Volabit

Problem statement

The main problem we had to solve during the redesign was to accommodate one to two more cryptocurrencies, which Volabit expects to add to their portfolio in the near future, in a seamless manner and close to the original design. The goal was to maintain most of the flows intact in order to reduce the user learning curve while at the same time looking like a more solid and trustworthy version of itself.

The solution

The first step for us was to understand what our users were doing and how they were using our product. The second step was to predict what they would want from the product that they weren’t getting yet. Third step was to identify what was working well for our users and design around it.

The challenge

The challenge was to design for mistrusting and not necessarily tech-savvy first-time users, and for users that had gone through a steep learning curve when they first started using the service. That’s why staying close to the previous design, yet looking clean and professional was so important.

Key Points

The previous dashboard was simply a menu. We needed to design a Dashboard where our users could overlook the most important aspects of their investment. A dynamic dashboard that enables the user to take the most desirable actions from one place while having an overview of their recent activity and the currencies performance. Our main goal was to create a website where the user felt more involved and triggered to invest and move their money.

Observation

I joined the team after the redesign process had started, therefore things like identifying our target users and the scope of the work had been set. My first step was to absorb the proposed ideas and understand why those decisions had been taken. I studied the live app and identified the features and elements that were worth keeping and the flows that needed to be re-thought and improved. While identifying the features worth of having in our brand new Dashboard.

Ideation

The dashboard needed to be designed to engage the user to use all the features in our app. Take all the relevant pieces and arrange them in an appealing, organized and intuitive way. I took inspiration from banking online, diverse dashboards design from diverse financial and fitness websites and apps.

Rapid Prototyping

The COO provided me with a low fidelity wireframe of the general arrangement the dashboard would have and the final side navigation we’ll use. My job was to determine what features would be valuable for our users and its arrangement and hierarchy of the given elements in the dashboard. I studied the layout proposed and adjusted it to the dashboards and user’s needs. I ended up with a 10-column grid that accommodated the COO’s desire to have a vertical permanent navigation that took about 40% of our the real state. I used the reminder 6 columns to arrange all the elements in the dashboard.

COO’s preliminary design

Persona

Antonio Juarez

VP

Antonio is a 32 year-old civil engineer working for Cemex in Guadalajara, MX. His job requires him to travel several times a year, both national and internationally. He is interested in new emerging technologies and stays current about cryptocurrency trends. He has an urgency to invest money hoping to increase his savings for his retirement. Therefore he has tried new financial products available in the Mexican market to invest money in different ways. He uses an iPhone 5 and owns a windows desktop.