Regardless of recent news about the crypto sphere landslide, the field of digital currencies remains one of the most attractive for its revolutionary technology. Even more so, all downs and falls trigger governments to comprehensively regulate the domain and create a solid base for development.
The most popular technology in the crypto world is crypto exchange software, an essential mechanism for a cryptocurrency exchange platform and thus traders of all levels. While functionality undoubtedly remains the king, you can hardly refuse the queen or visual architecture. Today, we are discussing how to design a cryptocurrency exchange and the key constituents of its UI/UX.
Step-By-Step Plan
How to create a crypto exchange? Even more so, turn it into an aesthetic user-friendly platform? First and foremost, you should outline the bedrock stages. This is what you can’t do without:
- Client interview
- Market research
- Target audience research
- Wireframe design
- Prototype design
These are the essential components that can be applied for a great body of your projects, not only for crypto exchange design. Yet, we will expand on each in terms of cryptocurrency specifications.
Client interview
Hardly can you deny how vital it is for you as a designer to understand your client’s needs. For that, you take the role of an interrogator and thoroughly investigate their vision and wants.
Should it be your first crypto exchange project, research in advance how it works, its basic structure, types, and inventory. Many developers keep blogs where, in plain English, field specialists explain the functional aspect.
Apart from functionality review, look through existing designs on Pinterest, Behance, and Dribble for inspiration. It will increase your visual savviness. Plus, you can save ideas to refer to while negotiating with your client.
By gaining a clearer understanding of the final product, you will find it easier to conduct a client interview. Here are some tips on what to ask.
What to ask my client?
- What type of exchange do you want?
- How do you see your platform?
- What is your target market?
- Who is your target audience?
- What are the primary and secondary features of your platform?
- When are the deadlines?
- How to protect your crypto exchange?
Note the answers down. It can also be helpful to record your dialogue to relisten and have proof, in case you need some. Do not forget to warn your client and ask their permission before you start recording.
Market research
At this stage, you review existing practices on the market. Leaf through competitors and how they solve tasks you are yet to face. During the market research, you will come across two types of players:
- Forex professionals who aim to implement features they are familiar with from currency exchanges and thus outwin newcomers;
- Stock exchange enthusiasts who mainly allege to the Internet sources of information and do not dedicate much attention to design.
While researching peers and their examples, direct attention to the user path: where it starts and ends. Also, observe its efficiency and comprehensibility. Think about missing parts or those you wish to eliminate in your scenario.
Further, draft your own version based on the practices you have studied. In addition, we recommend you elaborate on several hypotheses to test and pick the most appropriate.
Target audience research
Now, it is time you discovered the audience of your cryptocurrency exchange. Defining it with a client is a huge advantage, yet an extreme rarity. In most cases, you will have something like, “I want this platform to be accessible for users of any background.”
Anyway, you need to describe a typical visitor of your crypto project to have an idea of your final consumer. In evolving crypto environments, intermediate players form the core. In this regard, you can narrow the scope of traders, emphasizing beginners and professionals less, and focus on your target public.
Who is my target audience?
- What do they do?
- What is their lifestyle?
- What are their interests and hobbies?
- How much time do they spend on crypto exchanges?
- What is their level of expertise in the crypto sphere?
- Why do they trade on crypto exchanges?
- What do they expect from such a crypto exchange?
To answer these, you can follow discussions on various thematic forums, read reviews, and ask your friends and colleagues. You can be a respondent too, regardless of your level in the sphere. Just think about what you would like to experience on a crypto exchange.
Wireframe design
At this stage, you are all set to develop your wireframe design. Here, you are to create a scheme for your final project. There are three types of wireframes:
- Low-fidelity: schematic positioning, black and white colours;
- Mid-fidelity: more detailed visualization, clear interactions with elements, lorem ipsum content;
- High-fidelity: close to the final UI, icons, images, and buttons in place ready for prototyping, real content.
We advise never to skip the first step, projecting a rough interface of your final product. Later, you might need to change buttons or icon positioning, sizes, etc. Without a low-fidelity wireframe, you will have to modify your design in a high-fidelity project, which may cause inconsistencies with other parts and a more troublesome adjustment.
Crypto exchange architecture
As to the architecture, your design should ensure a sense of security as long as crypto exchanges deal with money and personal data. Fair enough, a developer should be reliable. Yet, you, as a designer, can transmit this stability and flawlessness. To achieve it, you design all the necessary scenarios.
What scenarios to design?
User onboarding
At this stage, a user gets to know a crypto platform, meaning user onboarding is in charge of the first impression. This so-called tour is better to be concise and informative enough so that prospective traders wouldn’t turn the website off once and for all.
Profile verification
In this scenario, when users enter their data and send photos of their documents, they should understand the purpose and the degree of security the website guarantees. To better understand verification techniques and objectives, check the EU crypto regulation.
Besides, you might need to work on hints and tips that explain how to take photos or where to find the required data. This step is not obligatory, yet advisable. Moreover, regard it as a hypothesis to test: whether overall performance advances with such tips or remains the same.
Payment integration
After a user verifies their identity, they integrate a payment means. Generally, cryptocurrency exchanges integrate cards, wallets, and bank transfers, with numerous currencies. You should clearly state every method, plus enable convenient navigation and quick switching between currencies.
Order book
An order book allows traders to see available pairs and the best offers after depositing. You can also project an option to keep the money in an internal wallet or withdraw it to an external one when a deal is concluded,
Wallets
Apart from integrating external wallets, crypto domains develop their own storage. For that, you need to style an internal wallet to be secure. Think about designing password fields or 2-factor verification in scenarios when a user wants to send their money.
Scenarios can be more than these. Nevertheless, try to keep your design as user-friendly as possible, that is to say, do not overload it with loads of buttons and unintelligible features.
Prototype design
When your design has been approved, you can prototype it. You build interactions between design elements for future usability tests. At this point, you also check your hypotheses and polish your design for further development.
Even though an interactive interface will give the first users a good experience, you need not prototype every minor feature right from the start. In this case, it will be hard for your testers to concentrate on the main features and take this prototype as such, not as a final crypto exchange.
Bottom line
Designing your first cryptocurrency exchange project may be burdensome. Still, it is a huge opportunity to practise your skill and try yourself in a whole new business area.
Communicate with your client and other team members. Remember that even when you pass your project to developers and content creators, there may be questions. Always be ready to answer them, change, add, remove some elements or stand for your ideas.