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Redesigning Blockdaemon's $10BN Ethereum Dashboard

Blockdaemon, a leading provider of blockchain infrastructure, supports institutions in managing staking and node operations across over 85,000 Ethereum nodes. However, the existing staking dashboard faced significant usability challenges, especially for users with varying levels of technical expertise. The design project aimed to create a more intuitive, visually appealing, and actionable dashboard that met user needs across the board. This case study outlines the research, design, and iterative process that led to the development of a user-centered staking dashboard.

Blockdaemon is a cornerstone of the institutional blockchain space, providing infrastructure services for managing nodes and staking across networks like Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin. As one of the most established players in the blockchain ecosystem, the company helps manage over $10 billion in staked assets, making their dashboards a critical interface for users seeking to optimize staking rewards and track their investments.

However, during a series of usability tests with internal stakeholders and external users, it became clear that the existing dashboard was riddled with significant usability issues. Users frequently struggled to understand the data being presented, as it often lacked clear context and was difficult to action upon. Furthermore, the dashboard’s design was technically dense and unappealing, requiring users to possess a high level of blockchain knowledge to interpret even basic insights. For novice users, this became a significant barrier to entry.
 A slide with some of the learnings about the old dashboard

The project began with a comprehensive round of user research, including interviews with a variety of stakeholders. We sought to understand the users' goals for using the dashboard, especially those related to staking. At the same time, we conducted a competitive analysis, benchmarking Blockdaemon's current offering against similar dashboards in both Web3 and traditional finance sectors. This step was critical in identifying areas where the product lagged behind and where innovations could be made.

 A review of some of the other offerings from the industry and beyond

Following the research phase, the team organized a workshop that brought together key stakeholders, including the product owner, engineering lead, developers, marketing managers, customer success managers and other cross-functional team members. During this session, we aligned on two essential "how might we" statements that would drive the redesign:

How might we make the dashboard more intuitive and actionable for novice and experienced users alike?
How might we improve the visual hierarchy to enhance users’ ability to find, understand, and act on key data points?

The workshop was instrumental not only in fostering a sense of shared ownership but also in generating initial concept sketches. These early wireframes, which focused on streamlining data presentation and creating a more modular design, became the foundation for iterative design work. Over the following month, we continuously refined these designs, integrating user feedback at every stage.

 Some sketches from one of the ideation workshops

Once the sketches matured into higher fidelity prototypes, we began aligning the new designs with Blockdaemon’s design system to ensure consistency across the product suite. Working in close collaboration with the engineering team, we established a predictable cadence for feedback loops, ensuring that the development phase stayed aligned with design intent. Regular check-ins with the product owner and head of engineering helped maintain focus on key objectives while allowing for the necessary flexibility in implementation.

 Iteratively prototyping various interface ideas

 Working with greyscale mockups for conceptual feedback

 Learnings after testing the initial concepts

The final phase of the project involved extensive design QA on a staging environment. Here, we addressed any final inconsistencies between design and development. Only after several rounds of rigorous testing did we feel confident enough to release the new dashboard to production.

Although it’s still early days, the initial feedback from users has been overwhelmingly positive. Many have noted that the new dashboard is not only easier to navigate but also far more useful in helping them make informed decisions regarding their staking activities. We anticipate that as more users interact with the platform, we’ll gather deeper insights into its long-term effectiveness, but the initial results are promising.

By rooting the redesign in user-centered design principles, the team was able to deliver a product that not only solves immediate usability challenges but also sets the stage for future growth and user engagement, while improving the robustness of the internal product development process through shared rituals, expectations and common product languages.

Another interesting problem encountered during working on this project has been participant recruitment for usability test sessions. Famously, one of the most difficult parts of the UX job, here it was further exacerbated by how busy, specialised and well-paid our test participants were. After several unsuccessful attempts, we decided to try to partially address this problem with a new something unconventional. In essence, synthetic users are AI clones of real users that try to approximate their demographic and psychosocial features. Although this technology is still highly experimental and somewhat controversial, with 90% organic user parity, it shows a lot of promise.

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