Design Challenge for Solana Blockchain: Product Design, UI, and Prototype

Project Overview

Solana provided me with a design challenge. The task was to create and prototype a new user experience for decentralized finance margin trading within a week.

Project duration: 3 Weeks

Solana's design challenge was to create a user-friendly decentralized finance (Defi) margin trading platform. The project required the facilitation of exchanges between ETH and AAVE and making the platform accessible to non-expert traders. The design process included research, wireframing, and prototyping. The first round of design was approved by stakeholders.

The Problem

Hospitals and clinics require a scheduling feature that allows patients to choose their doctors and prepare for their calls in advance.

Build a Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Margin Trading Platform Feature:

Introduce trust-less margin trading.
Enable users to leverage up to a 100X margin.
Note: The current maximum trust-less margin is 5x.

Enable Exchange Between ETH and AAVE (X x Y = K):

The purchase of more of one token results in acquiring less of the other.
Smaller transactions do not significantly impact the price, allowing more leverage for the buyer.
Larger transactions, when combined with a large margin, can drastically affect the price.
Balance can perhaps be adjusted using a slider.
The intermediary token is the market maker token.

Protocol for Uniswap.org:

The protocol will retain some funds for lending.
Riskier trades allow for lesser borrowing. Risk can be measured by: A) Conducting a credit check B) Implementing a counter-party ranking system based on past trading experience. C) Considering the impact of the trade on the market to determine the risk the system can accept.

Non-savvy User Trading:

Simplify the process for margin purchases.
Avoid complex exchanges like Binance.
Enable going long or short for any asset.
Allow users to specify their desired leverage.

Being mindful of slippage

Understanding the current Uniswap UX.

The existing design

Research-Based Design Goals

I analyzed the functional requirements, competitive landscape, trading language, and general app flow of rival services. Additionally, I assessed the competition between blockchain and traditional finance.

Design Notes:

Design would work on mobile responsive-web.
Prioritized the trading window.
Terminology address blockchain-community.
Color: I chose colors from the Solana logo for buttons.
Font: I employed the Roboto font for it’s standard font paired with it’s monospaced counterpart.

Hi-Fidelity prototypes

Version 1

In our first iteration, we focused on the panel designs. However, testing showed that this approach wasn't effective for responsive design on mobile devices.

Version 2

In the second iteration, the panels were repositioned to better accommodate mobile devices.

Outcome

Stakeholders accepted the initial design round, highlighting the effectiveness of rapid prototyping to addressing usability issues. By swiftly prototyping and gathering feedback, potential problems can be identified early and improvements incorporated, improving the overall user experience.