Web3 and DeFi product design: For protocols that need people to trust them
For DeFi protocols and Web3 products whose mechanics are sound and whose interface still asks too much of people. I spent three years as principal designer on TrueFi, an uncollateralized lending protocol, and designed for a crypto analytics platform, an interchain trading platform and a protocol for AI agents. The work is the same each time: make complex financial mechanics readable, and make the product look like something people can trust with money.
To start, email andriy.dsgn@gmail.com with a few lines about the protocol and its users.
What I design
- Lending, staking, farming and governance flows that explain what happens to the money.
- Dashboards that bring positions spread across products into one view.
- Data-dense screens for developers and readable ones for holders, on the same product.
- The design system, the website and the brand, so the protocol looks like one thing.
- Community assets where they help: on TrueFi, down to a mascot that ended up in Telegram stickers.
Where the experience comes from
| Product | What I designed | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| TrueFi | The product, the brand, the website and the community | Three years as principal designer |
| 10Planet | The design architecture of a protocol for AI agents | Agents, memory and the design system mapped to protocol logic |
| Santiment | Metric visualizations for a crypto market data platform | User interviews and usability tests to find where it lost people |
| Stakenet | A financial dashboard and data visualization for an interchain trading platform | A brand refresh alongside |
| Voyager | A UX study of the Starknet block explorer, for holders and developers | A design study, written up |
Company context, not a measure of the design work: TrueFi originated more than $1B in loans in its first year with no defaults (reported in 2021), and TrustToken raised its Series A and B. My part in each is on the case page or on About.
How it runs
- Audit. A Product Diagnosis or a UX audit of the protocol as users meet it.
- Flows. The flows that lose people, each with its price.
- Or month by month as fractional product design, when the protocol needs a design owner.
Questions teams ask
Do you only work on Web3 products?
No. Web3 is one part of 14 years that also covers AI agents, cloud infrastructure, investing and SaaS. The common thread is complex products.
How much does it cost?
Fractional from $8,000 a month, or a project quoted after an audit.
Can you design for both institutions and crypto-native users?
That was the brief on TrueFi: the same product and website had to work for institutions, investors and the crypto community.
Do you work with teams in other countries?
Yes. I work remotely, with teams in different countries and time zones.
Other ways I can help
- Dashboard design, quoted per view: for more data than people can read.
- Brand identity for products, quoted after a call: the product, the site and the deck as one.
- Fractional product design, from $8,000 a month: a senior designer, part-time.
Further reading: TrueFi: a lending protocol. All services, with the situation each one fits: Services.
Building a protocol people have to trust?
Send a few lines about it and who uses it. If it’s not a fit, I’ll say so.