1. Introduction
As the lead designer, my objective was to enhance the user experience, improve usability, and align the design with industry standards. This detailed product design case showcases the methodologies, strategies, and collaborative efforts employed to achieve these goals. This case highlights the difficulties faced due to limited research opportunities, multiple stakeholders with independent opinions, and resource constraints. Despite these challenges, the design team implemented strategies to navigate through the constraints and deliver an improved user experience.
1.1 Understanding Objectives and Stakeholders
To ensure alignment with stakeholders, I engaged in extensive discussions with the company owner and product manager. These conversations provided valuable insights into the wallet's target audience, their specific requirements, and the desired brand identity. The primary audience consisted of security-conscious individuals who valued privacy and sought a seamless user experience for managing their cryptocurrency assets.
1.2 Conducting a Comprehensive Design Audit
To kickstart the redesign process, a thorough design audit was conducted. This involved analyzing the existing wallet interface, identifying pain points, and benchmarking against competitors. Through this audit, I discovered areas for improvement, such as visual inconsistencies, cumbersome user flows, and outdated design elements.
1.3 Aligning with Brand Identity
To ensure the redesigned interface aligned with 2allet's brand identity, I conducted in-depth interviews with the wallet’s founder and product manager. These discussions focused on preserving the wallet's dark color scheme, which was associated with privacy and wealth. Additionally, the existing accent color was retained to maintain familiarity and consistency. By striking a balance between brand identity and industry standards, the redesigned interface aimed to evoke trust, usability, and visual appeal.
1.4 Project Goals
The primary goal of the project is to improve the user experience of the wallet. This includes addressing the following objectives:
Enhance User Experience: Improve the overall usability, intuitiveness, and efficiency of the wallet.
Generate Revenue: Develop strategies to monetize the wallet while delivering value to users.
Ensure Visual Consistency: Establish a strong visual language and consistent UI patterns throughout the app.
Increase User Adoption and Engagement: Attract new users and increase user engagement with the wallet.
1.5 Team
Dan - Senior Product Designer, Team Lead. Research, UX-prototypes, UI-prototypes, Mentorship, Presentation.
Julia - Junior UI Designer, Tokens and components, Solutions scaling
Anna - Middle UI/UX Designer. User Flows, Icons, UX-prototypes, UI-prototypes
1.6 Stakeholders
Outsource Company Team Product Owner
Outsource Company CPO
The Wallet Product Owner
The Wallet CEO
The Wallet Dev Team Lead
2. Research and Evaluation Methods
2.1 Reasons to choose research methods
Privacy Concerns: The founders of the product had reservations about conducting extensive user research due to privacy concerns. They were apprehensive about including tracking software or asking direct questions to users, fearing that it could compromise the wallet's image as a high-privacy tool. This constraint limited the team's ability to gain deep insights from real users.
Fast and Cheap Expectations: The product founders emphasized the need for a fast and cost-effective design process. This made it challenging to push for comprehensive research methods that would require more time and resources. The team had to find alternative ways to gather user feedback and make informed design decisions within the given constraints.
2.2 User Interviews
To gain a deeper understanding of user needs and pain points, I conducted user interviews with a representative sample of the wallet users. These interviews provided valuable insights into their experiences, preferences, and challenges encountered while using the wallet. User feedback was carefully analyzed and used to inform the redesign process.
2.3 Usability Testing
To evaluate the usability of the existing wallet and gather data for improvements, usability testing sessions were conducted. Participants were given specific tasks to perform within the wallet while their interactions and feedback were observed. This approach allowed for the identification of usability issues and provided insights into areas that needed improvement.
2.4 Comparative Analysis
To understand industry standards and best practices, a comparative analysis was conducted on leading wallet applications. This involved downloading and thoroughly examining the top wallets available on both iOS and Android platforms. The analysis focused on user flows, visual aesthetics, and features offered by these wallets. Key findings from the comparative analysis were used to inform the redesign decisions.
2.5 User Journey Mapping
To consolidate my findings, I created a user journey map that documented the current state of the app. I captured screenshots of each screen and highlighted the different states and interactions. By visually mapping out the user journey, I was able to identify pain points, areas of confusion, and potential improvements more effectively.
2.6 User-Centric Analysis
As an active user of various crypto platforms and wallets, I brought my firsthand experience and understanding of user needs, pain points, and expectations. This allowed me to evaluate the wallet from the perspective of someone who relies on such tools on a daily basis. I paid close attention to the placement of functionalities within the app. I looked for any logical inconsistencies, such as related features being placed in different locations or new functions not being easily discoverable. With this method I identified multiple usability issues, missing features, or design choices that may hinder or enhance the user's experience.
2.7 User Feedback:
I sought feedback from various individuals, including members of the design team who were not directly involved in the wallet project but had crypto knowledge. Additionally, I involved people from different backgrounds, such as friends and family members, to gather a diverse range of perspectives. This approach helped validate my own observations and ensured that the identified UX issues were not limited to my own viewpoint.
2.8 Operating System Guidelines
As a designer, I have a strong understanding of operating system design guidelines. I evaluated the wallet against these guidelines and identified instances where the app's components and interactions deviated from the recommended practices. This analysis provided insights into areas where the wallet could align better with the user's expectations based on established design principles.
3. Problems and their solutions
Our redesign addresses several problems identified in the previous design of the wallet:
3.1 Design Inconsistency
The wallet suffered from design inconsistency due to the involvement of different outsourcing teams at different times. The UI patterns and visual styles varied across different screens, leading to user confusion, poor usability, and negative brand perception. The lack of a strong visual language and inconsistent use of components further compounded the problem.
We addressed design inconsistencies in the current wallet by developing a comprehensive design system. This involved creating a unified visual language, defining consistent interaction patterns, and establishing guidelines for typography, colors, and spacing.
A checklist was created to ensure the new design met the desired objectives of consistency, usability, and adherence to the established guidelines. Each design iteration was evaluated against this checklist, ensuring that the design system effectively addressed the problem of design inconsistency.
3.2 Non-standard UX Patterns
The wallet employed non-standard user experience patterns, forcing users to deviate from their familiar interactions with other applications. For example, selecting a wallet in the "Accounts" menu did not lead to a screen showing its operations, as commonly seen in banking apps. Instead, the current wallet was selected as a target for actions chosen on other tabs. Additionally, similar actions were separated into different menus, resulting in inconsistent user experiences.
Addressing the non-standard UX patterns required careful analysis, documentation, and testing. Screenshots of the existing app were used to create a comprehensive mockup in Figma, allowing the entire wallet structure to be examined. The process began with an analysis of each module's structure, functionality, and interaction with other modules. Hypotheses and ideas were generated to address the observed issues, and meetings were held with stakeholders to refine the solutions.
Through multiple iterations of UX prototyping, the design team arrived at solutions that aligned with established design patterns and user expectations. The aim was to strike a balance between novelty and usability, ensuring that the wallet's interactions and navigation followed intuitive patterns while providing an improved user experience.
The effectiveness of the new UX patterns was evaluated through A/B testing with two groups of users who had basic experience with cryptocurrency wallets like Metamask and Trust Wallet.
3.3 Non-intuitive wording
The original wallet's UX writing used technical jargon and unfamiliar terms, making it difficult for average cryptocurrency wallet users to understand. The brightest examples were "Wallet contains 3 private keys," "HD-account," and "Show unspent outputs".
We reviewed and optimized the wallet's interface wording to make it more user-friendly and accessible. We simplified complex terminology, clarified instructions, and improved error messages for better user understanding.
Talking about above examples, to address issues, we made the following changes:
- "Wallet contains 3 private keys": This phrase, while technically accurate, was not easily comprehensible for users who were not familiar with the inner workings of cryptocurrency wallets. The term "private keys" is a concept that may be unfamiliar to many users, leading to confusion and potential errors. "Wallet contains 3 private keys" was replaced with "Wallet contains 3 addresses" for better clarity and comprehension.
- "HD-account": This term, which stood for "Hierarchical Deterministic account," was another example of non-intuitive wording. While HD accounts are a common feature in cryptocurrency wallets, the feature in our wallet changed addresses obtained from the same seed after each transaction while allowing users to send money from multiple addresses at once without thinking about that. Users found it difficult to grasp the purpose and functionality of the feature based on this label alone. "HD-account" was renamed as "Stealth Mode" to improve understanding. An explanation of the concept was added during onboarding.
- "Show unspent outputs": The phrase appeared from the context of the above feature. It showed actual allocation of funds between different addresses considered as one account in Stealth Mode. The feature led to a screen in plain text. We removed this phrase by making an option to expand view of wallets in stealth mode on main screen to show addresses with balance.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the revised wording, A/B testing was conducted with two groups of users familiar with crypto wallets. Mockups with elements containing the target text were shown to the users, and they were asked to explain the meaning of the text on the screen. The new text was compared to the old text, and the feedback and interpretations provided insights into the improved understandability and user-friendliness of the updated wording.
3.4 Accessibility problems
Accessibility problems were evident, including low contrast and small font sizes that made it difficult for visually impaired users to read and navigate. Additionally, inconsistent navigation and button placement posed challenges for users with motor disabilities, impeding their ability to interact with the application.
To address these issues, our team conducted an accessibility audit and implemented WCAG 2.1 guidelines with solutions such as enhanced contrast and font size and streamlined navigation with consistent button placement. These improvements aimed to improve readability and facilitate smoother interactions for users with motor disabilities, ultimately enhancing the wallet's overall accessibility and usability.
4. Challenges during the design process
As the lead designer of the wallet, I encountered several challenges throughout the design process. Let me break them down:
4.1 User Research Constraints
One of the key challenges was the reluctance of the product owner, who is also the director of the company, to include tracking software or engage in direct user research. Their concern stemmed from the wallet's image as a high privacy tool, as they wanted to avoid any potential exposure of private keys to third parties. This constraint made it challenging to gather valuable insights from real users.
4.2 Limited Research Resources
Additionally, there was a strong emphasis on keeping the design process fast and cost-effective. This constraint meant that conducting extensive user research was not allowed, which limited our ability to fully understand user needs and preferences.
4.3 Multiple Stakeholders
The design process involved multiple stakeholders, including the manager of the internal team unit, the product manager of our company doing this outsource project, the product manager of the wallet, and the founder of the wallet who also served as the director of the company. Each stakeholder had their own opinions and priorities, leading to complex decision-making processes. Coordinating the feedback and aligning the design direction among these stakeholders required significant effort and negotiation.
4.4 Iterative Design Review Process
The design review process was characterized by multiple rounds of feedback and revisions. Feedback came from different stakeholders, including the internal team manager, the product manager of the wallet, and the owner/director of the company. This iterative nature of the process, while important for refining the design, often led to conflicting opinions and prolonged decision-making timelines.
4.5 Lessons learned
Despite these challenges, I actively collaborated with the stakeholders, carefully considering their perspectives and incorporating their feedback into the design iterations. It required extensive communication, negotiation, and finding common ground to ensure that the final design met the requirements and expectations of all parties involved.
However I would not prefer to opt to similar conditions in future projects. While the overall wallet was developed following Agile methodology, my design team was put by stakeholders into a Waterfall trap and this led to a known problems of the Waterfall: longer production cycles, lack of flexibility and users involvement. Tasks remained not closed for weeks while the team in the end was exhausted by feedback loop.
5. Rolling up the results
5.1 Market conditions
We have faced various challenges and external factors that affected the success and measurement of my team's work. The bear market in the cryptocurrency industry, geopolitical tensions, and sanctions imposed on Russia created a difficult environment for crypto-related services. These circumstances resulted in a decreased interest in cryptocurrencies and limited opportunities for projects to thrive.
5.2 Rolling up
Considering these constraints, the implementation of the redesign was postponed, and the focus shifted towards revenue-generating features done by us, such as the internal centralized cryptocurrency exchange function. The primary metrics and indicators we anticipated to measure the success of the redesign within the given constrains included increased downloads of the wallet, media mentions, positive market reviews, and positive feedback from users and support channels. Additionally, collaborating with users who had YouTube channels to provide their opinions based on their market experiences could have helped promote the new wallet version.
5.3 Seamless Transition to the New Version
Our plan was to deploy the new wallet as a separate version for testing, publicly available on the website and app stores, demonstrates a phased approach to gather feedback and ensure user satisfaction. Running the old version alongside the new version would allow for revenue generation, bug fixing, and security updates, while actively seeking feedback on the new version. The goal is to gather sufficient feedback to eventually replace the old version with the new one and discontinue support for the testing version.
5.4. Anticipated Impact and Success Metrics:
Given the challenging constrains, immediate impact measurement was not trivial. However, success metrics were defined, including increased downloads, positive media mentions, favorable market reviews, and positive user feedback. A robust customer support system was put in place to address user concerns promptly. Collaborations with influential users and YouTube channels aimed to leverage their experiences and reviews to generate positive exposure for the redesigned wallet.
6. Conclusion
The Wallet redesign involved a meticulous and comprehensive product design process. Through user interviews, usability testing, comparative analysis, and collaborative efforts, the redesigned interface aimed to enhance the user experience, improve usability, and align with industry standards. Despite budget constraints and external market challenges, the team successfully implemented key improvements and revenue-generating features. Anticipated success metrics and a planned transition strategy ensured a seamless introduction of the new version to users. The Wallet redesign case exemplifies my expertise in product design, user-centric methodologies, and ability to deliver impactful solutions within challenging constraints.