Cryptos The Cryptocurrency App
The Product
Cryptos is a cryptocurrency trading app that allows users to buy and sell various cryptocurrencies. It provides the user with a diverse set of tools to monitor their investments, model future trades, and track market trends.
The Problem
Do it yourself traders want an app that will allow them to buy and sell different cryptocurrencies as well as monitor the latest market trends and alert them to any market fluctuations.
The Goal
Create an app that will allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies and provide them with tools to monitor their investments and the market.
My Role
Lead UX Research & Designer
My Responsibilities
My responsibilities throughout the project included user research (interviews and usability studies), paper and digital wireframing, low and high fidelity prototyping, verifying accessibility, and design iterations.
User Research
As the lead UX researcher and designer for this project, I conducted interviews, created empathy maps, and conducted usability studies to understand the user and their needs for this app.
After conducting the initial interviews three primary goals emerged for these users. The first and most common goal is having tools to model their portfolios and track market trends. The second goal for users is receiving notifications for changes in their portfolio. The third goal for users is to buy and sell crypto-currencies with minimal fees.
User Pain Points
Persona
Journey Map
Paper Wireframes
Creating multiple versions of the wireframes helped to identify features for the app while addressing common user pain points, and mapping out the basic user flow for the page. Finanical and trading apps need to provide the user with lots of information. Finding the right amount of information to display will affect the overall user experience. The goal with the Cryptos app is to provide a smooth and logical user flow, displaying just the right amount of information in order not to overwhelm the user.
Note: This is a digital representation of the paper wireframes for improved clarity and readability.
Digital Wireframes
During the design phases of the project, user recommendations were implemented into the overall design of the app focusing on easy navigation and providing an informative layout.
A key feature for the app is the user’s portfolio. Here they will be able monitor their portfolio’s performance, buy and sell currencies, and have access to tools that will help them make the best decisions for their investments.
Low-Fidelity Protoype
The low-fidelity prototype demonstrates the main user flow for viewing and selecting currencies, as well as executing currency transactions for the app.
Usability Study
I conducted two usability studies. The first study was based on the initial high-fidelity prototype. This study revealed the user pain points when using the app. The second study was based on the updated high-fidelity prototype and identified specific features that needed improvement.
Mockups
The initial designs of the high-fidelity prototypes incorporated many of the low-fidelity layouts and features. Even though many of the elements of the low-fidelity prototypes were added to the high-fidelity prototypes the usability study revealed that certain key features were missing or had been overlooked such as help for users, so I added help options to the app.
Another important conclusion from the usability studies was the need for more information for the user, especially the shopping cart icon. I added the number of items currently in the shopping cart to the cart icon. I also simplified the user experience by adding close buttons to key pages to allow the user to close the current screen and return to the main feature page without having to backtrack through previous screens.
Responsive Design:
High-Fidelity Prototype
The final high fidelity prototype applies many of the recommendations from the research conducted for the project to provide an intuitive interface using multiple navigational aids to provide a clean and smooth user flow.
Accessibility Considerations:
Impact
The Cryptos cryptocurrency trading app demonstrates the company’s goal of providing its customers with another valuable tool for their investment portfolio. Having an app that gives its customers the tools to make strategic and knowledgable decisions for their investments combined with the ability to purchase cryptocurrency with minimal fees is crucial in giving Cryptos an edge over it’s competition.
What I Learned
Working on this project provided me with some valuable insights. Using the research results I was able to modify the designs to meet the users needs and add features I never even thought of. I also learned the value of quality over quantity in terms of what types of information to give the user.
Next Steps
Apply changes from usability study to high fidelity prototype
Test prototype
Finalize designs
Hand off designs to the engineers for final product development
Run a final usability study with the actual product
Based on the study’s success prepare product for beta testing