Project Overview
A creator-centric NFT marketplace where users can collect, trade, and engage with digital collectible cards tied to real-world perks. The product emphasized ownership, social interaction, and community-driven engagement, supported by gamification mechanics to reward participation and encourage loyalty.
background
Most NFT marketplaces are designed for crypto-native users and focused mainly on art collecting or speculation. This created high entry barriers and little reason for users to return after a purchase. The experience often lacked community, utility, and emotional connection.
This lack of utility and community focus created high churn rates and limited long-term engagement. This product aimed to change that by creating an NFT marketplace centered around creators and fans. Users could collect digital cards, join creator-led communities, and unlock perks tied to ownership. The goal was to combine the social layer of Web2 with the ownership and reward mechanics of Web3 in a way that felt simple and meaningful for mainstream users.
Marketplace: Exploring and Collecting
The marketplace was the heart of the product, designed as the central space where users could explore, buy, and trade NFTs known as Cards.
Cards are digital collectibles created by influencers and content creators. Each card represented a connection to a creator and offered specific perks defined by them, such as exclusive content, community access, or unique rewards.
Seasons: Driving Cyclical Engagement
A key element was the introduction of Seasons, structured as time-limited drops of digital cards. Each Season introduced themed sets launched by creators, creating anticipation and scarcity while incentivizing early engagement. These recurring cycles gave fans reasons to return regularly, discover new creators, expand their collections, and build long-term participation.
Seasons were designed to build momentum, create anticipation, and sustain participation over time. Users could unlock rewards by completing tiers, track their collection progress, and look forward to upcoming releases. This mechanic transformed the marketplace from a one-time transaction model into an evolving experience, where fans anticipated the next drop and creators built stronger, long-term communities.
Community & Feed: Unlocking SocialFi Engagement
The feed introduced a SocialFi dimension to the product, transforming it from a transactional marketplace into a community-driven platform. Users could post, share, and comment on content, making the experience feel dynamic and participatory.
The homepage feed created a global community space, where fans connected not only with creators but also with each other.
Creators had a dedicated space to interact directly with fans, combining a social feed with their own shop to showcase and sell NFT cards in one place.
This social layer not only increased engagement but also gave digital ownership more meaning, as interactions and perks were tied to the NFTs held by each user.
Creator Profile: Social Hub and NFT Storefront for creators
Creator profiles combined a social feed with a storefront for NFT cards, making them central hubs of interaction and monetization. Fans could engage directly with a creator’s posts while browsing and collecting their cards in the same space.
The design challenge was to balance community content with commercial elements, ensuring the page felt engaging rather than transactional. This design removed friction for users, who no longer needed to switch contexts, and gave creators a powerful hub to both grow their community and monetize it.
This approach not only strengthened community ties but also increased session time and conversion opportunities within the app.
Profile Page: Showcasing Digital Identity
The profile was designed to bring multiple aspects of the user experience in one place. On the social side, fans could publish posts and participate in the communities, connect with fellow fans, and build recognition through interactions, turning the profile into a community space. On the ownership side, each profile displayed NFT collections, badges, and visible progress, reinforcing digital status and achievement.
By merging these roles, the design elevated the profile beyond a simple account page into the centerpiece of the user’s digital identity and journey. This approach encouraged retention and peer recognition, while helping position fans not just as consumers, but as active members of a creator-driven community.
Gamification: Driving Engagement Through Play
Gamification was central to making the experience sticky and rewarding. The system recognized progress with badges and rewards, turning milestones into moments of celebration. Subtle micro interactions such as animations and visual feedback kept actions like collecting and completing sets exciting and satisfying.
A standout feature was Barter & Switch. Barter allowed fans to exchange cards directly with others, while Switch introduced a competitive element where users could challenge each other and swap cards through gameplay. This interactive layer transformed ownership into participation, encouraging friendly competition, social interaction, and deeper commitment to the platform.
Outcome & Learnings
The project demonstrated how thoughtful design can elevate Web3 products beyond speculation and into mainstream use. By transforming a marketplace into a platform for identity, community, and play, the product created value that extended far beyond transactions.
Key outcomes:
- Fans evolved from buyers into participants, using posts, collections, and challenges to build their digital identity.
- Creators gained tools to monetize directly through subscriptions, exclusive content, and personalized challenges, strengthening loyalty and community ties.
- Gamification mechanics such as Seasons, Challenges, and Barter & Switch established infinite loops of engagement, ensuring the product remained dynamic over time.
- Simplified flows for wallet integration, trading, and rewards reduced barriers for non-crypto-native users, making adoption smoother.
Key learnings:
- Simplifying complex Web3 interactions is critical for mainstream usability and adoption.
- Blending social identity with digital ownership creates more lasting engagement than transactions alone.
- Clear progress and recognition (levels, challenges, collections) are crucial drivers of retention in Web3 social products.
- Giving creators flexible monetization tools aligns platform growth with sustainable creator communities.