Ichello Music:
NFT Marketplace

I joined Ichello Music as the UX Designer to help shape a bold vision: making music royalty investments accessible to everyday fans through NFTs. The concept was innovative—fans could buy a share in an artist’s future royalties—but the challenge was steep.

The target audience wasn’t Web3-native. Most users had never invested before, let alone interacted with NFTs. At the same time, artists needed tools to connect, engage, and monetize their fanbase in new ways.

I led the UX process alongside stakeholders to bridge this gap—simplifying complexity, validating assumptions, and aligning user journeys with business goals. Through rapid research, collaboration, and iterative design, we created a user-centered platform that increased conversions, engagement, and fan confidence.

Timeline

1 month

Deliverables

Figma high-fidelity prototype

Industry

NFT | ecommerce | music

Tools

Figma, Figjam, Notion

Team

UX Designer, Developer, Marketer, CEO

Challenge

Ichello Music aimed to democratize music investing by allowing fans to buy shares in their favorite artists' royalties through NFTs. However, early user testing revealed confusion, low conversion, and low trust from non-crypto-native users.

Problems Identified:

New users didn’t understand how music royalties worked.
NFT jargon created a barrier to entry.
The purchase flow was overly complex and not optimized for task success.
Trust indicators and social proof were lacking.
Artists had no insight into how fans were engaging with their releases.

Solution

After identifying key usability issues and barriers to entry, we decided to redesign the Ichello platform to feel like an eCommerce experience, familiar and intuitive to first-time investors. Getting inspiration from popular digital wallets and banking apps, we simplified crypto-native flows using mental models users already understood.

Strategic UX Decisions:

Purchase flow reimagined to reflect a traditional eCommerce journey (browse → product detail → checkout).
Wallet interface simplified to mirror a neobank UI (balance, transactions, CTA).
Jargon-free language and progressive disclosure to explain NFTs and royalties only when needed.
Clear navigation patterns and a mobile-first design ensured fluidity across devices.

We grounded these choices in Jakob Nielsen’s usability heuristics, particularly:

Match between system and real-world metaphors
Recognition over recall
User control and freedom
Consistency and standards

+18%

Conversion rate after redesigning the onboarding and purchase flow.

–27%

Time on Task (purchase task user tested).

+1.1

CSAT points - user satisfaction (no need for support).

Process

1. Empathize: Understanding First-Time Investors

We created personas like Lucas Silva, a 24-year-old fan who had never invested before but loved his favorite artist and wanted to support them.
Key insights from user interviews (6 fans + 2 artists):

“I don’t know what I’m actually buying.”
“I love the artist, but NFTs scare me.”
“I wish it was more like Spotify + Patreon, not a stock market.”

We ran a heuristic evaluation and found major issues with feedback, consistency, and onboarding clarity.

2. Define: Aligning User Needs + Business Goals

User Needs	Business Goals
Understand royalties and NFT utility easily	Drive sign-ups and first transactions
Feel secure and trust the platform	Build artist-fan loyalty loops
Complete purchase in <1 min	Increase conversion rate
Return to see performance/ new NFTs	Boost engagement and retention

2. Define: Aligning User Needs + Business Goals

Users needed to easily understand how royalties and music NFTs worked, feel secure during transactions, and complete their purchase quickly—ideally in under one minute. They also wanted to build stronger connections with their favorite artists and revisit the platform to track performance or discover new opportunities. From a business perspective, iCHello aimed to drive sign-ups and first transactions, increase overall conversion rates, and boost engagement and retention through repeat visits and fan-artist loyalty loops.

3. Ideate: Mapping & Testing Hypotheses

Created user journey maps and identified friction in the NFT wallet setup + royalty explanation.
Restructured the information architecture to mirror familiar eCommerce patterns, guiding users through a clearer, trust-building navigation flow.

4. Prototype & Test: From Flows to Feedback Loops

Built clickable high-fidelity prototypes in Figma.
Conducted remote usability tests.
Tracked:
- Time on task
- Success/failure per step
- Completion of purchase

5. Deliver

Key deliverables:

Onboarding Redesign (3 steps + optional explainer)
Purchase Flow Redesign (from 6 to 3 steps)
Artist Dashboard Sketches (fan insights, release metrics)
Responsive UI library for future scaling
Web3 UX Strategy Brief (for devs and stakeholders)

“ With our new visual branding and language in place, the new Shopify brand clearly captures the essence of our current and target customer base, our employees, and our values. ”

Bruno

CEO | Ichello Music

Conclusion

This case study showcased how UX strategy and research can translate into real business growth, especially in emerging tech like NFTs. The redesign not only made Ichello more usable and accessible, but helped build trust, clarity, and emotional connection between artists and their fans.