Content Design @ MetaMask 🦊
In 2023, I joined MetaMask, a trusted wallet in the web3 space. As the second content designer on the team, I contributed to a variety of initiatives — internal style guides, research, new feature naming, and more. Here are some highlights. It doesn’t cover all the work (from microcopy to complex flows) that myself and others (product designers, researchers, product managers, and developers) worked on daily.
Content Design Research TLDR
We wanted to gather data on jargon in the crypto space so we interviewed 5+ crypto newbies (ages 25-60) virtually and 10+ people ages 19-70 (in-person) about personal finance
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We learned that folks wanted to get things “right”
They didn’t always want to be totally honest (it was a paid interview)
They judged themselves for getting things wrong, but knew WAY more than they thought
Almost all folks were stumped by the same words
We had the idea: what if we just came up to people, on the street, they’re bound to tell us what they really think
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What do people associate with crypto
Do they actually know what crypto is
Do they know what web3 is
What’s stopping them
Who and what do they/don’t they trust when it comes to money
What do people know about finance, the dos and don’ts
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We can't always change the words we use, but we can try to explain them better.This will help people from different backgrounds and with different levels of experience understand what we mean.
There are words that are just not understood as a whole, and we should explore replacing them with terms that are more obvious in their meanings (fiat, for example).
There is a deep need for a source of truth in crypto. We have the unique opportunity to position MetaMask as this.
It's not clear what you need to know or how much you need to know before you start investing in cryptocurrency. There’s an opportunity to reduce the anxiety that goes along with the unknown through accessible and beginner-friendly language.
We have a chance to show what it means to design with empathy. It's a complicated field, but everyone should be able to be a part of it.
NEXT STEPS (after evaluating results/identifying patterns👇)
As MetaMask develops new products and features (delegatable wallets, staking products, and so on), the Content Design team needs to be a key part of these discussions from the get-go. We can help shape the future of blockchain to be more user-friendly — we just need to be invited to the table. We can’t change all the words, but we can try an change some (the ones that are confusing to most users).
Warnings and confirmations👆
I helped the designer and product manager on the confirmations team craft simple warning messages that were direct, not scary
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Scams are increasingly prevalent in the decentralized space (and the world at large) — so helping users protect their assets, especially in the crypto world, is a content design priority. Good content design can be the key player in preventing users from getting tricked and schemed (but we want to be direct, not scary).
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Crafting content that is concise, direct, and transparent is essential in the crypto world. While we don’t want to scare users (particularly new users) from exploring the space, we do want to be honest and communicative when it comes to potential phishing attacks and scams. Avoiding jargon, and simplifying these messages as best we can is crucial when it comes to the safety of users. We also build trust through transparency.
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Establishing consistency across language, hierarchy, and design elements like color can increase readability and help users identify risk and proceed with action
We even had someone on X notice our improved readability 🔥🔥🔥
Notifications style guide ✏️
I helped the designer and product manager on the confirmations team craft simple warning messages that were direct, not scary
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The notifications team was new and didn’t have a system in place for reviewing product notifications before they were published/made live. Because I was one of only 2 content designers, it was helpful to have my product partners draft content with the style guide in mind before my review 👀
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I wanted to craft a simple notion, internal style guide that helped product partners avoid marketing jargon and stay true to our product’s voice and tone by crafting specific examples and using existing content to review
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Product partners are eager to learn from content designers and there is a lot of value in creating mini guidelines that refer to the company’s wider content design style guide (using team-specific examples to guide product partners in drafting content).
