It has been more than a decade since the blockchain technology began impacting people’s lives in a significant way. Today, this new age technology is not just about Bitcoins, Ethereum or the Smart Contracts systems. Whether its financial management, health tracking or the way people connect and interact with each other; blockchain has made its mark almost everywhere. While it seems tempting to leave blockchain implications merely to the coders, its impact in the modern digital world is substantial to be overlooked by the designers.
This article examines the role that blockchain technology will play in the realm of design thinking. However, as technologies evolve, blockchain are throwing up more number of applications. Elements like user experiences, communications, usability and many more will require careful designing, so designers have to step up and think about blockchain implementation. Here are three important reasons why :-
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Most of the people who are acquainted with this technology, associate blockchain with digital trading and exchange. This is partially true but blockchains are not just Bitcoins and Ethereum. Over the past few years, blockchain implementation has taken several revolutionary steps and endeavoured in numerous industries. For instance, many energy companies are using this new-age technology to ensure efficient and affordable production and distribution of energy. In countries like Germany, local communities are using blockchain to share surplus power and reduce their dependence on utility companies.
In the health sector, medical insurance companies are tracking fake claims and ultimately filtering them out by using blockchain technology. Doctors are sharing patient wellness records among themselves to deliver better and streamlined therapies to their patients. Furthermore, blockchain provides a seamless way of monitoring, tracking and implementing the information. With the magnanimous potential of blockchain, designers need to things about using their skills and expertise to optimize user experiences for all products and services that will be built on blockchain technology.
An important part of the blockchain ecosystem is the need for security. When people transact over a digital network, there are umpteen chances that their transactions might get exposed to fraudulence and hacking. The other aspect is the leakage and loss of private identity theft. People expect to be anonymous while dealing with others on blockchain. The last thing they expect is that some hacker runs off with their money earned by mining and trading.
This is where the role of designers comes in. Especially now, as technologies like blockchain have emerged, it has become paramount for designers to think about the human experience from the very beginning of the process. It is imperative that designers come up with blockchain security solutions that can make the networks safe for the user, design wallets which are simple to use while at the same time resistant to online attacks and develop systems that assure the users that their identities will be secure.
Owing to digitalization, our world is advancing at light speed. Here is a new technology or tool launched in the market every day and in most cases, its impact on humans is not identified or monitored. However, at the same time, more and more number of people are embracing these technologies.
For instance, setting up a website is not that complicated these days. All one needs is access to content management platforms like WordPress or Drupal. The other related challenge is to make blockchain unbiased. This means that networks need to be designed in a manner that makes it impossible for others to interfere in their work. Evidently so, designers have to start working on finding a way to create a realm where interactions are more transparent, traceable and unrestricted. Because in the coming time trust will be one of the most significant elements of designing any website.
It is evident that designers cannot leave blockchain solely in the hands of coders, they need to be at the forefront to adopt this new technology in various elements to offer websites or applications. Spheres like information and network security, trust and simpler UI are going to be the defining factors for blockchain 2.0. Designers need to understand that this technology is not just about financial technology but about a host of other applications as well.
