Blockchain Case Study: ixo — the new world of impact

ixo, in partnership with the United Nations, is utilizing blockchain technology to track the impact of investments in sustainable development. By establishing a global data protocol, IXO aims to provide transparency and accountability for social impact initiatives. With this platform, individuals and organizations can launch their own impact projects, as well as invest in and support initiatives that align with their values. Verification processes ensure that the impact claims made on the network are accurate and can be trusted.

How do we verifiably prove where your social impact initiative contributions are being utilised?

• As a team, we produced a story map to gather requirements for our Minimal Viable Product.
• These requirements were gathered through stakeholder and investor discussions and workshops.
• Valuable technical and user insights were taken into consideration from our blockchain-based flagship project, Amply.
• I assisted with turning the goal-driven activities into tasks and stories for development.
• User interviews with initiatives interested in using ixo.
• Rapid user testing with members on the ixo Telegram channel.

The challenge was designing a persona that is not familiar with a Web 3.0 experience.

Multiple back-end and front-end UI checks are required to make sure each persona has the requirements to join the role. The checks include if:

• you have successfully installed ixo Keysafe and created a Decentralised Identifier.
• you have passed the Know Your Customer (KYC) screening.
• you have installed MetaMask and have sufficient ixo tokens to fund a project (investors only).

Personas can also play multiple roles which are considered in the user flows.

After onboarding and KYC approvals, a project owner can launch a project guided by a step-based process.

• I began the design process by drawing, wireframing and prototyping the various solutions.
• The wireframes also serve as a technical spec that included all notes for back-end and front-end logic.

After successfully creating a project you can view or tweak the final product. You now have access to the project dashboard where you can approve or reject Evaluators and Service Providers, and view claims and overall statistics on your project.

As a project owner, you can create a guideline of required skills to qualify for the role of Evaluator or Service Provider.

Interested in becoming part of a project? Simply register, complete the skills assessment guideline and provide a short description of how you can add value to the project. You will be notified via email if your application has been successful.

As an approved Service Provider you can now submit claims on your project. You have access to the project dashboard to see if your claims have been approved or rejected. Every project has a different claim schema that is tailored for the project.

The goal was to design a system that will create a seamless user experience between our three products. Consistent UI patterns and components are critical in guiding a user through a product.

InVision DSM allowed us to maintain our design principles, live components, and accessibility standards, in one centralized home. This provided the developers with a common language to work with when scaling.

A unified design language shouldn’t be just a set of static rules and individual atoms; it should be an evolving ecosystem.

• Designing a blockchain product with no current competitor.
• Onboarding users that are unfamiliar with Web 3.0 design patterns.
• Designing for token payments and payouts.

• ❤️ Designed a blockchain-based social impact platform where claims can be measured and shared.
• 🦸 Advocating design in a technology-led industry.
• 👍 Created a design system that allows the team to design, realize and develop a product.
• 👏 Created an open-source product that can be white-labelled.

The ixo network launched in 2021. The platform now runs the verification behind Emerging Cooking Solutions’ IoT cookstoves in Zambia — named by the UC Berkeley Carbon Trading Project as one of only four cookstove projects generating high-quality carbon credits — and underpins Yoma, co-developed with UNICEF, where young people earn verifiable credentials and income for verified contributions.