I worked closely with PMs and engineers to translate complex DeFi requirements into clear, scalable product experiences. My primary responsibility was UI/UX design — information hierarchy, interaction patterns, user guidance, responsive layouts, and final visual execution across web and mobile.
Beyond designing the product itself, I conducted extensive competitor research before starting the project. In the DEX space, users are often attracted by high yields, but many platforms still lack the trust and user experience that centralized exchanges provide.
My focus was on simplifying complex information and making the experience more approachable for both new and experienced users. I worked closely with the PM through multiple design iterations, and gathered community feedback through simple social media surveys to continuously improve the experience.
Depositing is the first meaningful step
After connecting a wallet, the next major challenge was helping users confidently make their first deposit. On Drift, deposited assets can also be used as collateral for perpetual trading, making the Earn experience closely connected to user activation, liquidity, and the broader trading ecosystem.
Connect Wallet
Redesigned the wallet connection experience to reduce complexity, prioritize common wallets, and lower the barrier for new Web3 users.
Deposit Assets
Improved APY visibility, added multiple deposit entry points, and simplified technical guidance to reduce friction for new users.
Earn Yield
Helped users manage assets, build trust, and discover earning opportunities like Isolated Pools and dSOL liquid staking.
Trading Collateral
Since any deposited asset can be used as collateral, Borrow/Lend focused on making account health and borrowing APY easy to understand.
Discoverability
More products and assets, and pools made earning opportunities difficult to find and compare.
Action Clarity
Deposit, withdraw, borrow, and repay actions lacked a consistent hierarchy.
DeFi Education
New users struggled to understand isolated pools, subaccounts, and collateral restrictions.
Asset Management
Users needed a clearer way to understand and manage positions across the platform.
Making earning opportunities easier to explore
My Design Focus
- Unified asset and product structure
- Clearer APY comparison
- Improved filtering and search
- Better information hierarchy
- Scalable layouts for future products
As the number of supported assets increased, the Borrow and Lend page became harder to navigate. Deposit, withdraw, borrow, and repay actions also appeared inconsistently across the experience.
I restructured the Borrow/Lend layout to give each action a consistent, predictable place, and surfaced account health and borrowing capacity more clearly so users could act with confidence.
Isolated pools introduced more flexibility but also created confusion for users unfamiliar with DeFi mechanics.
My Design Focus
Clarified the differences between isolated products
Clearly distinguished Borrow & Lend Isolated Pools, Amplify, dSOL Liquid Staking, DRIFT Staking and Vaults, helping users understand that assets in these products could not be used as trading collateral.
Reduced the learning curve for DeFi concepts
Introduced contextual onboarding, tooltips, and inline explanations to make complex concepts such as isolated pools, collateral, and subaccounts easier to understand.
Simplified specialized Earn products
Improved guidance for managing liabilities, making it easier for users to understand how to repay borrowed assets and monitor loan status.
Provided a clearer financial overview
Improved the visibility of earnings, deposited assets, liabilities, and available collateral, so users could quickly understand their overall financial position.
Connecting a wallet did not always lead to a completed deposit. For new users, cross-chain funding flows were often too complex. We wanted to reduce drop-off right after onboarding and help users complete their first deposit with confidence.
My Design Focus
- Simplified the onboarding flow by removing unnecessary steps and reducing cognitive load.
- Added clearer and more visible entry points for deposits.
- Guided users through cross-chain deposit steps with less technical complexity.
- Educated users that deposited assets could earn yield and be used as collateral for perpetual trading.
Users needed a clearer overview of their balances, liabilities, earnings, and positions across Drift.
My Design Focus
- Clear financial hierarchy
- Unified asset overview
- Easier position management
- Improved performance visibility
- Consistent actions across the ecosystem
Extending the Drift V3 design language across web and mobile
While Drift primarily focused on the web experience due to wallet connectivity and trading behavior in Web3, I also contributed to the beta mobile app. Designed for both iOS and Android, it entered internal testing in early 2026.
My Contribution
- Responsive layouts for key product flows
- Mobile UI adaptation for core experiences
- Drift V3 visual consistency across web and mobile
- Beta app design for iOS and Android
Business Context
During the period I contributed to Drift Earn, the platform continued to expand into a broader DeFi ecosystem, reaching over $1B in Total Value Locked, $70B+ in cumulative trading volume, and 200K+ traders.
My Contribution: Earn Experience & Earn Ecosystem, Borrow & Lend, Deposit & Onboarding Flow, Portfolio & Account Management, Launch Visuals & Promotional Assets.
Reflection
This project strengthened my ability to translate complex financial requirements into clear product interfaces. Working closely with PMs and engineers also helped me balance product logic, technical constraints, and visual consistency across an evolving DeFi ecosystem.