Creative Tips and Trends for DeFi Design

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has emerged as a revolutionary force in finance, providing an alternative and open platform for people to manage their digital assets. With its promise of transparency, security, and accessibility, DeFi captured the attention of millions of individuals. According to research, the DeFi market expansion is estimated to happen at a compound annual growth rate of 42.5% until 2030. Design plays a pivotal role in shaping the way users interact with DeFi platforms, making it essential to create intuitive and visually appealing interfaces that inspire trust and encourage participation. Today, we’ll discuss how to design DeFi to make your platform stand out.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a system to manage financial activities on a decentralized blockchain network. Unlike traditional economic systems, which rely on intermediaries like banks and other financial institutions, DeFi aims to create a transparent and permissionless financial system accessible to anyone.

One of the fundamental DeFi characteristics is its open nature. Most DeFi applications and protocols are built using smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement written into code. Smart contracts enable automated transactions, eliminating the need for intermediaries and reducing counterparty risk. 

DeFi has gained significant attention due to its potential to provide financial services to the unbanked, lower transaction costs, increase financial inclusivity, and enable more efficient and accessible global financial markets. However, while DeFi delivers numerous opportunities, it also carries risks such as system vulnerability, market mutability, and regulatory challenges.

DeFi is still a complex topic for people. More than half of the platform’s success depends on its design. Read further to learn the best tips to design DeFi. 

Prioritize safety

One thing about DeFi is that it’s never 100% safe. Blockchain technologies saw fraud cases due to their transparent system. But when creating the DeFi design, you must provide users with all the security features. Your task is to make them feel confident using a platform, so safety and security is your main concern in designing. 

Educate users about best practices for interacting with DeFi platforms, including the importance of secure wallet management, careful consideration of risks, and financial processes’ verification. Provide clear instructions, warnings, and user-friendly interfaces to prevent common mistakes and reduce the likelihood of user error. 

Conducting security audits to identify system vulnerabilities is critical for safer and better performance. The audits can provide an additional assurance level. 

Read also: Web 3.0 UX Design.

Provide contextual help

Including contextual help in DeFi design is essential for educating users on engaging successfully with the platform. It aims to offer users real-time guidance, explanations, and support as they navigate the platform and interact with its features. 

Provide onboarding tutorials or walkthroughs to familiarize new users with the platform's main features, processes, and terminology. These tutorials can be interactive and offer step-by-step guidance, helping users understand how to create a wallet or initiate a transaction. You can incorporate tooltips and explanatory text throughout the platform to provide additional guidance. Tooltips can be triggered when users hover over specific elements like buttons or text, offering brief explanations or context-specific tips. 

Such tips can empower users with the knowledge they need to navigate the complex world of decentralized finance. Well-designed and informative guidance can enhance user experience, increase confidence, and encourage wider adoption of DeFi applications.

Give feedback 

Feedback can refer to contextual help in a certain way. But let’s take a closer look at this. Feedback allows users to understand the processes better and enhances the platform’s security and stability. 

Concise and informative messages are your key to users’ attention. Communicate the outcome of user actions, whether they were successful or encountered errors. Include relevant information such as transaction confirmations, error explanations, or instructions on the next steps. Utilize visual cues to provide immediate feedback to users. They help understand that the interactions are being processed and reassure that the system is responding. 

Effective feedback enhances the platform’s functionalities understanding and ensures a positive user experience.

Use icons

Icons help save space on the interface and allow users to scan the page. Text may be redundant and overwhelming. Some people still need to learn about DeFi technology, so creating a user-focused design enables them to comprehend the processes faster. 

Use icons that accurately represent the actions, features, or information they are associated with. They should convey the intended meaning at a glance and align with user expectations. It creates a certain feeling of familiarity and makes navigating understandable. Ensure that icons are simple, clear, and easily distinguishable, so avoid complex designs that may confuse users. Simplified concept representation can convey meaning effectively. Otherwise, the interface may look cluttered and need to be clarified for visitors.

Create a simple interface

Your DeFi design must have everything on the surface as any other blockchain user experience. Adopt a minimalistic design approach, emphasizing simplicity and clarity. Use minimal visual elements to reduce distractions and cognitive load. In this case, avoid unnecessary elements that don’t contribute to the user experience. 

See also: What Is Minimalist Web Design. 

Design a concise dashboard that gives users an overview of their account balances, transaction history, and relevant metrics. Keep the layout well-organized, with essential information easily accessible. It’s better not to overload the pages and give users space to get to know your platform. Ensure intuitive navigation when you design DeFi. Use a logical informational architecture to organize various features, making it easy for users to find what they need. 

Remember to create a responsive design that adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes. Ensure the interface remains user-friendly and accessible on both desktop and mobile gadgets. Test the interface across various devices to guarantee a consistent experience. This way, you appear as a reliable platform for users.

How to make the user experience more engaging? We offer you some of the best trends for designing your DeFi platform. 

Bright colors

The bright and neon color palette is widely used in decentralized apps. It’s attention-grabbing, fresh, and new, which people may associate with innovative technologies. Besides, the bright color palette looks good on typical backgrounds, such as dark or white. 

Bright colors help draw users' focus to specific elements or actions within the interface. They can effectively highlight essential features, buttons, or notifications, making them stand out and increasing user engagement. Additionally, bright colors establish a unique brand identity for the DeFi platform. Vibrant and distinctive color schemes can help differentiate the platform from competitors and create a memorable visual presence. 

But be cautious and don’t overdo this element in your DeFi design. Maintain consistency in color usage throughout the platform to create a visually cohesive experience. The abundance of shades and contrast may not look trustworthy to some users. 

Learn more about How to Choose the Correct UI Design Colors.

Illustrations

Why illustrations are important? They are a powerful visual tool in DeFi design and can benefit the overall user experience. Engaging illustrations capture users' attention and create an emotional connection. Design is about provoking emotions, and illustrations can induce positive feelings, spark curiosity, or convey crucial messages, increasing user engagement and fostering a positive perception of the platform. 

You can use illustrations for visual storytelling, making complex financial concepts more approachable and interactive. They might help simplify abstract ideas and communicate information in a visually appealing and understandable manner. Continuing with contextual help, illustrations can serve as visual cues, guiding users through different actions or steps within the platform. 

Well-designed and playful illustrations can add a touch of delight to the user experience. They can create a more enjoyable and memorable interaction with the platform, making users feel more connected and inclined to explore further.

As you can see, illustrations help you develop a user-centered design. Consider adding them to your platform to enhance the user experience. 

See the illustration services we offer.

Dark background 

Using a dark background in DeFi design gained popularity in recent years. A dark background can create a sophisticated visual aesthetic. It can provide a sense of elegance and modernity to the DeFi platform, particularly when paired with contrasting bright colors. A well-implemented dark theme can make the interface stand out and leave an enduring impression on users. Moreover, it creates a sense of depth and allows content to stand out. The contrast between light-colored text, icons, and other interface elements against the dark background can enhance legibility and help users focus on the details without distractions.

Animations

Well-executed animations add visual interest, bring static elements to life, and make interactions more enjoyable. Thoughtful and purposeful animations can make the DeFi platform feel dynamic and responsive, increasing user engagement. 

Animations create a sense of continuity and flow within the user interface. Designers can make a cohesive and seamless platform by designing smooth transitions between screens, sections, and interactions. It helps users navigate the platform more intuitively and provides a more satisfying experience. 

While animations can enhance the user experience, it's essential to consider performance and optimize their implementation. Poorly optimized animations can negatively impact the platform's performance, leading to slower load times or increased resource usage when you design DeFi, test animations on different devices and optimize them to ensure smooth implementation. 

You may be interested in our motion design services.

Gamification

Gamification earned recognition and can be a fun addition to your DeFi design. Gamification rewards users for completing specific actions or achieving certain milestones within the platform. It includes earning tokens, badges, or other virtual assets that hold value within the decentralized apps. Rewards can incentivize users to participate and explore different features of the platform. Implementing progression creates a sense of achievement and progress for users. By allowing users to level up or unlock new features as they complete tasks, you motivate users to stay with the platform for the long term. 

You can implement gamification in education and encourage users to learn more about DeFi. By presenting educational content in a gamified manner, users can acquire knowledge and skills while enjoying the process. 

Read our article on Gamification in UX.

We’d like to share with you our project Inkefy. It’s an innovative NFT website that allows users to order custom-made NFT prints with ease. The streamlined interface makes it intuitive to use. Our team did significant work on every detail to develop a compelling landing page. Everything from colors to typography was analyzed to make the platform eye-catching and engaging. You can find all the additional information on the thorough case study.

As the DeFi landscape continues to evolve rapidly, staying ahead of the design curve is crucial to creating platforms that cater to the users' needs. By embracing the principles of user-driven experience and implementing the latest innovations in the DeFi design interface, you can contribute to the growth and success of the decentralized finance world.

Gapsy is an experienced team and will provide you with outstanding work. Don’t hesitate and contact us to discuss the future project. Find more of our works on Dribbble. We are looking forward to working with you!