INSERT TOKEN

Insert Token was a collaboration with Lego artist Andy Bauch. Bauch is an established gallery artist in Los Angeles and had previously given away crypto with wallet addresses hidden in his paintings. He wanted to create a Lego kit for his fans and he liked the idea of making a physical and digital (phyigital) puzzle.

Many web3 projects are competitve. To add our own positive spin, we created a collaborative puzzle in conjunction with the artwork to encourage social interaction instead of isolation and collaboration instead of competitiveness.

Role

Solo designer on a startup team of 7 (3 product, 4 engineers)

Contribution

3D Modeling and Animation, Copywriting, Photography, Product Design, Strategy, User Research

More About the Design Process

Objective

To create a positive web3 experience for a phyigital product.

Process

Limited preliminary research: No initial user research due to the project's secretive nature.
User testing: Tested checkout flow and MetaMask setup with friends and family. Tested a similar puzzle with the engineering team.
Post-implementation research: Conducted interviews with five participants after they solved the puzzle.

Findings

Web3 communities are skeptical: Despite being friends of artist Andy Bauch or longtime fans, participants were skeptical due to past Web3 scams.
Quality builds trust: The high-quality materials and packaging reset expectations; participants felt the purchase was worthwhile regardless of the prize outcome.
Community and collaboration: Participants appreciated the focus on community and collaboration, using the experience to bond with family and the online community.

Results

Many of the participants wanted to know if we were going to do another puzzle. In terms of happiness, engagement, and retention the project was a success.

Adoption

Separating the challenge start from online sales could have led to organic growth.
Many potential customers felt they missed out on the top prize by the time they heard about the project and wanted to wait for the next puzzle.
Marketing did not target puzzle enthusiasts because the puzzle was added last to the concept.

Collaboration

We didn't prioritize eliminating red herrings. Some of the things that participants thought were clues, but weren't, include:

Label colors on the bags that packaged the bricks
A typo in the instruction manual
The animation of bricks on the website

Solution

News cycles change fast: When we planned the challenge in February, LeBron James surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA career scoring record was all over the news. Two months later, it was no longer part of the news cycle and wasn't top-of-mind, making the challenge much more difficult than we intended.

How can we create an engaging, positive experience in web3 that crosses the physical and digital mediums?

BLOCKS

Particpants had to put together 2,235 1x1 pieces to a base plate. Not all participants completed the puzzle but those that did, took 4 to 7 days. Many participants enlisted the help of family members to build faster.

COLLABORATION

The most active participants joined the Discord immediately after purchasing and before they received their kits in the mail.

The overall tone on our Discord was friendly and collaborative. Despite their positive attitude and high levels of engagement, it took 24 days, 4 hours, 44 minutes to solve the puzzle.