How a robust product design strategy and its flawless execution helped Fileverse impress users and investors with a feature-rich, decentralized collaboration platform, enabling it to confidently compete with market leaders like Google and Microsoft and secure $1.5 million for further product evolution.
Centralized collaboration platforms are widely adopted for their ease of use. Still, alongside the perks, there’re some inherent drawbacks tied to their architecture, including:
Centralized server control
A vendor controls storage, access, and governance. Users do not truly own their data; instead, they are granted conditional access under the provider’s policies, which can change unilaterally.
Data lock-in
When a vendor updates their data usage or privacy policy, users’ only practical opt-out is to leave the platform entirely, often at the cost of complex, incomplete, or disruptive data migration.
Default-enabled AI integrations
User data may be processed for secondary purposes such as LLM training, pattern extraction, or automated analysis without explicit, informed opt-in. Even when raw data is deleted, derived data or model artifacts may persist.
These and other features create privacy trade-offs around data ownership and user autonomy.
Fileverse, a UK startup operating in the Web3 space, spotted this gap in a market dominated by a few established platforms, such as Google Workspace, Notion, and Microsoft 365, and set out to fill it with a privacy-first alternative. Their aim was to deliver a comparable user experience while fundamentally rethinking the underlying architecture by replacing centralized servers with local and decentralized storage.
That’s how they came up with the idea of the Fileverse Portal – a blockchain-backed space for peer-to-peer file sharing and storage, featuring tools like dDocs for collaborative document editing and dSheets for spreadsheets.
However, the blockchain technology alone wasn’t enough to win customer trust and encourage users to switch from the tools they’d been using for decades. Fileverse had to put a premium on product design to ensure the platform was easy to understand and more comfortable to use from the very first click. To achieve this, the client brought in our product design squad to lead the UX/UI strategy within their development team.
Designing the Web3 solution meant working in an environment where no user data could be stored due to the product’s decentralized, end-to-end encrypted model. As the platform wasn’t integrated with conventional analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar, we relied solely on user feedback to refine the platform’s interface and functionality.
We began by establishing a robust design system, comprising a set of guidelines, reusable design elements, and tools that enable a consistent, scalable, and user-friendly experience. While time-intensive upfront, this investment significantly sped up all design-related tasks later in the process.
By embracing Web3-native patterns, we introduced several blockchain-specific features that tackled user experience constraints and directly improved usability.
ENS-based login option for Web3 users
Along with the standard log/sign-in options like email and socials, we allowed users to enter the system under their ENS (Ethereum Name Service) names linked to their blockchain wallet addresses. This lets users verify their identity without relying on centralized accounts.
Refined publishing logic
We added a dedicated “Draft” state for files not yet published on-chain, giving users the flexibility to edit content before committing it to the blockchain network.
Real-time collaboration on top
of blockchain infrastructure
Despite relying on the decentralized backend, the platform supports real-time editing. Up to 15 users can collaborate on a single document simultaneously, with suggestions and comments processed without delay.
Earning early user trust required more than strong privacy guarantees. We made customizability a core pillar of the product, giving users complete control over collaboration structure and access.
Supporting multiple workspaces
per user
The platform’s architecture allows a single user to manage multiple workspaces. Within each workspace, users can create teams with custom access rights, while also maintaining a private space for individual work.
Introducing internal and public spaces within workspaces
Users can control the visibility and access of files and folders. When sharing materials publicly, they can customize the public space’s banners and descriptions, reorder sections, adjust card sizes, and more.
So we analyzed user reviews of competing collaboration tools to identify small but persistent friction points and addressed them directly in the dDocs and dSheets product experience.
Slash menu
To improve workflow efficiency, our team introduced a slash menu that enables users to quickly format the document or add new elements.
Flexible document structure
We also added foldable headings, allowing users to collapse all content under a heading, simplifying the navigation of large documents.
Support for local LLM integrations
Thanks to a ‘bring your own model’ feature, users can connect local LLM providers like Ollama and delegate document writing and editing tasks to the LLMs they have installed on their hardware. That way, users reap the productivity benefits of GenAI keeping their data off external servers and avoiding the costs of third-party subscriptions.
In-document reminders
Users can set timers directly within the document canvas to manage focus and stay on task without leaving the workspace or relying on external tools.
One-click presentation generation
We empowered users to instantly convert a document into a presentation based on common formatting rules (e.g., H1 becomes an intro slide), making it easy to create event-ready materials from simple notes. These presentations can be viewed in full-screen mode, commented on, or exported as PDF or Markdown files.
Interface visual customization
Our designers added dark mode alongside document-level customization options, such as adjustable colors, fonts, and backgrounds. We also surfaced word count, character count, and estimated reading time directly in the UI to provide immediate utility instead of navigating through sub-menus.
For a seed-stage startup like Fileverse, rolling out such a feature-rich MVP was crucial for securing the interest of both users and investors. With our support, they delivered on both fronts.
See for yourself how diverse dDocs’ functionality is compared to widely adopted Google Docs.
When aiming for a place in a market dominated by several big players, matching the competition is rarely enough. A killer feature can spark interest, but it won’t carry the product on its own. User-centered design is the second card that convinces people to stay. If both are played well, the adoption rate stops being a gamble. This is the kind of impact strong product design delivers.
Instinctools has been a valuable partner for Fileverse by helping us maintain our pace without cutting corners on quality of the product and the UX/UI. With the help of their product designers and QA engineers, we increased the quality of our zero-knowledge (ZK), e2ee (end-to-end encrypted), and self-sovereign, products.
What made them a great partner was their capacity to proactively find the right fit and solutions based on the particularities of our needs.
Instinctools will make your objectives their sole focus, and have a team of professionals that will abstract away all the operational parts of the partnership to allow you to focus on your business.
