacion of articles into tracks / courses.
3
Launch three introductory courses to validate audience interest. If proved successful, keep building.
4
Require users to create accounts to access Decrypt Courses.
5
Issue certificates for course completion, initially stored in Decrypt's database/backend, and later as POAPs on-chain.
Iteration 2
1
Implement an Educational Videos section inside of the learn section.
2
Create Decrypt’s own NFT certificates to allow students to own their NFTs and certificates on-chain.
Iteration 3
Introduce gamification through stages:
1
Implement a point system and leaderboard (previously successful in our mobile app). Points can be earned by: • Completing courses. • Reading standalone articles. • Watching educational videos.
2
Introduce badges, including: • Level-based badges (beginner, mid, expert). • Thematic badges (DeFi, NFT, Currencies) based on completed course types.
3
Implement course filters by: • Difficulty levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced). • Themes (DeFi, NFTs, Trading, Essentials, Bitcoin, etc.).
Discovery
Quantitative data showed that our Learn section oftenly had the most traffic and better engagement among other website’s sections.
Competitive Audit
Competition analysis included both direct web3 competitors and web2 indirect competitors. In the final phase we focused on just a few of them to gather patterns, best practices examples, structures, Information architecture, etc. 1. Indirect Competitors Futurelearn, udemy, EdEx, Code Academy. 2. Direct Competitors Coinbase Learn& Earn, RabbitHole, Binance academy.
Discovery
Quantitative data showed that our Learn section oftenly had the most traffic and better engagement among other website’s sections.
Competitive Audit
Competition analysis included both direct web3 competitors and web2 indirect competitors. In the final phase we focused on just a few of them to gather patterns, best practices examples, structures, Information architecture, etc. 1. Indirect Competitors Futurelearn, udemy, EdEx, Code Academy. 2. Direct Competitors Coinbase Learn& Earn, RabbitHole, Binance academy.
Discovery
Quantitative data showed that our Learn section oftenly had the most traffic and better engagement among other website’s sections.
Competitive Audit
Competition analysis included both direct web3 competitors and web2 indirect competitors. In the final phase we focused on just a few of them to gather patterns, best practices examples, structures, Information architecture, etc. 1. Indirect Competitors Futurelearn, udemy, EdEx, Code Academy. 2. Direct Competitors Coinbase Learn& Earn, RabbitHole, Binance academy.
Content Strategy & First Courses
Decrypt users were considered mostly entry level, low and medium proficiency in Crypto. With that in mind we decided to start with Introduction courses for essential crypto topics just as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc
Account Creation, Newsletter User & Settings
For users to be able to take a course, they needed to have an account on Decrypt platform. On account creation they would also be subscribed to Decrypt’s main Newsletter. This would positively affect the increase on the website’s User accounts and Newsletter subscribers. Which would lead to an increase in user engagement and better ad and partnership deals o both the website and the newsletter. We were forced to rethink our login /sign up flow and also to create a proper user settings page and a Newsletter preferences page to easily allow users to change personal information and opt-out of newsletters.
Content Strategy & First Courses
Decrypt users were considered mostly entry level, low and medium proficiency in Crypto. With that in mind we decided to start with Introduction courses for essential crypto topics just as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc
Account Creation, Newsletter User & Settings
For users to be able to take a course, they needed to have an account on Decrypt platform. On account creation they would also be subscribed to Decrypt’s main Newsletter. This would positively affect the increase on the website’s User accounts and Newsletter subscribers. Which would lead to an increase in user engagement and better ad and partnership deals o both the website and the newsletter. We were forced to rethink our login /sign up flow and also to create a proper user settings page and a Newsletter preferences page to easily allow users to change personal information and opt-out of newsletters.
Content Strategy & First Courses
Decrypt users were considered mostly entry level, low and medium proficiency in Crypto. With that in mind we decided to start with Introduction courses for essential crypto topics just as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc
Account Creation, Newsletter User & Settings
For users to be able to take a course, they needed to have an account on Decrypt platform. On account creation they would also be subscribed to Decrypt’s main Newsletter. This would positively affect the increase on the website’s User accounts and Newsletter subscribers. Which would lead to an increase in user engagement and better ad and partnership deals o both the website and the newsletter. We were forced to rethink our login /sign up flow and also to create a proper user settings page and a Newsletter preferences page to easily allow users to change personal information and opt-out of newsletters.
"Start Course" Flow + Entry Points
"Start Course" Flow + Entry Points
"Start Course" Flow + Entry Points
Course Completion Certificate
V1 included certificates for courses. They would be stored in Decrypt’s database/backend and at the same time exist as POAPS. This would be an initial approach for testing out the interest and traction.
Abuse Counter measures: 1. Required minimum time spent on each course article 2. Linking Wallet to Decrypt account 3. Course Quiz 4. Verification Code before minting
Scaling & Farmers Issues
After implementing we encountered issues with scaling this models. As POAP team limited their POAP amount they could issue per event due to the increase amount of farmers. Farmers are users or bots who just "farm"or collect NFTs without really caring about engaging with the projects or doing the work for getting an NFT. So they'’l cheat their way to getting the NFT and their main goal is speculation regarding those assets. Due to this POAP started to give a lot less POAP per project which leaded as to start implementing our own NFT Certificates system.
Course Completion Certificate
V1 included certificates for courses. They would be stored in Decrypt’s database/backend and at the same time exist as POAPS. This would be an initial approach for testing out the interest and traction.
Scaling & Farmers Issues
After implementing we encountered issues with scaling this models. As POAP team limited their POAP amount they could issue per event due to the increase amount of farmers. Farmers are users or bots who just "farm"or collect NFTs without really caring about engaging with the projects or doing the work for getting an NFT. So they'’l cheat their way to getting the NFT and their main goal is speculation regarding those assets. Due to this POAP started to give a lot less POAP per project which leaded as to start implementing our own NFT Certificates system.
Abuse Counter measures: 1. Required minimum time spent on each course article 2. Linking Wallet to Decrypt account 3. Course Quiz 4. Verification Code before minting
Course Completion Certificate
V1 included certificates for courses. They would be stored in Decrypt’s database/backend and at the same time exist as POAPS. This would be an initial approach for testing out the interest and traction.
Scaling & Farmers Issues
After implementing we encountered issues with scaling this models. As POAP team limited their POAP amount they could issue per event due to the increase amount of farmers. Farmers are users or bots who just "farm"or collect NFTs without really caring about engaging with the projects or doing the work for getting an NFT. So they'’l cheat their way to getting the NFT and their main goal is speculation regarding those assets. Due to this POAP started to give a lot less POAP per project which leaded as to start implementing our own NFT Certificates system.
Abuse Counter measures: 1. Required minimum time spent on each course article 2. Linking Wallet to Decrypt account 3. Course Quiz 4. Verification Code before minting
NFT Certificates & Mint Page
After validating the that the certificates idea worked with our user base, we needed a solution to overcome the farmers and POAP problem.
The NFT certificates was also a good chance for implementing the addition of a Crypto Wallet Login and a "wallets" section on user settings. This was a strategy shared with the borader website redesign project
v2: NFT Certificates on Polygon
Our engineers started to brainstorm a solution to have our own NFT certificates on-chain that we could give to our users on course completion. Along with the whole product team we weighted pros and cons of different Ethereum L2. We had to take into account ease of implementation, transaction costs and availability and communication with their team. We finally went with Polygon
NFT Certificates & Mint Page
After validating the that the certificates idea worked with our user base, we needed a solution to overcome the farmers and POAP problem.
v2: NFT Certificates on Polygon
Our engineers started to brainstorm a solution to have our own NFT certificates on-chain that we could give to our users on course completion. Along with the whole product team we weighted pros and cons of different Ethereum L2. We had to take into account ease of implementation, transaction costs and availability and communication with their team. We finally went with Polygon
The NFT certificates was also a good chance for implementing the addition of a Crypto Wallet Login and a "wallets" section on user settings. This was a strategy shared with the borader website redesign project
NFT Certificates & Mint Page
After validating the that the certificates idea worked with our user base, we needed a solution to overcome the farmers and POAP problem.
v2: NFT Certificates on Polygon
Our engineers started to brainstorm a solution to have our own NFT certificates on-chain that we could give to our users on course completion. Along with the whole product team we weighted pros and cons of different Ethereum L2. We had to take into account ease of implementation, transaction costs and availability and communication with their team. We finally went with Polygon
The NFT certificates was a good chance for implementing the addition of a Crypto Wallet Login and a "wallets" section on user settings. This was a strategy shared with the broader website redesign project.
Course Quiz UX
We implemented quizzes for earning the certificates.
Feedback when failing the Quiz
To successfully pass the quiz 8/10 correct answers were needed. If the quiz is not passed, users can try again. Users are able to see which questions they have answered correctly or not. In the cases were answers were not correct, a hint in the direction of the correct answer will be provided. And in many cases links to content which they can read to find the answer.
Course Quiz UX
We implemented quizzes for earning the certificates.
Feedback when failing the Quiz
To successfully pass the quiz 8/10 correct answers were needed. If the quiz is not passed, users can try again. Users are able to see which questions they have answered correctly or not. In the cases were answers were not correct, a hint in the direction of the correct answer will be provided. And in many cases links to content which they can read to find the answer.
Bottom quote
Course Quiz UX
We implemented quizzes for earning the certificates.
Feedback when failing the Quiz
To successfully pass the quiz 8/10 correct answers were needed. If the quiz is not passed, users can try again. Users are able to see which questions they have answered correctly or not. In the cases were answers were not correct, a hint in the direction of the correct answer will be provided. And in many cases links to content which they can read to find the answer.
Product Growth
As the product started to prove itself successful, and was consuming too much editorial resources, the company hired Euny Hong a specialized writer as Head of Educational Content to lead the content strategy for the product.
Product Growth
As the product started to prove itself successful, and was consuming too much editorial resources, the company hired Euny Hong a specialized writer as Head of Educational Content to lead the content strategy for the product.
Product Growth
As the product started to prove itself successful, and was consuming too much editorial resources, the company hired Euny Hong a specialized writer as Head of Educational Content to lead the content strategy for the product.
To boost engagement we prompted the users to take action and vote on the Educational material they want to read. Decrypt users with a registered wallet who owned NFT Certificates for course completion would be able to vote. Voting power would be relative to the amount of certificates in the wallet.
Another thing our Head of Educational Content did was to create a Glossary with all the relevant crypto vocabulary. Definitions in the glossary would often link to other Learn Articles and vice versa. At the same time a partnership with the company Infura, led to the possibility of an ongoing series of short educational minutes which our new Head of Educational Content would script.
To boost engagement we prompted the users to take action and vote on the Educational material they want to read. Decrypt users with a registered wallet who owned NFT Certificates for course completion would be able to vote. Voting power would be relative to the amount of certificates in the wallet.
Another thing our Head of Educational Content did was to create a Glossary with all the relevant crypto vocabulary. Definitions in the glossary would often link to other Learn Articles and vice versa. At the same time a partnership with the company Infura, led to the possibility of an ongoing series of short educational minutes which our new Head of Educational Content would script.
To boost engagement we prompted the users to take action and vote on the Educational material they want to read. Decrypt users with a registered wallet who owned NFT Certificates for course completion would be able to vote. Voting power would be relative to the amount of certificates in the wallet.
Another thing our Head of Educational Content did was to create a Glossary with all the relevant crypto vocabulary. Definitions in the glossary would often link to other Learn Articles and vice versa. At the same time a partnership with the company Infura, led to the possibility of an ongoing series of short educational minutes which our new Head of Educational Content would script.
Arabic Version & MBC/Fananees Partnership
The positive numbers in terms of traffic, user accounts creation, newsletter subscription, and average time per session led to Decrypt'’ first partnership in the arab world.
We recreated the educational experience in Arabic with the huge Saudi media group MBC. The partnership also included the famous arabic cartoons Fananees.
Arabic Version & MBC/Fananees Partnership
The positive numbers in terms of traffic, user accounts creation, newsletter subscription, and average time per session led to Decrypt'’ first partnership in the arab world.
We recreated the educational experience in Arabic with the huge Saudi media group MBC. The partnership also included the famous arabic cartoons Fananees.
Arabic Version & MBC/Fananees Partnership
The positive numbers in terms of traffic, user accounts creation, newsletter subscription, and average time per session led to Decrypt'’ first partnership in the arab world.
We recreated the educational experience in Arabic with the huge Saudi media group MBC. The partnership also included the famous arabic cartoons Fananees.
Outcomes
Outcomes
Outcomes
We could say the project was overall successful as it helped boost crucial KPIs and helped secure. new partnerships and open to new markets.