Holaplex

Overview: Empowering creators to run their own NFT storefronts. Holaplex was a pioneer in letting artists and brands create personal NFT marketplaces without coding . I joined Holaplex as a UX/UI designer in its early days, tasked with improving and expanding the product’s creator tools. My focus was on features like the NFT auction flow and the overall creator dashboard experience. This case study highlights how I approached designing an intuitive auction setup in a decentralized marketplace context.

Problem Space: Traditional NFT marketplaces (think OpenSea) are centralized and generic. Holaplex’s idea was to give creators their own shop – full control over branding, sales, and auctions – via a decentralized, open-source platform . The challenge for design was twofold: simplicity and trust. We needed to make complex actions (like listing an NFT for auction, which involves blockchain transactions and timing) feel as easy as listing an item on eBay. At the same time, because it’s decentralized (using Metaplex’s Auction House protocol ), we had to communicate what’s happening clearly so users trust the system (e.g., “your NFT stays in your wallet until sold”). Our users were creators, not necessarily crypto experts, so the UI had to do a lot of heavy lifting to explain and guide.

Process: I started by auditing the existing Holaplex app and identifying user journeys that needed improvement. Auction creation stood out – it was a new feature and the early version was quite bare-bones (a simple form without much guidance). I gathered input from a few artists who had run NFT sales: what did they find confusing about auctions? One key insight was timing – understanding start/end times and time zones – and another was previewing how an auction would appear to bidders. With this in mind, I sketched a more visual approach for the auction setup.

Working closely with our product manager, I drafted a step-by-step flow: Select NFT → Set Auction Details → Preview → Publish. We wanted the user to be confident at each step. I created mid-fidelity wireframes and we did an internal review with the dev team to ensure feasibility (for example, showing a real-time preview of an auction required pulling metadata and images of the NFT). After a few iterations, I moved to high-fidelity mockups, applying Holaplex’s design system (dark mode UI with bright accent colors, consistent with many crypto apps at the time).

Design Highlights: The Auction Setup Form became a guided experience with live preview. On the left side, the user enters details: they choose the NFT (with a thumbnail picker if they have multiple in their wallet), set a reserve price, a bid increment, and define the auction duration (start and end times). On the right side, I designed a card-like Live Preview that updates with each input. As soon as they select an NFT, the preview shows its image, title, and a “Time Remaining” countdown (which updates once a start/end is set). If they set a reserve price of, say, 2 SOL, the preview will show “Starting Bid: 2 SOL”. This WYSIWYG approach helps catch errors and reassure the user about what buyers will see.

Early wireframe of the NFT auction flow.

I began with a low-fidelity wireframe to layout the auction creation process. Even at this stage, the idea was clear: a form on one side and a preview on the other, so creators see exactly how their auction listing will appear. This wireframe helped the team align on content and functionality before polishing the UI.

Refined UI for auction setup with live preview.

In the final design, creators could configure an auction in a single screen. On the left, form fields capture the necessary parameters (item, reserve price, bid increments, schedule). On the right, the interface provides a real-time preview of the auction page – showing the NFT image, countdown timer, current bid, and bid entry field – just as collectors would see it. This dual-pane design dramatically improved user confidence when launching auctions.

One detail I’m happy about is the countdown timer in the preview. It immediately communicates the urgency and time-bound nature of an auction, which creators found useful. Another is the way errors/validation are handled: if a required field is missing or a value is out of range, the form field highlights in red and we also overlay a small warning icon on the preview area. For example, if the end time is set earlier than the start time, an error message explains the issue. These little touches prevented a lot of potential user mistakes.

I also ensured that after publishing an auction, creators got clear feedback. The UI would show a confirmation dialog like “🎉 Your auction is live!” and the auction would then appear on their storefront page. We added a shortcut for them to view it as a buyer would. Additionally, I worked on the storefront customization so creators could maintain branding, but that’s a whole other aspect – in the auction flow, we reflected their store’s theme in the preview (if they had a logo or color scheme set for their marketplace, the preview used it).

Cross-Functional Work: Designing in a fast-moving startup meant constant collaboration. I coordinated with the blockchain engineers to understand the states of an auction (Pending, Live, Ended, Settled) so we could represent those states in the UI (e.g., a countdown turns into “Auction ended – awaiting settlement”). I also prepared a simple user guide with screenshots (sometimes the best UX is supported by a bit of documentation) to help early users, and I incorporated common questions from our Discord community into tooltip explanations in the product.

Outcomes: The improved auction tool was a hit among our creator users. Within weeks of launch, dozens of NFT auctions were created on Holaplex storefronts, ranging from 1-of-1 art auctions to limited edition sales. Creators reported that the process “felt straightforward and professional,” which was a big win given how intimidating smart-contract based auctions can be. Holaplex as a platform grew to host hundreds of independent NFT stores, empowering creators to sell directly to their fans . Our open-source approach and UX focus garnered positive community feedback – one project publicly thanked Holaplex for “onboarding 10,000 artists and generating $20M for creators” in the ecosystem , a testament to the impact of making these tools accessible.

For me, working at Holaplex taught me a ton about designing for decentralization. I learned to communicate things like “you keep custody of your NFT until it’s sold” in UI terms that users understand, reinforcing trust in an unfamiliar model. I also sharpened my skills in iterative design: the auction feature went from a rough concept to polished product through continuous refinement and user feedback. Although Holaplex, as a startup, eventually closed its operations in late 2023 , the design lessons and successes from this project live on. It was exciting to be at the forefront of NFT marketplace innovation, and to know that my design work helped thousands of creators set up shops and auctions that they controlled. That’s the power of great UX in web3 – it can turn a technical breakthrough into a tool that real people can use to unlock their creativity.