Hello Crypto! is a project that is developed with the vision of
bringing cryptocurrency-based knowledge to the masses through an educational platform. Hello Crypto! will empower crypto enthusiasts
and absolute beginners with all they need to know before exploring
the markets with confidence.
Hello Crypto! is an initiative in designing an educational platform
that will bring cryptocurrencies to the masses with an intention of
partnering with Coinbase to expand our reach. UX Research and
Design based principles, tools, and techniques were leveraged to
make a user-friendly, robust, and informative app that empowers
its users with necessary information.
For this project, we executed the complete UX Design process to
thoroughly research the opportunity, identify potential solutions, and
develop design solutions that provide learning resources to better
understand the cryptocurrency markets and interactive games to test
their knowledge and develop a sense of navigating the crypto world.
Potential Partner | Coinbase
Role
I worked as a UX Researcher, Designer and Project Manager in collaboration with 3 team members. The key responsibilities I carried out were conducting user research and interviews, synthesizing research, conducting usability tests, identifying opportunities, and developing mid to high fidelity prototypes.
Methods and Approach
User Research, Screener Survey, Business Research, Affinity Mapping, Persona, Journey Mapping, Feature Ideation, Feature Prioritization, MoSCoW Mapping, Wire-framing, Prototyping, and Usability Testing.
Tools
Figma, Zeplin, Miro, Optimal Workshop, Slack, Zoom, Keynote, Otter.ai.
Timeline
Dec 2021 - Jan 2022 | 2 weeks sprint
Challenge
Cryptocurrencies have been gaining attention for quite some time now and offer immense potential for growth. But as a community, we are still pretty uninformed about Cryptocurrencies. Thus, there is a need to develop an a platform that helps crypto enthusiasts, gives them access to the right information, and gives them confidence in crypto trading.
Outcome
Hello Crypto! is based on thorough research and thus, has a blend of essential features combined with an intuitive and well-defined design. It has all the essential elements crypto enthusiasts are looking for and with its strong heuristics it will become the #1 platform for everyone who are willing to explore the crypto world.
Solution
Hello Crypto! meets the needs of potential users by providing crypto lessons in Crypto Academy, simplifying jargon using Cryptionary, trading practice using Bunny Money, and investing using their crypto skills through Crypto City.
-
Cryptionary
An exhaustive glossary of all the jargon related to cryptocurrency.
-
Cryptademy
Step-by-step lessons to build skills, simplify theories, and meet users at their level of knowledge.
-
Practice Trading
A paper-trading platform where users can practice trading with fake money free of risks.
-
Crypto City
An interactive game where users respond to current crypto events and make investment decisions.
Cryptionary
Systematic Lessons!
Contains all the relevant terms and their definitions in one location.
Organized alphabetically, and divided into tech, finance, tokens, and jargon.
Search bar on top to directly look for the term of interest.
crypto Academy
Accessible Glossary!
Organized lessons by skills level of the users such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
After completing the lesson test your knowledge and
win rewards.
Each lesson delivers crucial information in an intelligible way.
Practice Trading
Hands-on Trading with Bunny Money!
Buy or Sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin using Bunny Money.
Monitor the recent trends of the cryptocurrency you are trading.
Purchase cryptocurrencies of your choice and with complete autonomy.
Crypto City
Interactive Learning Experience!
Experience real-world crypto situations through the simulations.
Make decisions based on your knowledge and skill and see the outcome.
Receive rewards and gain more Bunny Money for trading.
How exactly did we get here?
Read about the overall design process below
Defining Our Scope
Cryptocurrencies are growing by the second and so is the interest in them. But as a community, we are still pretty uninformed about Cryptocurrencies and need a platform that helps us understand what cryptocurrencies are, how they operate, how to trade with them, and gaining experience trading with them.
Hello Crypto! is developed with the goal of meeting those needs and becoming the platform of choice for all users.
our Approach
In our approach we implemented the UX Design process for this project which consisted of 5 different stages to strategically and systematically work in all the aspects of the project.
-
EMPATHIZE
Understanding the challenges crypto users face, information and resources they need, and how can they overcome it?
-
DEFINE
Delve deeper into crypto enthusiasts' and beginner's minds to understand their goals, needs, and pain points.
-
IDEATE
Synthesize research to identify and ideate which features will ease their pain points, and help them meet their goals.
-
PROTOTYPE
Leverage the insights to create designs that solve their challenges and develop a variety of such designs.
-
TEST
Conduct usability tests on the prototypes and gauge the user experience. Do users find it useful? What are the recommendations?
RESEARCH
Goal: Build An understanding of the industry and identify needs of the users
bUSINESS RESEARCH
GOAL - To develop an understanding of the crypto market, the existing educational platforms, and how Hello Crypto!
can be shaped using this information. The business research phase consisted of the Business Model Canvas, Competitive Matrix, and Competitive Feature Analysis.
Feature Analysis
We conducted a competitive feature analysis in hopes to identify standard features and best practices, seeing how other companies approach design problems, and identifying opportunities to differentiate or innovate.
insights
● Coinbase only offers 4 features, which include, informational videos, links to learning crypto, a learning platform, and the ability to invest in crypto.
● It does not include a blog section, tour of features, support chat box, a support hotline, or the ability to invest in the stock market.
● The average number of features used on other platforms ranks between 4 and 6.
Competitive matrix
Creating this Competitive Matrix enables our team to easily visualize and determine the position of Coinbase in the market relevant to learnability and specialization. As a result, we can better understand its strengths and weaknesses relative to other platforms that people may visit.
insights
● Coinbase is high in easiness to learn and moderately specialized compared to other platforms.
● It is intuitive for beginners and offers a broad level of education for their customers.
● Its closest competition includes Crypto.com, which offers similar levels of easiness, and Gemini, which offers similar levels of specialization.
Business Model Canvas
A business model canvas provides a comprehensive view of the fundamental building blocks of a business. We created it in hopes to better understand the business model of Coinbase.
Insights
● Coinbase is the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange platform.
● They offer people who are new to cryptocurrency a straightforward experience and a “earn while you learn” feature for customers who are interested in building their education.
● They are well trusted by people because of their industry-leading security practices that keep customer data and money safe and insurance for their digital currency.
USER RESEARCH
GOAL - The goal of user research for this project was to gain a first-hand understanding of the different challenges crypto enthusiasts face and also the role educational platforms play or can play in their journey to crypto trading.
TARGET INTERVIEWEES
uSER INTERVIEWS
To understand the crypto enthusiast's needs and frustrations we conducted user interviews with 6 users and surveyed 15 users that are interested in learning about and investing in cryptocurrencies. We asked them about their experience with cryptocurrencies, if they have ever invested in cryptocurrencies, if they have used any crypto trading platform, and what challenges they faced.
kEY FINDINGS
Defining Our Target Audience
Meet David!
David is a software engineer in San Francisco. He prioritizes building a financially comfortable future for his family. He is interested to learn about cryptocurrencies but doesn’t know how to get started. He feels directionless and lost within the vast amount of information available online.
-
goals
Build a financially comfortable future.
Maintain a high level of stability in his investments.
Build a strong foundation for cryptocurrency education.
-
Needs
Verified information about cryptocurrencies.
Direction in his cryptocurrency education.
A way to practice investing in cryptocurrencies
-
Frustrations
Information about cryptocurrencies is scattered on various platforms.
Content uses advanced language when talking about cryptocurrencies.
Lack of platforms where he can practice investing.
A dAY IN THE LIFE OF DAVID!
Revised Problem Statement
After analyzing all our research we were happy to see our initial problem statement was validated by our insights international applicants need. We then went on to write a more specific revised problem statement.
-
INSIGHT
Cryptocurrency is an exponentially expanding field that has been featured prominently in every form of media. It is technical and complex, making it difficult to fully understand.
-
PERSONA
As a result, David struggles to break into the world of cryptocurrency, despite his best attempts and staying on top of financial trends.
-
GOAL
How might we engage David with a verified platform where he can learn and practice, allowing him to feel confident in his cryptocurrency education and future investments?
IDEATION & DESIGN
The design and ideation stages were carried out with the goal of developing new designs, features, and prioritizing them based on impact and effort needed.
-
MoSCoW
By ranking features in terms of what is absolutely necessary for the product tow rod we are able to find a clear start point to build off of and can maintain control of the project instead of letting it spin off into multiple directions that aren’t necessary yet.
-
Feature Prioritization
The feature prioritization matrix allows us to sort the features one step further. By adding the element of effort it help us work with within the realm of what is possible to accomplish now
-
Design Studio
After our feature prioritization matrix and MoSCoW mapping, we narrowed down the features that needed to be in our low-fi designs. Each team member used a pen and paper to deign their version of the screens.
Usability Testing Round 1
The usability testing was conducted on the Medium Fidelity prototype and the results, insights, and recommendations from this testing will be used to inform the High-Fidelity Prototype.
Mid Fidelity Scorecard Round 1
Key Insights from Round 1
Condense and simplify the navigation bar at the bottom as much as possible.
Use very general and obvious terms and make the overall language accessible.
Add search functionality in cryptionary.
Final design solution
The user research, insights, persona goals, needs, and pain points, and results of medium-fidelity usability testing were all synthesized and integrated to develop the Final Design Solution.
High Fidelity Wireframe Task 1
Use the application to define “Cold Storage”
High Fidelity Wireframe Task 2
Complete the next lesson on “Blockchain”.
High Fidelity Wireframe Task 3
Purchase 1 Dogecoin using your Bunny Money.
High Fidelity Wireframe Task 4
Play the next mission in CryptoCity and claim your reward.
Usability Testing Round 2
The High-Fidelity prototype was tested for the same tasks as the Medium-Fidelity prototype. A comparison of the usability test results is provided here.
High- fidelity Scorecard Round 2
Key Insights from Round 2
Providing lessons in other mediums (i.e. video)
Adding a community aspect that allows customers to compete with each other to reach learning goals and game progress
Ways to make lesson plans more interactive and engaging
Cryptocurrency is an exciting field and it has tremendous potential. We enjoyed working on the project, learned new things, and improved our UX Design skills. Eager to see how cryptocurrencies grow in the future.
Next Steps and Recommendations
We would want to expand on the format in which lessons are available, adding videos for those who prefer to watch rather than read.
We also would suggest adding a community aspect to the app, so that users can connect and compete with friends.
We would want to make the lessons more interactive, modeled after other learning platforms such as Duolingo.