Bluzelle came to us looking for a “blockchain website” to help them prepare for their ICO. What we created was so much more.
Bluzelle was founded in 2014 when Pavel Bains and Neeraj Murarka realized that opportunities to implement blockchain technology to build a better Internet were all around them. Fast forward to 2019, Bluzelle is building a Data Delivery Network to ensure businesses never suffer from data breaches, network failures and performance issues. Bluzelle combines decentralized technologies with edge computing to help bring about a faster and more secure internet. The company required a marketing strategy and an online presence that was capable of blockchain website integration.
The Challenge
Bluzelle required a comprehensive brand audit, and a complete online strategy, resulting in multiple design iterations, at predetermined stages of the project. Several key events drove the design, these events included:
- Establishing a basic web presence with new branding
- Integrate marketing systems, and collect data on interest
- Heavy content marketing & PR Campaign
- Whitelist investors for ICO (initial coin offering)
- Attain 1.5m in initial funding for blockchain startup.
- Complete 19.5m hard cap token sale with blockchain integration.
Our Approach
Each one of these events required multiple design iterations, features, functionality, and marketing strategies to ensure Bluzelle achieved its lofty goals. To increase the reach of marketing efforts, Hammerhead integrated Medium as a blog system to keep tech users up-to-date with Bluzelle, and Sendgrid to deliver up to 100,000 emails per month to Bluzelle subscribers.
Hammerhead’s responsibilities included:
- Design implementation, functionality, and branding considerations.
- Medium and Sendgrid marketing program integration.
- Build a server environment capable of supporting 20,000+ active users while blocking potential DDOS attacks.
- Creating an online KYC (Know Your Customer) form and testing submissions against watch-list (Interpol, Homeland Security, Terrorism, etc) blacklists in order to approve clearance for potential investors.
- Secure site and integrate with blockchain for the token sale.
Pre-registration form for ICO.
As part of design iteration and offline branding, Hammerhead disclosed colour codes and typeface information in an online style guide. This resource provided an easy reference for the brand transition.
Mobile-First Design
It is a common belief that responsive design and mobile-first are one and the same. This is not true:
Responsive Design: is a term coined by Ethan Marcotte in 2010, which defines how the design will react to screen width.
Mobile-First: progressively enhances the design from a device with the most constraints (mobile) to the device with the least constraints (desktop).
International fundraising means a large influx of users on poor networks, using less powerful devices. We designed mobile-first to provide these users with a great experience during heavy traffic, using less powerful devices, with smaller screens, on poor networks. When considering mobile-first design the conversation must step beyond design considerations to functionality, server, and content delivery considerations as well.
Artemis KYC Third-Party Integration
Attracting and white-listing investors is the most important element of the ICO process. Qualifying users and capturing investment requires integrating powerful third-party tools. As the world of ICO is rapidly developing part of this process meant working with incomplete API and developing systems with third-party developers. This type of experimental development is iterative and extremely rewarding.
ICO Purchase and Blockchain Website Integration
Once approved, users were guided through a process that allowed purchase through the website which integrated with the blockchain. The ICO page provided real-time updates on the remaining token balance and how many BLZ tokens had been sold.
Implementation Deadlines
This project required the team to hit mission-critical deadlines and condense an extremely technical build into tight timelines and sprints. This type of stress requires absolute commitment, and communication from all members of the client, and development teams. We managed communication through Slack and managed tickets through GitHub to keep the project on track.
Summary
While we are beginning to see more mention of the blockchain in web development, this project was way ahead of its time. The challenges of dealing with emerging technology made this an exciting success story to be a part of. Helping a brand move from founder-funded to a multi-million dollar enterprise solidified our team’s ability to work and thrive under immense pressure and tight timelines while establishing complex, mission-critical systems.
Interested in our custom web development services? Contact us today to chat about your project!