At Distractive, our passion lies in crafting digital experiences that capture the essence of a brand and its community. Recently, we reworked Polkadot’s website with the aim of harnessing the energy of its vibrant ecosystem and future-shaping technology. Our approach focused on three key areas: bold visual branding, playful copy and approachable messaging, and a refreshed architecture designed to welcome diverse personas.
These elements come together to create a digital presence that not only explains Polkadot’s game-changing platform but also invites and engages users from all backgrounds to join the ecosystem as builders, users, investors, and more. Through reenergized design, thoughtful messaging, and an inclusive structure, we have made it easier for people to understand, interact, and build with Polkadot.
Refreshed Architecture: Inclusivity at Its Core
Making Polkadot Accessible
The new website architecture has been designed to make Polkadot understandable and welcoming to newcomers. Our goal was to make the platform clear, concise, and accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical experience—without alienating developers. To accomplish this, we refreshed the site’s structure with renewed user journeys and a focus on the new messaging framework. Recognizing that Polkadot’s community extends beyond our existing developers and the tech-literate, we created a structure that caters to a diverse audience, including non-technical new website visitors, curious entrepreneurs, and investors.
Polkadot’s New Messaging Framework
Polkadot is the foundation for a more open and collaborative web that restores power back to where it belongs—with users. It enables Web3’s biggest trailblazers to launch their ideas quickly, with flexible start-up costs and an exceptionally adaptable builder environment.
Polkadot’s secure, resilient platform is made up of three core components, which feature in the new website:
- Polkadot SDK – The most dynamic modular framework allows developers to build on Polkadot with ease, offering ready-to-use modules that simplify the development process. This pillar highlights Polkadot’s capability to support innovative projects through flexible and scalable solutions.
- Polkadot Chain – Secure on-demand computing and interoperability are at the core of this pillar. It emphasizes Polkadot’s unique shared security mechanism and efficient on-demand compute space, making it attractive for developers and businesses looking for robust and reliable blockchain solutions.
- Polkadot DAO – The largest community DAO ensures transparent decision-making and governance. This pillar underscores the inclusivity and participatory nature of Polkadot’s ecosystem, inviting all DOT holders to be part of the decision-making process.
Enhancing User Experience
The intuitive architecture features streamlined navigation paths, making it easy for different user types to find what they’re looking for. This inclusive design philosophy ensures that everyone can find a place to begin their journey on Polkadot’s new site, regardless of their technical background. We aimed to create a digital space that echoes Polkadot’s decentralized governance philosophy, where accessibility is paramount, and everyone can learn, benefit, and contribute.
In the early stages of our planning, we heard over and over from both community members and newcomers that the Polkadot website could be challenging to navigate. Community members and builders reported struggling to find resources and links quickly. On the flip side, new users found it hard to understand and get involved with Polkadot without being overwhelmed by technical jargon or knowing people on the inside. The challenge for us at Distractive was clear: we needed to create clear pathways for each type of visitor to the website, ensuring their needs were met within their own pace. This strategy, in step with the new messaging and positioning, intentionally gives users the ability to not only identify with certain places on the Polkadot website, but to feel a sense of belonging.
Taking it a step further, we introduced new sections that highlight the very active [not ded] Polkadot community on the website. The new dapps page is filled with engaging content highlighting active teams building dapps within the ecosystem. The Grants and Funding page not only highlights the many ways builders and interested members can seek funding from teams like the Web3 Foundation, but also a multitude of grants available across the ecosystem.
Additionally, we created a new Community section to guide members and potential newcomers to the many ways they can get involved or keep up with the Polkadot community, such as through the Newsroom, Events page, and much more.
A New Digital Home
In our ongoing efforts to make Polkadot more accessible and appealing to a wider audience, we’ve strategically transitioned from polkadot.network to polkadot.com.
The shift to a .com top-level domain is designed to enhance Polkadot’s visibility and credibility in the digital landscape. As the most recognized and trusted domain extension worldwide, .com offers instant familiarity and a more intuitive entry point for users worldwide. This transition reflects Polkadot’s evolution from a specialized blockchain project to a foundational platform that powers the future of the internet.
Continuous Evolution
While this MVP provides a refreshing look and structure for the Polkadot website, there is one thing that we want to emphasize—a website and brand should always be evolving. In that spirit, we are already planning V2 of the website. This portion will include a new Use Cases section covering top narratives in the space, much like the Chain Reactions campaign did these last few months, and further case studies. There will also be new landing pages tied to various community-led campaigns, as well as an updated glossary to help new visitors quickly get up to speed on the most commonly used terms within the Polkadot ecosystem.
We value your feedback and ideas! If there’s a feature you’d like to see on the Polkadot website, please let us know through this form. Your input helps us create a better experience for everyone.
New Features on the Horizon
As mentioned, we consider the website to be an MVP, and we are already working on additional content and features. These updates will include more use cases, a comprehensive glossary, detailed case studies, and new resources for the community. From a reporting perspective, the new site will provide more meaningful data for campaigns and community efforts through tools such as Plausible, Google Search Console, and more.
Brand Update: a Bold New Polkadot
Since the moment Distractive was tasked with the website, we have been working on updating the brand to capture the new wave of excitement and ecosystem growth brewing on Polkadot. Building on the legacy built over the last six year’s of Polkadot’s evolution, we transformed complex diagrams into an accessible and friendly visual language that feeds the imagination of our audiences and provides space for storytelling exercises from our ecosystem, DAO, or technology use cases.
Bold Visual Language
The new website embraces a bold color palette and presents our iconic brand equity in a refreshing and accessible way. Real photography plays an important role, making the technology tangible. Polkadot is no longer a small project, it is a mature ecosystem with plenty to show.
Adaptable Visual Storytelling
The new branding is more than just aesthetics; it’s a new approach to communication—a playful and easy visual language able to adapt to many circumstances and narratives. And our journey does not stop here. We will be updating and improving the website consistently with new and better assets. In addition, we will publish plenty of branded materials for events, social media, content creation, business development, and more.
New Messaging: Clear, Playful, and Engaging
Effective communication is at the core of any successful website. Using the refreshed messaging framework as a guide, we recognized the need for Polkadot’s website copy to be informative, clear, and concise, while also fun and engaging. Just as the visual brand captures the community’s energy, the written communication reflects the lively spirit of the ecosystem.
Blending Technical Depth with Lighthearted Tone
Our team carefully distilled complex concepts into simpler narratives that resonate with a wide audience, while maintaining the integrity of the concepts. By blending technical depth with a lighthearted tone, we crafted content that is both informative and enjoyable to read. This balanced approach ensures that users, regardless of their technical background, can understand and appreciate the innovative technology behind Polkadot.
Reflecting Polkadot’s energy
This lively tone demonstrates that Polkadot is anything but a ded dot—it’s a vibrant, exciting space where everyone is encouraged to explore and participate in building the future of the internet. The new website incorporates Polkadot’s inclusive and accessible messaging framework, making it easier for users of all backgrounds to understand, engage, and build with Polkadot.
Behind the Scenes: Our Collaborative Journey
Transforming Polkadot’s digital presence was a collaborative effort marked by months of planning and execution. Our journey began with extensive research and brainstorming sessions with community members to define previous pain points and missed opportunities, followed by iterative design and content development phases. We worked hand-in-hand with various community partners to ensure the site aligned with the community’s vision and goals.
From the initial wireframes to the final launch, our process was driven by a commitment to excellence and attention to detail. We refined every element to create an engaging and informative user experience. This website is a testament to Polkadot’s colorful and energetic community and industry-leading innovation, and Distractive’s unwavering commitment to showcasing Polkadot as the secure core of Web3.
While it is a challenge to ensure every voice is heard in a big project like this, we truly wanted the insights from key stakeholders and subject matter experts across various teams and projects throughout this project. If your team was not able to participate in this portion of the website redesign process, rest assured that we are welcoming feedback for further improvements in the next phase of this project, and we have provided ways your team can give immediate feedback below.
Explore the New Polkadot Website
The launch of Polkadot.com is a significant milestone in its journey towards greater engagement of the broader developer community as well as crypto-natives and the crypto-curious beyond the ecosystem. We invite you to explore the site, discover its new features, and immerse yourself in all that Polkadot has to offer. At Distractive, we are proud to have delivered this transformative project and look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of what’s possible in Web3 digital design and marketing.
Experience the future of Polkadot. Visit the new website today.
We welcome your feedback! Please use this form to let us know your thoughts or any issues you may encounter. The website is a work in progress and your input is important.
