Tribuni Mini-App
Improve governance participation through better UX and incentives.
MY ROLE
UX Designer
Context
Governance is complex, with long, dense proposals that discourage engagement. Delegates often vote without reading or abstain entirely. How might we improve participation while maintaining high-quality decision-making?
TEAM
2 Software Developers
outcome
Top 3 in the DAOs & Community track at ETHDenver; top 10 finalist at ETHGlobal; recipient of OP Retro PGF 6.
5
new posts
65
replies
CHALLENGE
On-chain governance participation is broken.
In Optimism, only 35.8% of the top 100 delegates participate in voting—29 are completely inactive. The problem isn’t just turnout. Delegates often skip reading proposals because they’re too long and hard to parse.
We needed to make governance participation faster, clearer, and more engaging.
CONSTRAINS
Strict timeline → 3 day sprint for Hackathon
No in-app voting → Integrating governance platforms was too complex
iOS UI Kit only → Fast iteration required using native components
I collaborated with the team to map out IA and prioritized the protocol detail page first, followed by alerts, and then other features.
PHASE I
We finished building the happy path by the end of hachathon.
In the core/happy path, user sees a protocol update, clicks into it, views a new proposal with a smart summary and voting results, then taps the CTA to vote.
Clear Voting Results & Timelines
Make past & upcoming votes obvious
Smart Summaries
AI-generated key takeaways from governance proposals
CTA on Voting
Direct delegates to the right place at the right time
PHASE II
Forum & Community Sentiment
With more time after hackathon, I designed an Optimism-specific forum that feels like a community space rather than just a governance feed.
To engage users, I proposed adding a Community Sentiment Score—a simple stat reflecting collective feedback based on reasons:
People are curious to see how their proposals are perceived
Scores drive engagement by sparking discussions around why a proposal is rated a certain way
Creates a feedback loop that keeps delegates invested
REFLECTION + TAKEAWAY
One notable thing of this design is that it’s still information-dense, and I wonder if that’s just an inherent challenge of governance that can’t be fully solved (we shouldn't expedite or skip thinking, or shall we?) Another open question is in-app voting—while making it easier to vote could boost participation, could it also lead to lower-quality votes if users engage too casually with less context?
I don’t have a clear answer, but these are trade-offs worth considering as governance UX evolves.
p.s. below are the testimonials tribuni received :)
Liliop.eth
Optimism
I'll be using Tribuni to keep update me on all the proposal in Optimism. Would be nice to recognise them in RF6.
launamu.eth
I recently started using Tribuni's Telegram bot to stay up-to-date with any OP Token House votes, I haven't found another tool that reminds me of this. I don't use the summary feature much though.
chaselb
Blockchain @USC
There are no other notification systems that I can use as a delegate across protocols. Tribuni then goes the extra mile by providing proposal summaries.
Derrick
Blockchain @ Berkeley
Tribuni has become a core part of the governance decision making process at Blockchain at Berkeley because of its ease of installation and interaction. Instead of complicated apps, websites, and platforms, Tribuni seamlessly integrates into our existing communication Telegram channels to inform all relevant voters of updates on all chains we participate in. Tribuni has become an invaluable tool to reduce the friction of governance voting.
keremtalhaoral
ITU Blockchain
As ITU Blockchain delegation, we can safely say that Tribuni has made the voting process much more easier than we've imagined.
jonwong
Franklin DAO
It aggregates a bunch of different governance forums and sends alerts about them. It even shows summaries, has links to vote, and its all in one place. Previously, I had to build my own custom bots.
juanbug
PGov
Genuinely really useful and use it daily to track and record all of the protocols that we are delegates for
Cole
404 DAO
Great app - Has been very useful for governance accessibility and streamlining information
Callen
Wintermute Governance
As an active Delegate, Tribuni has been a great addition to our day-to-day helping us keep on top of and have easy access to Optimism proposals & votes.
Find me elsewhere