Interview with @nellysayon, creator of radixcharts.com and @StefanPersson from the Radix Community
@StefanPersson
CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR TEAM’S BACKGROUND?
@nellysayon
Behind RadixCharts it is me and telemorphix, we are married. You will not know him as he is not a part of the Radix community – that’s rather my passion.
We are both working in IT for about 20 years, started as software developers and then worked in different roles like project and product management which makes it easy for us to create concepts and designs, plan development etc.
Telemorphix is mainly taking care of the backend and I’m doing the frontend including the link to the community.
@StefanPersson
DO YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND IN ANALYTICS OR DATA SCIENCE?
@nellysayon
No, we don’t have any background in that, but are super interested in data science and especially in combination with Artificial Intelligence. It is super fun to analyze the data and aggregate it to a level where it is actually useful. That data in combination with bots reacting to this data gives so many opportunities in so many areas.
@StefanPersson
WHAT GOT YOU INTERESTED IN RADIX SPECIFICALLY?
@nellysayon
First of all it was the pure interest in Crypto as such. That I found Radix was more a coincidence or maybe destiny 😉 In the beginning it was meant for pure investment in $XRD but then I joined more and more groups on telegram and got more connected to all the details about Radix, the different projects and the amazing community.
I started learning Scrypto and was impressed how easy this really is. It’s not completely ready yet, but it already shows so much potential. It is also great that people don’t just wait until smart contracts are available, but already build besides that. Just imagine the big push of the whole ecosystem with Babylon. That will definitely be a big rocket launch.
@StefanPersson
WHAT OPPORTUNITY DID YOU SEE TO CREATE RADIXCHARTS?
@nellysayon
Starting a project on Radix was also not planned from the beginning. It actually just all fell into place. We were searching for a new step in our life that makes us more independent from a 9 to 5 job and a place of living. With the developer background, working as a developer should actually be obvious, but it took some time. Well and then there was this interest in data science and I saw other community members that tried to make their own statistics manually but were having a hard time with it, so that was the opportunity to combine everything and start RadixCharts.
With no idea about server setup, web development or bots we managed to bring something alive in only 6 weeks. And we are still surprised ourselves how fast the website has evolved since then. We actually develop almost every minute in our free time as it is just so much joy to see it growing.
So we are able to build our skills and directly bring benefits to the ecosystem we believe in – that’s a perfect setup.
@StefanPersson
WERE THERE ANY INSPIRATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF THE VISUALIZATIONS THAT YOU USE?
@nellysayon
In general, the design is inspired by defi llama. In the beginning, I wanted to integrate gradients everywhere. So the color set comes from a gradient used for the logo. Anyhow the charts did not really look good with gradient backgrounds, borders, etc. So I changed that to make it much more plain and focus on the data. I always try to combine different chart types and table views to make it less monotonous, but keep the same look and feel everywhere.
I tried a lot of different chart types and styles before I decided on the current ones. There are different components available for React, that I simply tried out. I even watched a lot of YouTube videos from people that styled the charts. The donut chart for the transactions was very much inspired by one of those videos.
I’m very happy with the current design now, especially with the look of the dashboard, so I don’t think I’ll change much more, but just add new things to the existing styles. The RadixCharts Twitter account (https://twitter.com/radixcharts) actually shows a good history of how the design changed, as I usually post a screenshot for every change.
@StefanPersson
HOW ARE YOU BUILDING THE PRODUCT?
@nellysayon
We have chosen an agile approach. Meaning, we develop small features and bring them out as soon as possible. Then we check the usage and the feedback from the community and decide what to build next. We don’t have the big picture in mind from the beginning, it evolves while building this.
@StefanPersson
WHAT KINDS OF TECHNOLOGIES ARE YOU USING?
@nellysayon
In the backend we have a Linux server with a MySQL database. All the logic is developed in Python. We are using the twitter and telegram API which are both quite open and deliver a lot of data. We are also using the gateway API now to analyze transactions. There are bots for automated Telegram and Twitter posts. Say hello to chartbot on Telegram (https://t.me/radixcharts_bot) to always receive the latest data.
The frontend is a React application, using Material UI components.
@StefanPersson
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT YOU FACE?
@nellysayon
The biggest challenge is always time. We both have full time jobs, so setting the right priorities for what is developed next is essential. As we are living together, communication and alignment is very fast and easy.
Nevertheless, there are also a few requirements from the community that are currently hard to fulfill. For example there is the wish of a better overview of NFT projects: has sales started, how many are sold already, what is the trading volume, the floor price etc. To deliver centralized data of a decentralized system is not that easy 😂
@StefanPersson
WHAT IS THE ROADMAP YOU SEE FOR HOW RADIXCHARTS WILL EVOLVE BEYOND PHASE 5?
@nellysayon
There is no real further plan for that. One idea is to create a project overview with a health indication. Besides that, we are open and see what the community might demand.
@StefanPersson
DO YOU HAVE ANY COLLABORATIONS PLANNED WITH OTHER PROJECTS?
@nellysayon
We just started a collaboration with RadixTalk (https://radixtalk.com) and will publish a weekly report there (you can find them here: https://radixtalk.com/search?expanded=true&q=radixcharts). It’s a great place to write a little bit more about the status of the Radix ecosystem based on the data we analyze. Twitter (twitter.com/radixcharts) and Telegram (t.me/radixcharts) are sometimes very noisy and very limited.
Potential other collaborations are RadixList (https://www.radixlist.com/), as most new projects register themselves there and we could easily use their data. RadixScan (https://www.radixscan.io/) already has great data for transactions, tokens and wallets, which might be useful to integrate as well.
But so far there is nothing planned concrete.
@StefanPersson
BESIDES BABYLON’S RELEASE, ARE THERE ANY OTHER MILESTONES ALONG THE WAY THAT PEOPLE SHOULD BE EXCITED ABOUT?
@nellysayon
Yes, actually there is! But it is still secret 😀 It is not related to RadixCharts but we have a great idea for another project that will be really useful for many people. So stay tuned.
@StefanPersson
DO YOU HAVE ANY PROMOTIONS COMING UP THAT PEOPLE SHOULD START MARKING THEIR CALENDARS FOR?
@nellysayon
I should probably start thinking about it. We are not so good promoters. I would of course suggest to follow our twitter account as all news are announced there.
@StefanPersson
WHAT OTHER RADIX PROJECTS ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT OR FIND PROMISING?
@nellysayon
Uh, there are so many great Radix projects, so I try to choose two.
The first one is Vikingland (https://www.vikingland.net/). I’m impressed by how fast they developed and improved. The team behind is super dedicated and supportive. They have helped so many other projects launch their NFTs, I just love it.
The second is Radiator (https://radiator.run/). They have this new approach to cashback. When you hold their RDT token + some other conditions you get cashback on NFT purchases right now. So you see, I’m personally very much into NFTs. But it sounds like they have a lot more ideas to connect Radix projects and customers, so I’m curious about their next steps.
@StefanPersson
IF YOU COULD GIVE ANY ADVICE TO SOMEONE WHO IS CONSIDERING BUILDING THEIR PROJECT, ON RADIX OR OTHERWISE, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM?
@nellysayon
Just do it. The Radix community is great, so try to build some relationships with the people and maybe other projects first. There is so much energy and inspiration in all the groups, that will just push you.
Links
- Website: https://www.radixcharts.com
- Telegram: https://t.me/radixcharts/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/radixcharts
