Metaplex Studios
This is an intro
Candy Machine Creator Studio offers five distinct workflows: all powered by the same Candy Machine program. Each workflow surfaces only the controls you need, hiding blockchain complexity so you can focus on art, strategy and community. Metaplex’s Candy Machine is the tool creators use to set up and launch NFT collections on Solana. Think of it as a vending machine: creators load it with their art and rules, and collectors get their NFTs by “inserting” a payment and pressing “mint.” Metaplex’s Candy Machine is the canonical “minting & distribution” engine for NFT collections on Solana. Creators first load the machine with their artwork and rules, then collectors unload it by minting tokens: much like a digital vending machine that swaps coins for candy. Creators must juggle file uploads, IPFS steps, command-line scripts, and wallet fees. Any mistake can cost time or money. Candy Machine already handles the behind-the-scenes blockchain work. Our aim was to build a simple, guided interface so that first-time artists can finish the whole process in minutes while experienced users still have the fine-tune options they need. Collectors visit a simple mint page where they see the art, price, how many are left, and a single “Mint now” button. |
Programmable NFTs In the Solana NFT community at the time, it was typical for on-sellers of NFTs after their primary mint pay a small “royalty” (5–10 %) back to the artist each time they’re resold. On the fast, low-fee Solana blockchain, that norm broke in October 2022 when the leading marketplace, Magic Eden, let buyers choose to pay half, all, or none of the royalty, wiping out much creator income. The resulting uproar dominated 2023 until Metaplex shipped “Programmable NFTs” (pNFTs) on 6 February 2023. These tokens embed on-chain “rule sets” that can simply block transfers through any marketplace that tries to dodge the royalty, turning payment from a social courtesy into a technical requirement. As marketplaces began supporting the new hook, the community settled into a two-tier system: older NFTs still trade with optional royalties, while new or upgraded pNFT collections guarantee creators their share - shifting the dispute from a culture clash to a configurable feature creators can opt into per collection. |
Challenge: How might we allow configuration of Candy Guards for more advanced users (such as developers) while ensuring the flow feels intuitive to non-technical creators (such as artists)? |
Problem: Creators must execute complex, disjointed tasks on different platforms in order to create an NFT drop, leading to incomplete drops, losing users to competitor products.
Goal: Tools for mass distribution, generative collections, limited and open editions, timed sales, and royalty-enforced NFT rules
Solution: a single, coherent UI that turns fragmented, multi-platform workflows into five “one-click” flows:
Airdrops for mass distribution
Generative Drops for procedurally generated collections
Edition Drops supporting 1/1 originals, limited runs, and open editions
Auctions for timed bidding sales
Programmable NFTs with on-chain rule-set creation & management
Each flow follows the same simple pattern - Configure only the fields you need (upload or provide CID, set supply, price, dates, royalties or custom rules), Preview live validation or sample outputs and fee/progress estimates, Confirm via a read-only summary that matches the on-chain transaction, Launch with one wallet signature, and Monitor status plus post-launch actions (reveal art, unfreeze transfers, track bids or delivery progress). By surfacing only relevant controls and automating the rest, we eliminated error-prone scripts and platform-hopping, cut end-to-end launch time to under ten minutes, and kept creators - and collectors - fully engaged in our ecosystem.
Key Research Insights
New users stall at the upload and metadata step.
Power users want full guard and schedule control but find multiple panels overwhelming.
Post-launch tasks such as “reveal” and “unfreeze” cause frequent support tickets.
User Personas |
Persona | Goals | Frustrations |
Individual Artist | Launch limited edition drops or 1 of 1 drops in minutes | Too many steps and error states |
NFT Project Founder | Customize price, allowlist and schedule settings | Scattered controls across different pages |
NFT Project Founder/Team Member/Community Member | Enforce royalties, launch new drops, reward community with airdrops, gated + tiered mints | Technical proficiency is required to achieve goals, but is still a disjointed process between multiple platforms |
Wireframes
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