Overview

CoinDesk is the most trusted media, events, indices and data company for the global crypto economy. Since 2013, CoinDesk Media has led the story of the future of money and investing, illuminating the transformation in society and culture that comes with it. In 2021, the company grew rapidly as the crypto started to become main stream.In early 2021, I joined CoinDesk as the lead product designer and art director. I led a team of three designers and two product managers in an in-house redesign project for the website and brand refresh. This involved evaluating the user experience, ensuring accessibility compliance, and creating comprehensive design and brand systems. We conducted user interviews, tests, stakeholder workshops, and iterative design phases, culminating in successful A/B testing and a strategic launch. Post-redesign, I continued to drive site improvements based on user feedback and data insights.

Objectives

The aim of this project was to help CoinDesk increase brand awareness as a trusted global crypto media company and improve web experience.

‍1. Enhanced Visual Identity: Elevate CoinDesk’s brand presence as a trusted source in cryptocurrency news and analysis.
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‍2. Streamlined User Experience: Optimize UX to cater to diverse user needs and behaviors within the cryptocurrency community.
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‍3. Unified Design System: Develop a scalable design system to maintain brand coherence and facilitate efficient design processes.

User Research & Business requirements

USER BREAKDOWN
Discovery User: Invested in a bit of crypto.
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Motivation:
Stay updated on current prices and the markets. Make early investment. What are the big news on the current markets and how would that affect their investment.
User Journey: Coming from newsletters or organic search.

Pre-Discovery User: New to crypto, thinking about investing in crypto and want to learn more.
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‍Motivation:
Learn about it before investing. Education. What is bitcoin? What does each data mean?
User Journey: Coming from organic search. (SEO optimization) → Price Page or News article.

BUSINESS REQUIREMENT
‍Main source of revenue comes from numbers of pageviews, sponsored content and advertisement conversion rate.

Main user entry points: article page and price page.
Improve seamless advertisement experience and sponsored content that doesn’t destruct user experience. Create sponsored content opportunities on the page that help serve user goals.
Other source of revenue: Newsletter subscription, open rate and advertisement. Podcast subscription and advertisement.

Brand guidelines

The primary goal of creating brand guidelines is to ensure consistency and coherence in how a brand is presented across all channels and touchpoints. Here are the key goals:

1. Consistency: Brand guidelines establish a consistent visual and verbal identity for your brand. This consistency helps customers recognize and remember your brand more easily.

2. Clarity: Guidelines provide clear instructions on how to use brand elements such as logos, colors, fonts, and imagery. This clarity ensures that everyone involved in creating content or materials for the brand understands how to represent it correctly.

‍3. Coherence: By defining the brand's voice, tone, and style, guidelines ensure that all communications and designs align with the brand's values and personality. This coherence reinforces the brand's identity and strengthens its positioning in the market.

4. Protection: Guidelines protect the integrity of the brand by setting boundaries on how brand assets should be used. This prevents misuse or misrepresentation of the brand, maintaining its credibility and trustworthiness.

5. Efficiency: Having clear guidelines streamlines the design and marketing process. Designers and marketers can work more efficiently when they have a clear framework to follow, reducing the time spent on revisions and ensuring faster turnaround times for projects.

6. Adaptability: While guidelines provide a framework for consistency, they should also allow for some flexibility to adapt to different mediums, audiences, and evolving trends. This balance ensures that the brand remains relevant and adaptable over time.

7. Brand Equity: Ultimately, brand guidelines contribute to building and enhancing brand equity—the value and strength of a brand as perceived by consumers. Consistent and coherent branding builds trust and loyalty, leading to increased brand equity and competitive advantage in the marketplace.

In summary, brand guidelines serve as a roadmap for maintaining a unified and impactful brand presence, helping to reinforce brand identity, communicate effectively with audiences, and protect the brand's reputation and value.

Email template

The primary goal of creating an email template is to design a standardized format that enhances the effectiveness and consistency of your email reading experience and content strategy.

Podcast

Podcasts offer various business benefits that contribute to marketing, brand awareness, audience engagement, and even revenue generation.

illustration

Illustrations offer a multitude of benefits across different fields: they captivate attention with visual appeal and simplify complex ideas, enhancing communication and making information more accessible and memorable. Custom illustrations differentiate brands by conveying unique identities and values through versatile applications in digital and print media. They evoke emotions, foster engagement, and transcend cultural barriers, resonating globally with audiences. Cost-effective and creatively liberating, illustrations provide flexibility for artistic expression while enhancing content with storytelling elements and interactive features that encourage user engagement. Ultimately, illustrations are a powerful visual tool that strengthens brand identity, improves communication effectiveness, and enriches user experiences across diverse platforms and audiences.

Price Page & Indicies

Goal: Provide the most up-to-date crypto prices and markets update. As well as display advertisement seamlessly.

Design system

Creating a design system offers several benefits, particularly for organizations that prioritize consistency, efficiency, and scalability in their design and development processes. Here are the key benefits of creating a design system:

1. Consistency: A design system ensures visual and functional consistency across all products, services, and communication channels. This consistency reinforces brand identity and improves user experience by creating predictable and familiar interactions.

2. Efficiency: Design systems streamline the design and development process by providing reusable components, patterns, and guidelines. Designers and developers can work more efficiently, saving time and effort on repetitive tasks.

3. Scalability: As organizations grow or expand their digital presence, design systems provide a scalable framework that can adapt to new products, features, and platforms. This scalability ensures that design and development efforts remain cohesive and manageable across diverse teams and projects.

‍4. Collaboration: Design systems promote collaboration and alignment across multidisciplinary teams (e.g., design, development, product management). By establishing shared principles and standards, teams can collaborate more effectively and reduce misunderstandings or inconsistencies.

5. Faster Iteration: With predefined components and guidelines, teams can iterate more quickly on designs and prototypes. This rapid iteration speeds up the feedback loop, allowing for faster improvements and adjustments based on user feedback or market changes.

6. Improved Accessibility: Design systems can include accessibility standards and best practices, ensuring that products are usable by all users, including those with disabilities. This commitment to accessibility enhances inclusivity and broadens your audience reach.

7. Brand Cohesion: By codifying brand elements such as colors, typography, and iconography, design systems help maintain brand cohesion across different touchpoints and channels. This consistent brand representation strengthens brand recognition and trust.

‍8. Maintenance and Updates: Design systems facilitate easier maintenance and updates. Changes to design patterns or brand guidelines can be implemented systematically across all products and platforms, ensuring that they remain current and aligned with evolving business goals.

9. Reduced Costs: Over time, design systems can lead to cost savings by minimizing redundant design efforts, reducing development time, and improving product quality. This efficiency allows organizations to allocate resources more effectively.

In summary, the primary benefit of creating a design system is to establish a unified and efficient approach to design and development, fostering consistency, scalability, collaboration, and ultimately improving the overall user experience and brand perception.