Free Artist DAO

Free Artist DAO is a decentralized crowdsourcing platform for artists and fans. Artists can get funding for their creative projects and fans can get revenue and perks distribution.

Role

UX/UI Designer

Branding Designer

Team

Jason(Product Manager)

Teija(Design Director)

Timeline

Aug to Nov 2022 (3 months)

My Contribution

I established the brand direction and designed a minimum viable product(MVP) from scratch with the conceptualized idea to deliver high fidelity wireframe with the design system.

Project Goal

  • Launch the MVP starts with a couple of music projects that Free Artists planned. Increase participation rate from new and existing users, user retention, and engagement

  • Increase brand awareness with established brands and new users for MVP

Problem

Embracing streaming services has made it easier for people to access music, resulting in increased revenue and growth for musicians. BUT there are still a lot of artists are struggling.

  • Artists give up a large portion of their earnings to record labels(typically take over 80%)

  • Artists struggle to maintain creative control over their work if they are working with a record label

  • Independent Artists struggle lack of funding

Solution

Build a decentralized crowdsourcing platform in Web3 to remove intermediaries(record labels) for Artists and Fans.

Solution 1

Bridge the gap between Artists and Fans

View all Fans/Backer List

Other fans or the artist can see the list of who contributed to this project so the artist is able to view who is supporting their project.

Artist Profile detail

Fans/Backer is able to preview the artist's activities on the platform by hovering.

Artist Profile

Fans/Backers are able to view the artist's profile so they can follow their recent activities.

Solution 2

Ensuring Transparency

Transaction page

All transactions are visible and trackable in one place. "View Transaction" lead to the source blockchain explorer which is able to check data related to blocks, transactions, address, etc.

Open & Closed Projects

Everyone can see all as a record of what is open, closed and what is failed before so it provides trust in the product

Solution 3

Seamless Contribution Experience

Fast contribution flow

The biggest benefit of Web3 is a much faster process of contribution flow by entering the total amount and full name which is signed for the contract.

Digital wallet payment

Once they get a verified identity and connect their digital wallet, the transaction process is easy and quick with a couple of clicks.

Solution 4

Clear displaying of valuable data of portfolio

Dashboard

It can help build trust between project artists and fans. By providing transparency, fans can feel more confident that their money is being used as intended and that the project is on track to deliver on its promises.

Available withdraw

Closed Pool lists can help ensure that the artists are held accountable for delivering on their promises. Fans can track the progress of the project and see if it is meeting its milestones and goals.

Discovery Session

  1. Kick-off Meeting: Align the design team and stakeholders around the project plan and vision.

  2. Stakeholder Interview: Conduct an interview with stakeholders to get insight into its potential users/personas and their pain points.

Question We Asekd;

  • What is the problem we are aiming to solve?

  • What are the ideal solutions?

  • Where is the current state of the product?

  • What does the application need to do?

  • Who are the users or customers?

  • Why is this important to them?

  • Why do they care?

  • What are the users trying to do?

  • What are their pain points?

Primary Users

I identified high-level user types during the stakeholder interview, stepped back, researched, and built up final personas.

Artist

Fans

Research

I conducted competitors and market research, and I found there is no direct competitor that is specifically for creative projects(back then). So I researched different crowdfunding and fundraising platforms in Web2 and Web3.

I have observed that there are not many platforms that offer full transparency in terms of project details without requiring users to create an account.

Main Insights

  • Artists and fans both feel a lack of engagement due to the involvement of music labels

  • Cumbersome contribution process on Web2 crowdfunding such as submitting their payment information and additional paperwork

  • Trust issues on Web2 crowdfunding platform between people who wants to raise funds and contributors

Mapping out user flow

Tasks for an Artist

  • Connect wallet

  • KYC(Know your Customer) - First time user

  • Create a proposal

  • Publish the proposal and raise capital

  • Receive raised capital

Tasks for an Fan

  • Browse creative projects without any sign up

  • Connect wallet

  • KYC(Know Your Customer) - First time user

  • Contribute money to a project

  • View Portfolio

Final Overview

Easy to browse projects, artist, and project details

Users easily browse projects, open and closed, artist dashboard, and project details without signing up/signing in.

Anyone can see the backers(paid contribution) list and artist profile, it provides transparency between them.

Easy sign in and contribution to a project

A digital wallet is associated with the profile account, sign in with the wallet quickly and fast. Contribution payment is also by digital wallet, skipping all the entering credit card information.

Building a brand

Workshop

We had a separate workshop only for branding. The workshop is consistent with discussions to explore and identify the brand's core value and exercise to align direction.

Throughout the collaboration process with stakeholders, I was able to create a final moodboard that effectively represents an atmosphere of unrestricted collaboration across genres and mediums, promoting a strong sense of community.

Key value

Freedom, Organic, People, Community