Popset is an on-chain social network meant to serve as an onramp to Web3 for Web 2.0 natives.

My job was to help the client design v1 of their app, working closely with their stakeholders to design the features they wanted to implement, and work with our developers to make sure our technical limitations were reflected in the designs.

Role: Lead Designer Responsible for end-to-end UI/UX

Popset’s founders are NFT enthusiasts and saw an untapped market of people interested but turned away from collecting for various reasons

Some of those reasons included:

Web3 can be overwhelming

There’s lots of technical jargon

Few services are mobile-friendly

Younger generations are more likely to adopt new tech; crypto is no exception

Because Gen Z is more interested in web3 than others, we leaned into an interface inspired by their favorite social networks: Instagram and TikTok

We wanted to make the photos as large as possible, leaning into overlays for liking or collecting

At first I was apprehensive about it, but the approach’s popularity on TikTok and Instagram Reels meant that people intuitively understood the overlays

Making minting and collecting as simple as two taps

By abstracting away the $SOL, gas fees, and contracts involved in transactions, we were able to make minting or collecting tokens a two-tap process

After the brand designs were made, the client asked me to design their App Store assets

Using the brand kit provided by The Branding People, the founders wanted me to incorporate more colors into the app’s icon and screenshots

Solana backed the company

App successfully released on iOS and Android

Beta and early users were enthusiastic, but use declined due to lack of social features

Struggled to get creators onboard due to low engagement

Focusing on comments, messaging, and discovery would’ve helped sustain early engagement

Sustained engagement would’ve improved influencer recruiting

It’s harder than ever to start a social network – people expect highly refined, algorithmic recommendations that require an extensive social graph

“The best part about working with Tom wasn’t just his deep understanding of UI/UX principles or his remarkable empathy for clients—it was how consistently he respected developers’ time throughout the process. He balanced creativity with practical solutions, simplified workflows and communication, and made sure we stayed on track without ever losing sight of creativity or what users truly needed.”

– Robert Stanica