Blackrock — Asset Tokenization [English]

Roll:
UX/UI Designer

Objective:
In this project we worked directly with BlackRock, the largest Asset Manager, with the objective of offering tokenized funds of this to investors.
In my case, from the “Transfer Agent” team, I had the challenge of designing the functionality of Redemptions, that is, the operation of redemption of tokens that investors had previously acquired of this asset.

Research

In this first phase of research I started by doing a competitive analysis, analyzing applications such as “Coinbase”, “Revolut” or “Robinhood”, among others, in order to find the best way to present this new functionality to the user, trying to make him interact with processes with which he is familiar and this does not entail a great cognitive effort.

On the other hand, through interviews with investors who already interact with the Securitize platform, I have been able to extract a lot of useful information for the design of the functionality.

I have previously designed redemption functionality for other assets such as “KKR” or “Hamilton Lane”. This type of redemption, called “Everegreen” is simpler than the one I have designed for “Blackrock” assets since the user can return his tokens at any time with no end date, it always remains active. Another difference with respect to the new functionality, is that this can be done only through USD while for Blackrock redemptions can be done through USD and USDC.

I have been able to draw interesting conclusions through interviews, both the aspects of the functionality that are having a positive effect, and to detect improvements.

This is what users say:

Conclusions:

• Users are used to interacting with the conversion calculator stating that they can clearly and neatly visualize the information.
• Since the conversion will become more complex, they would like our users to know both options (USD and USDC) to assess which one can fit them best when redeeming their tokens.
• The user would like to know the redemption process for this asset as it will be something new to them that will be a more complex process.

Definition and Ideation

After analyzing the information provided by the interviews and the study of the competition, I was able to define the design opportunities and start ideating by turning them into possible solutions. First I elaborated a scheme breaking down all the parts of the functionality as well as the information that we will show to the user for the Redemption functionality.

With all the parts of the functionality defined and after a definition and prioritization meeting with my product owner I start to shape it.

Wireframes and prototyping

At this point I start to download the concepts and represent them in Wireframes in medium fidelity in order to present them to the development team, discuss with product managers and receive feedback through tests with investors.

First I make several designs of the calculator, the bulk of the functionality, with the idea of testing and deciding which is the most successful option.

In “Proposal A” we show both conversions to USD and USDC at the first level, so that the user can see at a glance the different conversion methods.

In “proposal B” we show both conversions at a second level, through a dropdown. The idea is that the user has only one conversion method present and can see more clearly which one has been selected.

Through tools such as Maze and Useberry I have been able to test the functionality by asking users to perform a specific token conversion action to analyze how they acted, which option is easier for them and if there was any improvement to be made on the calculator or to evaluate a third option.

Conclusions:

• 80% of users prefer to see both forms of conversion at the first level and thus know the options they have to then make a decision, as they consider that in the second option the conversion methods go more unnoticed.
• 90% of the users consider it unnecessary to see the conversion value for USD and USDC since it will always be the same.
• 100% of the users have performed the conversion with the calculator perfectly as they are all used to interacting with it.

Proposals in high fidelity

After analyzing the information provided by the investors I have been able to introduce the changes and make the designs of the calculator in high fidelity with the idea of retesting them once finalized and choosing the one that best suits the user’s needs.

Between the three options I show and after a conversation with the team: PM’s, Development and QA, we have finally decided for the second option where the user has the following:

• At the first level you can visualize both conversion options and switch between them clearly and easily.
• Each option, USD and USDC, shows the time it will take to receive your cash and specifies the conversion details (USD is done through Blackrock, without intermediaries, and USDC is done with intermediaries, through Circle).

Final Design

Once I had the design of the calculator clear, I integrated it into the redemptions screen to present the complete functionality to the team and to define the timing and organization of the sprints in Jira.

In the final design, the redemption details, both the price per token and the payment date, are shown at the top.

On the other hand, in the left column we can see the calculator, where the user performs the conversion that we have mentioned above and next to it, in the right column the steps to be followed by users to understand and feel accompanied throughout the redemption process would be shown.