Explorer Homepage Redesign
2023 - present · Product, interaction, and branding
Context
Transforming Gitcoin's beloved centralized platform into a fully onchain, decentralized, and open-source ecosystem was a challenging yet rewarding journey. Through multiple iterations, we developed a self-serve platform that empowers anyone to run a funding round and enables seamless donations to projects across various chains and tokens. This shift not only expanded Gitcoin’s reach but also reinforced its mission to support open-source projects in a decentralized way.
Opportunity
Using LLM-powered search, we aimed to help users find and discover projects and rounds that resonated with them on a deeper level. By leveraging natural language processing (NLP), the search system could understand the intent behind user queries, even when the search terms were broad or ambiguous.
Initial problem
Gitcoin’s homepage serves two primary user personas:
Grantees, who are looking to apply to funding rounds.
Donors, who wish to find projects they resonate with and want to contribute to.
However, the previous version of the homepage had several issues:
Lack of clear categorization for funding rounds or projects, making it difficult for users to filter or discover relevant opportunities.
The call-to-actions (CTAs) were not clearly distinguished for each user persona, leading to user frustration.
The browsing experience felt cluttered, with an overwhelming amount of information presented at once, making it hard for users to navigate.
Mobile responsiveness was also limited, making the experience even more challenging for users on smaller screens.
Research & user insights
To better understand user pain points, we conducted user interviews with grantees and donors. Here are some key insights:
Grantees wanted a quicker way to find rounds tailored to their project type and application deadline.
Donors expressed a desire for personalized recommendations based on project categories or social impact causes they cared about.
Users highlighted frustration with the current filtering options, stating they were hard to use and not intuitive.
We also analyzed user data to identify common paths and drop-off points on the homepage, which helped us focus on areas with the highest friction.
Final designs
The redesigned Gitcoin homepage successfully addressed the core issues:
Streamlined User Journeys: Grantees and donors now had clear, dedicated paths with tailored CTAs. A banner at the top of the page allowed users to toggle between browsing rounds and discovering projects.
Enhanced Filtering: The filters were redesigned with multi-select options, allowing users to refine their search by impact area, project type, or funding deadline.
Visual Simplicity: The new design reduced clutter by adopting a modular layout, featuring concise sections with clear headings, and using whitespace to improve readability.
Responsive Design: The mobile experience was revamped with collapsible filters and touch-friendly elements to make it seamless for users to browse on smaller screens.
Check it out in action!
© 2024 melissa neira