Jito
Redesigning a crypto dashboard for improved accessibility and financial decision-making
DURATION
1 month
(Jan-Feb’23)
1 month
(Jan-Feb’23)
ROLE
Product Designer
Product Designer
TEAM
Product Designers,
Jito team (Founders, Eng)
Product Designers,
Jito team (Founders, Eng)
RESPONSIBILITY
Web App Design, Research
Web App Design, Research
CONTEXT
Jito is the first crypto infrastructure company that specializes in Maximal Extractable Value Infrastructure
...building tools to scale Solana (a cryptocurrency) and maximize validator reward profits.
The MEV Dashboard, the first of its kind in the industry, was created for users to keep track of common MEV and SOL (Solana) statistics.
︎ Jito was a client at Wonderstruck Studio
PROBLEM
Users currently struggle to use a clunky dashboard
FINAL SOLUTION
Easily scannable and increased relevancy for better financial-making decisions
︎ View prototype here
︎
See how I arrived at this solution ⤵
RESEARCH
What the hell is MEV?
I admittedly am an web3/crypto n00b so a big challenge with Jito was understanding what I was designing and who the user was.
To start, we need to understand what the proof-of-staking (POS) system is:
Proof-of-stake
- Staking: the process in which people pledge crypto tokens to win transaction validation rights.
- With these rights, validators validate transactions to be added to the blockchain.
- As a reward, validators receive a commission for their work which is called…
…MEV (Maximal Extractable Value)
Refers to the maximum amount of value aka “invisible tax” a blockchain validator can collect when producing a block on a blockchain network.During validation, there are opportunities for validators to reorder transactions and therefore create opportunities for arbitrages, liquidations, and sandwich attacks. (This article is great for a deeper dive)
Who is the user?
Users who are into MEV generally have a deeper understanding of crypto than the average Bitcoin holder. In traditional finance, think of the type of person who is into currency arbitrages and liquidations - they would be the similar equivalent.
The user of the MEV dashboard should:
The user of the MEV dashboard should:
- Have a technical understanding of the proof-of-staking system
- Regularly analyzes condensed dashboards to make financial decisions.
Competitive audit
Since there is no existing MEV dashboard, I researched both web2 and web3 financial dashboards:💽 Web2
(ex. Fidelity, Robinhood)
(ex. Fidelity, Robinhood)
🔍 What dashboard elements general users want to see, and the best practices on how to visualize data
🚀 Web3
(ex. EigenPhi, SolanaFM)
(ex. EigenPhi, SolanaFM)
🔍 What financial data crypto users want to see
Pain Points
People struggle to easily navigate the MEV Dashboard due to:- Dispersed blocks of information
- Irrelevant graphical representations of data
DESIGN GOAL
Create a tailored dashboard to increase user’s trust in data presented
To achieve this vision, I broke it out into supporting design goals:
- Condense blocks of information
- Create useful visual representations of data
- Create a dashboard based on the existing design system (light mode)
User impact : Easy to navigate dashboard means a better pulse on the MEV industry…
…which can lead to better financial decision-making 💸Business impact : Higher usage of dashboard means better brand recognition within the industry…
…which can lead to higher usage of other Jito tools 🛠IDEATION
What are all the different ways the data can be visually represented?
In my explorations, I identified:
- The purpose of each dashboard element/chart + the minimal amount of elements needed to portray the data
- Different visualizations of each graph based on user goals
Scoping
I presented the sketches to the design manager and we chose which elements to flesh out.The top-voted wireframes were those that:
- Included the visual elements that user’s needed to see to make the best financial decisions
- Condensed information, utilizing the white space
ITERATION
The client wanted to update the existing design system, so I redesigned the MEV dashboard based on the new design system.
In my iterations, I focused on:
- Optimizing existing designs for dark mode (accent colors look more bright)
- Condense dashboard elements even more
SELF REFLECTIONS 📓
- Advocate for more client/Eng communication, especially early on. It was only later when we synced with the client that I realized the client team had yet to agree amongst themselves the product direction and details. Communication between design, Eng, and PM helps everyone better define product vision and strategy.
- Research is king, but so is intuition from past experience…especially in tight time frames. I’m glad that my background in Finance (years spent looking at dashboards) came into use in the unfamiliar space of crypto!