Pioneering decentralized social media before it was trendy
Humpr was conceived as a groundbreaking platform that would empower creators through self-funding, publishing, and moderation without corporate interference. The concept featured its own digital currency and robust tools for content verification to combat misinformation, along with a built-in economy that supported privacy and user control by decentralizing data storage—making each user's device a personal server. This was years before decentralized apps and Web3 became mainstream trends.
My hand-drawn wireframe across four pieces of cardboard, detailing the comprehensive user experience and interface design. This artifact represents one of my proudest achievements in the design process, showing the translation of complex decentralized concepts into intuitive user flows.
While the project featured a fully designed front-end with a working prototype, it faced significant challenges in backend development and securing sufficient backing, leading to its eventual discontinuation. Despite these hurdles, Humpr garnered meaningful interest, with hundreds actively engaging in the community Discord and thousands following its development.
Create a decentralized social media platform that would give control back to creators through self-funding, publishing, and content ownership.
12 months (January 2018 - January 2019)
Concept development, front-end design, UX planning, community building, and project visioning
UI/UX design tools, HTML/CSS/JS for prototype, Discord for community management
Creating a decentralized social media platform presented numerous technical and conceptual challenges, especially in 2018 before Web3 technologies had matured. The scope of the project was ambitious, requiring solutions to complex problems that the industry is still grappling with today.
Our approach focused on developing a clear vision and working prototype to demonstrate the concept, while building community support and exploring technical possibilities.
The Humpr front-end prototype, designed to showcase the platform's key features and user interface
The development of Humpr followed a journey from conceptual parody to serious platform, with each stage building toward an ambitious vision for creator-empowered social media.
What began as a parody concept quickly evolved as we analyzed the problems with existing social platforms. We identified key pain points for creators: lack of ownership, limited monetization options, and corporate control over content. This research phase shaped our vision for a decentralized alternative that would address these issues fundamentally.
We focused heavily on designing an interface that could make complex decentralized features accessible to everyday users. The design incorporated integrated moderation tools, mechanisms for managing commissions, project kickstarting, and monetization—all while maintaining an intuitive experience. This resulted in a comprehensive front-end prototype that visualized our concept.
The design process began with extensive hand-drawn wireframes, which I prefer for early ideation because they allow me to extract ideas more naturally, iterate quickly, and embrace the necessary messiness of the creative process. I spent several days meticulously crafting wireframes across four large pieces of cardboard, mapping out the complex user flows, interaction patterns, and feature integrations needed for a decentralized social platform.
My hand-drawn wireframe across four pieces of cardboard, detailing the comprehensive user experience and interface design. This artifact represents one of my proudest achievements in the design process, showing the translation of complex decentralized concepts into intuitive user flows.
Through Discord, we built a community of interested users and potential contributors. This provided crucial feedback on the concept and interface design, while also presenting challenges in moderation that informed our platform moderation systems. Managing this community offered valuable insights into user needs and expectations for a decentralized platform.
The most challenging phase was exploring how to implement our ambitious vision. We investigated approaches for creating a truly decentralized system where user devices would serve as content hosts, but faced significant technical hurdles beyond our expertise. This exploration highlighted the gap between vision and execution capabilities, ultimately leading to the project's discontinuation despite its innovative concept.
While Humpr didn't achieve its ultimate goal of becoming a functioning decentralized platform, it delivered significant value through its conceptualization, design work, and community building. The project was notably ahead of its time, predating the Web3 and decentralization boom by several years.
Beyond the numbers, this project achieved several important qualitative results:
"Aesthetics matter and brand matters when comprising a community, but talent and commitment matters more when seriously building a product. Incentives are key."
— Project Reflection
Humpr serves as a powerful case study in ambitious innovation, offering valuable lessons about the relationship between vision and execution. Despite its ultimate discontinuation, the project provided formative experiences that have shaped my approach to product development.
Humpr taught me that innovation isn't just about having visionary ideas—it's about bridging the gap between concept and execution. While we were ahead of our time conceptually, we lacked the technical infrastructure and expertise to fully realize the vision. This experience fundamentally shaped my understanding of product development, emphasizing the importance of balancing ambition with realistic assessment of capabilities. Most importantly, it demonstrated that even "failed" projects can provide invaluable learning experiences and lay groundwork for future success.
