IDEO + COINLIST

STARTUP HACKATHON

IDEO is a well known global design and innovation company based in Palo Alto and San Francisco and situated in various global settings around the world. They are known as specialists in design thinking and in creating solutions that leverage product design, emerging technology and experiences for large well known companies and institutions. They sponsored a startup hackathon with bay area based blockchain platform Coinlist that explored new concepts and emerging possibilities in blockchain technology.

THE CHALLENGE
To create new solutions that help users gain further knowledge of how blockchain technology works and to build solutions and strategies to help grow user adoption.

THE SOLUTION

To create a new startup solution at the intersection between renewables as well as blockchain technology and to explore various app ideas that helped users onramp to blockchain investment projects that would help contribute to green energy investments and to facilitate growth possibilities in technologies that could help offset the negative impact of climate change.

THE STORY 

RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY

Prior to beginning the hackathon, research was done in the arena of blockchain technology and its potential use cases from decentralized finance and blockchain driven marketplaces and supply chain management, explorations in the arena between renewable energy and blockchain and decentralized finance became the starting point for the exercise. These two industries have shared properties in that they both are inherently decentralizing technologies when it comes to resource and financial allocations.

Market research was done to figure out what other companies in the marketplace were working on, specifically what
Blockchain projects were being listed on Coinlist and what kind of technology solutions were being developed.

Startups that leveraged renewables and blockchain technology were also researched to understand their value propositions and how they were positioned in the marketplace.

Several finance apps were also analyzed to understand best practices when it came to overall usability, user adoption and specific UI patterns to help illustrate key function items.

Key secondary research statistics were studied to understand the overall global sustainable investments landscape.

Design AND PROTOTYPING

Sketches were integral in coming up with different ways in which to build the app screens.

Main categories and functionality items were defined with the help of affinity mapping and card sorts.

Wireframes were built to understand the overall functional UI components that needed to be implemented.

Final mobile app design comps

Staking and investment detail screen

USER TESTING AND VALIDATION

Various rounds of user testing helped dial in problem areas within app and overall comprehensibility of specific app functions.

OUTCOME

The project was published on the IDEO + COINLIST hackathon site and announced on various social and media channels. Project is currently in development and evolving based on developments in both arenas of Renewable Energy and Blockchain Technology.