eazyX — Simple UX interface for a decentralized exchange

In a recent blog we announced to build an interface to the decentralized exchange DutchX, developed by Gnosis. As exchange with an efficient (fair) price mechanism, we deem it most beneficial to our target group, unprofessional investors or casual users. order to provide these users with a seamless UX we had to come up with some general strategies for dApp UX which are shortly introduced hereafter. Bored already? Try out eazyX on the Rinkeby testnet-> Go to eazyX!

A different decentralized exchange

The DutchX is a decentralized exchange based on the Dutch Auction mechanism. These auctions have their roots in the 17th century Dutch flower market and typically begin with a high asking price that lowers until an auction participant accepts the price. In case of the DutchX, sellers deposit tokens before the auction. Once it starts, the initial price falls according to a decreasing function and buyers submit their bid at the point in time where the current price reflects their maximum willingness to pay. They can only submit their bids until the auction closes and the price clears the quantity of tokens sold and bought. For a more in-depth explanation please read this explanatory series about the DutchX by Gnosis.

We give it a sexy face

Our main project — Midas — is an investment app based on the Melon protocol and targets casual users. The mobile app gamifies fund management and investing while granting access to a new range of retail assets like prediction markets (through Gnosis integration) and crypto collectibles. The integration of exchanges is crucial for us. Keeping the needs of our target users in mind, the DutchX’s fair price model is a strong feature and makes the DutchX an interesting product for Midas. Looking at the UX/UI of today’s decentralized exchanges, the different options are widely unclear for casual users. Hence, we decided to build the eazyX, an exchange that is self-explanatory and offers one simple service: easily exchanging tokens at the right price.

Not everybody is a crypto nerd

Both projects, Midas and eazyX come with the same goal: providing a clean and easy UX for blockchain-based applications. We don’t expect users to have read hundreds of blog posts before using our products. For the DutchX we assume in particular that our users are not used to dutch auction or DutchX terminology and logic. Our main challenge is that complex blockchain logic and procedures collide with UX habits or expectations of casual users. Hence, we need to abstract the complexity while still giving access to crucial infos — when necessary — and create a nice UX.

Give’em what they need

In order to facilitate interactions with the DutchX smart contract and providing a seamless UX is an interface that abstracts away the complex logic which is irrelevant for casual users as well as avoiding complicated jargon. Details about how the service works shall not be disclosed as they might unnecessarily confuse the user. But of course, users need to be able to access crucial information in case they want or need to know more. Anything not straightforward should be explained. At the end of the day, eazyX is a financial transaction service and users need to know where their money is, at any given time. Building the interface, we therefore followed three simple but effective principles:

1. CustomizationThe interface should be able to provide an optimised experience tailored to the user.
2. Layers (“learning by doing”)Depending on the level of how deep the user wants to understand the mechanisms and the underlying service more and more information are disclosed accordingly.
3. Justin Time

Redundant information or excessive information shown at the wrong time distracts and confuses the user. Therefore only the minimal elements that are needed to perform the desired actions are kept. More features show up only when applicable.

Try it out!

You can now test eazyX on the Rinkeby testnet and see for yourself. Our MVP is based on our main assumptions explained in this post. With growing user adoption and feedback (Join eazyX Telegram or tweet for feedback) we will iterate and adapt the interface accordingly.

Go to eazyX

eazyX — Simple UX interface for a decentralized exchange was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.