Cryptorai was one of those projects where I found myself dipped in hot water right on my first day after joining their remote team. Brutal deadlines, an oversaturated market, cut-throat competition, and a boatload of design debt. I was the first designer on their team of 5 highly experienced developers and founders, all working remotely.

After learning about their previous individual experiences working with designers, I had to set up a digital space for them to talk, collaborate and discuss design. I didn't want design to become a one-man job within the team. Rather, I wanted everyone to think like a designer while developing the product in order to avoid bottlenecks in the decision making process.

This really came through well because they were already used to making design-related decisions without labeling it under design, but as product decisions long before I arrived. When I was folded into the product, I started with a product evaluation session with everyone where’d I’d ask questions like

“Why was this page made like this and not like that?”

- and drew parallels for myself to acquire a frame of understanding. Most of the responses manifested a strong rationale behind them from a dev and trader point of view. As a UX designer new to this industry, it took me a while to understand the product and the space before I could make any assessments.

Not being a crypto trader myself, my questions would often be along the lines of -

“What’s the significance of that number on the screen?”

“How does that really affect the decision of a trader?”

“How does one translate these numbers into something of actual value?”