As the first and only designer on the team, I was responsible for establishing the UX presence within the company as well as delivering quality, user-led designs.
Successes
- Increased cross-team collaboration by using design thinking skills and methodologies to bring together stakeholders from different teams.
- Improved design efficiency by creating the first version of the Aquanow design system, reducing feature design time by leveraging reusable component symbols in Figma.
- Integrated UX presence into product development by fostering good relations with the engineering and product owners, opening opportunities for UX to be included in the agile process.
The Problem
When I was hired, customers were conducting crypto trades through the company’s web trading portal. However, they were often on-the-go and could not easily access the portal. This resulted in the operations team being overloaded with simple requests such as balance checking, basic trades, and deposits/withdrawals.
I was tasked with gathering the customer requirements from the operations team, identifying the customer’s needs, and delivering a comprehensive design for the mobile version of the web portal.
Requirements
As I was new to cryptocurrency, I started by conducting a heuristic and competitive analysis on four popular cryptocurrency mobile apps to get myself up to speed and identify industry standards and best practices that would drive my design decisions and got buy-in from stakeholders.
01 / Progressive Information Disclosure
Screen space on mobile is limited in comaprison to web, meaning we need to balance the information density on each page. The best way to do this is to hide information until the user needs it.
02 / Remove the Fluff, Get to the Prices
Prices were displayed prominently on the dashboard, meaning you could begin thinking about trades right away. In many apps, you didn't need to deposit money or set wallet addresses until you were ready to trade.
03 / Prioritize Numbers Over Charts
The most important information on the screen was the price and type of currency. Only after digging deeper is the user exposed to detailed trading charts with changes over time.
Understanding the Customer
I received feature requirements from the operations team but before diving in, I took a step back to confirm we were tackling the right issue. I conducted a user journey mapping exercise, consulting with subject matter experts for accuracy. Emphasizing the customer's perspective, we validated that features were addressing specific pain points, boosting confidence in our solution.
Architecting an App
I collaborated closely with the mobile developer, delivering iterative design work. In the early stages, I used sitemaps and wireflows to share concepts quickly, iterating based on feedback. Once high-level flows were approved, the developer started work, allowing me to focus on detailed interactions.
Design Process
As I explored concepts, one feature that went through many rounds of iteration was the market view, the most important view in the app. It was the first page that customers would see and it showed the prices for coins.
There were many different elements of the page that competed in importance and so the ultimate goal was to find the right balance. I listened closely to our subject experts’ feedback, while also referring to the competitors that I studied at the start and providing a user-focused perspective. Happily, we came to a final design that satisfied everyone’s concerns.
Web to Mobile
My prior mobile design experience proved invaluable, especially as the team was predominantly versed in web design. I was transparent about design rationale, emphasizing changes needed to convert UI from web to mobile. This fostered mobile design fluency among the team, resulting in more targeted feedback and enhanced UX overall.
After 3 months of hard work, our app was finally released and helped reduce the operations team work load.
I was at the end of a 3 month contract but the quality of my work and attitude on the project had impressed the CTO. I was offered a full-time position as the lead UX designer, taking ownership of Aquanow’s full suite of web applications to make them enterprise-ready.
Over my time at Aquanow, I worked on a multitude of projects for 4 web apps and 1 mobile app. I created the Aquanow design system which was used for customer-facing UIs. I spearheaded initiatives to do usability research with internal users for our internal apps and had the opportunity to hire and mentor a junior co-op student. I learned a whole lot from my experience here and if you’ve made it all the way to the end of my story, I’d love to chat with you more in an interview.