Crypto · Design leadership · 2022–2023
The Wallet Redesign: Overcoming challenges and constraints
Leading a three-designer team through a privacy-first wallet redesign: no analytics allowed, four stakeholders, and a bear market.
- QualitativeWCAG 2.1contrast, type size and navigation fixes
- Qualitative“HD-account” → “Stealth Mode”jargon rewritten and A/B tested
- Under NDAMockupsunder strict NDA, shown on request
- Role
- Lead Product Designer
- Company
- Undisclosed crypto wallet, outsourced engagement
- Timeline
- Oct 2022 – Feb 2023
- Team
- Me as lead, a middle UI/UX designer and a junior UI designer
- Platform
- iOS, Android
- Methods & tools
- Design audit, user interviews, usability tests, comparative analysis, user journey mapping, WCAG 2.1, A/B copy tests
Outcome
- QualitativeWCAG 2.1 contrast, type size and navigation fixes
- Qualitative“HD-account” → “Stealth Mode” jargon rewritten and A/B tested
- Under NDAMockups under strict NDA, shown on request
Measured outcome in productionQualitative context: process, volume, lab or qualitativeUnder NDA under NDA
60-second brief
The problem
An outsourced redesign of a privacy-focused crypto wallet with unusual constraints: no tracking allowed, no direct user research, four stakeholders across two companies, an expectation of fast and cheap, and a bear market that later froze the launch. Mockups stay under NDA; the process does not.
What I did
- Ran a design audit and benchmarked the top iOS and Android wallets on flows, visuals and features.
- Where allowed, interviewed users and ran usability tests; rebuilt the whole app as a journey map from screenshots of every state.
- Checked the app against OS guidelines and collected feedback from crypto-savvy colleagues and non-crypto friends to validate my own findings.
Decisions that mattered
- A design system with a checklist.
Different outsourcers had left different UI dialects; every iteration was checked against one set of rules.
- Standard patterns over clever ones.
An account opens its operations like in a banking app; A/B tested with Metamask and Trust Wallet users.
- Rewrite the jargon.
"Wallet contains 3 private keys" becomes "3 addresses", "HD-account" becomes "Stealth Mode" with an onboarding explainer; understanding tested by asking users to explain each label.
- WCAG 2.1 pass.
Contrast, type size, consistent placement of primary actions for users with motor impairments.
Working with engineering and product
- Led a middle UI/UX designer and a junior UI designer: flows and icons, tokens and components, while I owned research, prototypes and stakeholder presentations.
- The wallet was Agile, the design stream was pushed into Waterfall by the review chain; tasks stayed open for weeks. I would refuse that setup again.
Impact
- QualitativeWCAG 2.1 contrast, type size and navigation fixes
- Qualitative“HD-account” → “Stealth Mode” jargon rewritten and A/B tested
- Under NDAMockups under strict NDA, shown on request
The redesign was postponed in favour of revenue features we built, including an internal exchange; success metrics, a phased rollout plan and a support setup were ready for the launch.
What I took awayName the process trap early: a Waterfall review loop inside an Agile product exhausts the team without improving the product.