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

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.

Managing Price Slippage

Understanding Uniswap's user experience.

The existing design

Research-Based Design Goals

I analyzed functional requirements, competitive landscape, trading terminology, and app flows of similar services. I also evaluated how blockchain and traditional finance platforms compare.

Design Notes:

Design optimized for mobile-responsive web
Trading window given primary focus
Terminology aligned with blockchain community standards
Colors selected from Solana's brand palette for buttons
Roboto chosen as primary font, paired with its monospace variant for consistency

High-Fidelity Prototypes

Version 1

Our first iteration focused on panel designs. However, user testing revealed this approach wasn't suitable for responsive mobile design.

Version 2

In the second iteration, we repositioned the panels to optimize the layout for mobile devices.

Outcome

Stakeholders approved the initial design round, demonstrating the value of rapid prototyping in solving usability challenges. This approach allowed us to identify potential issues early and implement improvements quickly, resulting in a better user experience.

My Role

UX Designer, Prototyping

My Responsibilities

Research, Design, Prototypes

Screen views

Success

The project was a significant achievement in simplifying decentralized finance trading. The final design, which evolved through two major iterations and extensive user testing, successfully addressed the core challenges of creating a user-friendly margin trading platform. The prototype demonstrated how complex blockchain transactions could be made accessible to non-expert users while maintaining the sophisticated functionality of up to 100X leverage trading. The design was well-received by leadership at Solana and was subsequently adapted for implementation within their application, validating our approach to rapid prototyping and user-centered design.

Solana Defi-margin trading module (Solana)