TLDR I designed the user interface for Kappapad's crowdfunding investment webapp. Working with smart contract and front end developers I created detailed specs, followed by wireframes and high fidelity mockups. This project improved my ability to work in environments where thorough research isn't always practical.
Tools: Figma, Procreate, Principle
Skills: Web Design, UI Design, Animation
Kappapad was a Launchpad, a platform that provides a space for emerging crypto projects to secure funding. The launchpad curates a list of promising startups, and attracts a member pool of investors, who it verifies with Know Your Customer (KYC) technology. Investors get early access to new tokens, and startups get the funding they need to scale. The app had to support members monitoring their investments, startup teams tracking their funding, and the Launchpad team's admin capabilities.
Seeing inside most Launchpads requires significant up-front investment. It's hard to get hands-on experience, even harder to conduct thorough comparative research. But I think that some research is always better than none. So I compiled a list of functions for the app by referencing a combination of non-blockchain crowdfunding and investment platforms.
Even with my research, I was unsure of the full scope of this app. Rather than try and gather every spec before building, I focused my initial designs just on the investor's experience. Those designs then clarified what startups would need when providing data for the investors to browse.
Building out the wireframes for these two sections let me tackle the platform admin user stories with more confidence. In the meantime, the client and the rest of the development team were able to give feedback on the pieces I had already finished, allowing me to polish as I moved ahead.
Motion can easily be overwhelming or clunky if overused. But Kappapad's colorful fun branding gave me some great opportunities to experiment with animation. The tiers above fill up like with a liquid motion, the and the mascots bounce as they move on screen.
The client liked our work so much, they immediately returned for another project! The site never ended up going live, but I liked the design too much to just let it disappear.
