Year: 2022 – Company: Certhis – Role: UX Designer (Freelance) – Tools Used: Adobe XD, Illustrator, Miro
Certhis is an early-stage startup willing to revolutionize the NFT creation, management, and deployment.
The Problem 
Solution, Assumptions and Requested Features from the Founders
I joined the project in its conceptual phase to transform the founders’ vision into a practical, user-friendly, and scalable beta platform.
As a freelance product designer, my tasks included:
- Translating abstract ideas into a clear, intuitive user experience.
- Designing a scalable and flexible solution.
- Creating an interface for users of all technical levels.
- Conducting user research on platforms like Discord and OpenSea to ensure relevant solutions.
Empathize, Define, and Ideate
During the discovery phase, I conducted user research on platforms like Discord, alongside qualitative interviews with NFT creators, to uncover pain points and align on the project vision. Empathy mapping and user journey analysis helped clarify target audiences and their challenges, while personas guided a user-centric approach.
To define needs, I identified user problems, set clear success criteria for the MVP, conducted competitor analysis, and crafted a value proposition focused on NFT onboarding.
Key Insights
Here’s what I discovered
UX/UI
During ideation, I facilitated a workshop to align the team on the product architecture and user flow. The goal was to prioritize features based on feasibility and market relevance. While I advised streamlining the MVP, my research and insights helped the founders realize the need for a strategic shift. This led to two distinct products:
- Certhis Mint Explorer (B2C): For creators to explore, mint, and sell NFTs.
- Certhis Business Manager (B2B): A dedicated tool for creators and businesses.
My work clarified the platform’s direction, guiding this critical decision.
I started by low-fidelity wireframes and explained the user experience choices for both platforms, incorporated comments and went to the next phase of high-fidelity mockups. I then prepared the design systems and style guides used for the developers to implement the design and did design QA to make sure everything was loyal to the approved version.
1 – Certhis Mint Explorer (B2C)
DESIGN RESEARCH VERSUS MARKET RESEARCH
While I focused on design research and high-fidelity mockups to address user needs, the founders’ market research revealed that investors preferred a dedicated B2B solution over the marketplace approach. This led us to pivot the business strategy for now and focus exclusively on the second product: Certhis Business Manager.
2 – Certhis Business Manager Overview
In the evolving blockchain landscape, we developed the MVP of Certhis Business Manager to democratize NFT creation, making it accessible to creators and businesses regardless of technical expertise.
Strategic Design Approach
Our mission was to simplify blockchain complexities and deliver an intuitive user experience.
User research revealed four critical pain points:
- Technical complexity
- Blockchain interaction challenges
- Monetization uncertainties
- Integration difficulties
These findings informed every design decision, ensuring a seamless, confidence-building experience.
Unique Platform Capabilities
Certhis Business Manager stands out by offering:
- Zero-code NFT collection deployment
- Instant blockchain integration
- Intuitive, no-code customization
- Seamless website embedding
- Free minting solutions
Unlike competitors, the all-in-one platform transformed NFT creation into a simple, user-friendly process.
