Pylons Wallet
Web 3 Wallet & digital asset trading app
Project Type
In house Project at Pylons
My role
Lead product designer
Methods
Qualitative Research (target audience interviews, domain expert interview)
Information Architecture
User Journey Maps
Prototype
Prototype Testings
Tools
Figma
Team
1 Head of product
1 Lead product designer
2 Engineers
1 PM
1 QA
Duration
13 months
In house Project at Pylons
My role
Lead product designer
Methods
Qualitative Research (target audience interviews, domain expert interview)
Information Architecture
User Journey Maps
Prototype
Prototype Testings
Tools
Figma
Team
1 Head of product
1 Lead product designer
2 Engineers
1 PM
1 QA
Duration
13 months
Pylons is a sovereign blockchain built on Cosmos SDK and Tendermint Core. During my 13 months as the lead product designer, I successfully delivered 2 Pylons apps from the ground up. It was a rare and deeply rewarding opportunity to explore the boundaries of user experience in Web3.
Throughout this duration, Pylons underwent several major technical and UX transformations that fundamentally redefined its business direction. We strategically redesigned core Web3 user flows to align with familiar Web2 habits, especially those found in traditional fintech and mobile ecosystems. At every stage, we stayed grounded in a user-first philosophy — making blockchain technology invisible, approachable, and usable for everyday people.
Throughout this duration, Pylons underwent several major technical and UX transformations that fundamentally redefined its business direction. We strategically redesigned core Web3 user flows to align with familiar Web2 habits, especially those found in traditional fintech and mobile ecosystems. At every stage, we stayed grounded in a user-first philosophy — making blockchain technology invisible, approachable, and usable for everyday people.
Let’s put it simply:
Pylons Wallet is where people buy NFTs and display them:
Today, we’ll focus on the 2 biggest UX iterations in the history of the Pylons.
Before It Was Cool
When I first joined the team, we were still exploring our potential as a multi-chain wallet and on-chain asset gateway, similar to Coinbase Wallet.
Pylons Wallet supported payments in several popular cryptocurrencies —without relying on any third-party payment gateways at that stage:
Pylons Wallet is where people buy NFTs and display them:
- Pay with Apple Pay / Google Pay, no wallet setup, no crypto knowledge needed
- Build your public profile so others can follow, comment, and share — like a social community
Today, we’ll focus on the 2 biggest UX iterations in the history of the Pylons.
Before It Was Cool
When I first joined the team, we were still exploring our potential as a multi-chain wallet and on-chain asset gateway, similar to Coinbase Wallet.
Pylons Wallet supported payments in several popular cryptocurrencies —without relying on any third-party payment gateways at that stage:
How Does Pylons Work
In order to redesign the product more effectively, I took time to thoroughly understand the underlying technologies used in Pylons.
So first, what exactly is a seed phrase?
In web 3 wallets, users have full ownership of their properties.
You don’t need to log in to an gateway account with password, you take care of your 12 seed phrases yourself and they will be the only key to your wallet. There is no web 2 stuff like password recovery or customer service representatives to help you recover your account. If you forget them, you lose everything.
To improve the Pylons experience, I conducted in-depth research into its backend architecture and cryptographic flows, while also running interviews with domain experts, target users, and key stakeholders.
This was Pylons’ first-time user flow before the redesign.
As a designer, my key responsibility in this process was to ensure users understood one critical message: As long as they remembered this seed phrase, they could regain control of their assets anytime, on any device.
As a designer, my key responsibility in this process was to ensure users understood one critical message: As long as they remembered this seed phrase, they could regain control of their assets anytime, on any device.
Seed Phrases:
A UX Nightmare
But setting up a seed phrase was a major UX disaster.
- Most users had no understanding of the irreversibility of private keys and seed phrases.
- The phrases were long, hard to memorize, and caused anxiety.
- Without understanding the mechanism, the act of writing them down felt like a ritual—without truly protecting their assets.
Worst-case scenario:
You open the app in a coffee shop, and a friend or stranger catches a glimpse of your screen—12 words are all it takes to steal everything you own.
My First Attempt: Biometric ID
Since:
- Biometric authentication is a familiar and trusted security method for users in traditional authentication experiences.
- It allows us to set clear risk boundaries without disrupting the user’s flow.
- It also enhances trust in the product, giving users the sense that “my assets are securely protected.”
However, after multiple rounds of testing, we found that no matter how much we optimized the UX, the user drop-off rate remained extremely high.
So the dev team and I decided to shift our approach:
How might we make the first-time user experience more Web2?
So the dev team and I decided to shift our approach:
How might we make the first-time user experience more Web2?
What If...
We Ditched the Seed Phrase Altogether?
We listed out the pros and cons:
Following the Industry Trend
Also, I learned that industry-leading products products like Coinbase, SoFi, and Revolut have already shifted toward asset-centric custodial architectures.
This transformation w not just a technical one—it represents a paradigm shift in UX: users are no longer private key operators managing wallets, but financial consumers interacting with accounts and assets. This shift heavily influenced my design direction for a wallet-free experience in Pylons.
We ultimately made the biggest technical iteration in Pylons’ history—shifting to a device-authenticated account system built directly at the application layer of the blockchain.
This major architectural iteration also clarified Pylons’ positioning—we now focus on providing development services for specialized apps, with a strong emphasis on NFT creation, trading, and utility, rather than functioning as a general-purpose crypto wallet.
Users no longer need to manage seed phrases. Instead, we integrated Apple Pay / Google Pay, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for Web3 transactions.
We successfully transformed the typical Web3 onboarding flow into a wallet-free, Web2-style UX.
1. Simplified first-time user flow:
Old flow: Users had to generate a seed phrase, back it up, and verify it when opening the app for the first time.
New flow: The app now silently generates an account in the background, bound to the user’s device.
Users no longer need to manage seed phrases. Instead, we integrated Apple Pay / Google Pay, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for Web3 transactions.
We successfully transformed the typical Web3 onboarding flow into a wallet-free, Web2-style UX.
What Has Changed?
1. Simplified first-time user flow:
Old flow: Users had to generate a seed phrase, back it up, and verify it when opening the app for the first time.
New flow: The app now silently generates an account in the background, bound to the user’s device.
2. In-app purchase flow, no crypto required
Old flow:
Connect wallet → Confirm seed phrase → Register at exchange → Buy platform token → Transfer to wallet → Return to app → Tap purchase → Confirm & sign
New flow:
Tap “Buy” → Apple Pay / Google Pay prompt → Done
New UI elements:
Old flow:
Connect wallet → Confirm seed phrase → Register at exchange → Buy platform token → Transfer to wallet → Return to app → Tap purchase → Confirm & sign
New flow:
Tap “Buy” → Apple Pay / Google Pay prompt → Done
New UI elements:
- Product page CTA redesigned in e-commerce style, e.g., “Buy for $3.99”
- Integrated system payment SDK pop-up (compliant with Apple/Google HIG)
- Added visual feedback: “Successfully Purchased!” or “Owned” tags
- Real-time update of “My Collection” after purchase
3. NFT-centric homepage, not wallet-focused
Upon opening the app, users now land on these screens rather than wallet itself:
Upon opening the app, users now land on these screens rather than wallet itself:
- Their NFT collection as the default view
- NFT public portfolio
- App Store–style card-based recommendations
Code Is Law, but People Hesitate
Reimagining the architecture wasn't just about removing friction for buyers—it also opened up deeper questions about ownership and control on the seller's side.
In traditional e-commerce, sellers typically retain final authority even after a buyer has completed payment. They can withdraw from a transaction at the last minute—
In Web3, however, that freedom disappears.
Once a buyer clicks “Buy” on an NFT, the transaction is executed permissionlessly. The seller receives no real-time notification and has no right to intervene.
There’s no step for approval. No chance to reject. The transaction is recorded and finalized on-chain, following the logic of a self-executing smart contract.
“Code is law.”
This guarantees openness and trust—anyone can transact fairly—but it also removes the seller’s ability to control what happens to their own assets.
To restore some level of control to sellers, I proposed 2 solutions:
In other words, I explored how to reintroduce the kind of gray area found in Web2 marketplaces—designing an escrow + approval flow at the SDK level.
However, testing quickly revealed a critical issue with Solution 2: it compromised the principle of decentralization and was therefore not viable.
Take our internal testing app, Evently, for example. NFTs there function as event tickets—concert passes, movie screenings, exclusive experiences, etc.—often with only 1 winner per limited event. Evently’s value proposition is first-come-first-served fairness and transparent access—core tenets of decentralization.
Now imagine how furious fans would be if they learned that the final winner still needed seller approval. That kind of ambiguity would destroy user trust.
So we moved forward with Solution 1. While it doesn’t fully replicate the Web2 concept of “final seller veto,” it does offer sellers more agency while preserving decentralization.
To implement this, I designed a sale status toggle, allowing sellers to set the NFT to:
- Pre-sale control — allowing sellers to manually set the NFT status to Not for Sale
- Post-offer approval — introducing a "Requires Seller Approval" step after a buyer initiates a transaction
In other words, I explored how to reintroduce the kind of gray area found in Web2 marketplaces—designing an escrow + approval flow at the SDK level.
However, testing quickly revealed a critical issue with Solution 2: it compromised the principle of decentralization and was therefore not viable.
Take our internal testing app, Evently, for example. NFTs there function as event tickets—concert passes, movie screenings, exclusive experiences, etc.—often with only 1 winner per limited event. Evently’s value proposition is first-come-first-served fairness and transparent access—core tenets of decentralization.
Now imagine how furious fans would be if they learned that the final winner still needed seller approval. That kind of ambiguity would destroy user trust.
So we moved forward with Solution 1. While it doesn’t fully replicate the Web2 concept of “final seller veto,” it does offer sellers more agency while preserving decentralization.
To implement this, I designed a sale status toggle, allowing sellers to set the NFT to:
- For Sale
- Not for Sale
- On Hold (e.g. pending, uncertain, or delayed status)
User testing showed that giving asset owners this kind of control significantly improved trust, emotional comfort, and a sense of ownership.
This feature update also inspired a small but meaningful UX enhancement:
When the toggle is switched to For Sale, a contextual pop-up now offers sellers the ability to edit their NFT’s metadata directly within the Pylons app, without needing to switch to Easel, the NFT minter app.
This feature update also inspired a small but meaningful UX enhancement:
When the toggle is switched to For Sale, a contextual pop-up now offers sellers the ability to edit their NFT’s metadata directly within the Pylons app, without needing to switch to Easel, the NFT minter app.
UI Updates After Rebranding
Last but not the least, Pylons went through a rebranding during this phase, and I:
- designed a complete UI component library based on the new visual guidelines.
- redesigned key UI elements to better serve two distinct user flows: NFT buyers and NFT owners.
Throughout this process, I applied the Problem–Insight–Solution framework to identify UX pain points and map them to actionable design solutions. Based on the tool, I identified a huge number of issues, some of which are listed here along with corresponding insights and proposed solutions:
For example, one of the issues was the cognitive overload of product detail screen.
Our owners had limited interactive display options!
The old version displayed the work as a single image with annotations beneath it. We aim to break the gap between the visual and informational areas.
Every piece of NFT should be displayed in full-screen view, with captions floating directly over the piece.
![]()
Attribute information is hidden in an expandable window, and within that, details such as ownership, NFT detail, and trade history are further tucked into an accordion menu.
This allows users to consciously choose the information they want to access, rather than being overwhelmed by a flood of data and endless scrolling—ultimately saving valuable cognitive resources.
Our owners had limited interactive display options!
The old version displayed the work as a single image with annotations beneath it. We aim to break the gap between the visual and informational areas.
Before
![]()
Every piece of NFT should be displayed in full-screen view, with captions floating directly over the piece.
After
Attribute information is hidden in an expandable window, and within that, details such as ownership, NFT detail, and trade history are further tucked into an accordion menu.
This allows users to consciously choose the information they want to access, rather than being overwhelmed by a flood of data and endless scrolling—ultimately saving valuable cognitive resources.
Combined with the ongoing concerns around the security of cryptocurrency assets, it’s crucial to offer a more immersive experience for buyers engaging with digital artwork. The full screen view also addresses this issue effectively.
Impact
After launching on the App Store and Google Play—and going through multiple iterations—we received highly positive data insights:
Other Deliverables
Collection & Wallet Screens
Public Profile Screens
For Sale Toggle Screens
