VeWorld — UX/UI Redesign & Feature Expansion
VeWorld —
UX/UI Redesign & Feature Expansion
VeWorld — UX/UI Redesign & Feature Expansion
VeChain Wallet · Mobile App (iOS & Android) · Web3 / Blockchain · 8 months (2025)
VeChain Wallet · Mobile App (iOS & Android) · Web3 / Blockchain · 8 months (2025)
VeChain Wallet · Mobile App (iOS & Android) · Web3 / Blockchain · 8 months (2025)
Making blockchain feel invisible to a 60-year-old while keeping it powerful for a crypto native — the real challenge behind this full redesign of VeWorld, VeChain's flagship self-custody wallet — while growing daily active users from 2,000 to 18,000 and surpassing 1 million installs in 12 months.
Making blockchain feel invisible to a 60-year-old while keeping it powerful for a crypto native — the real challenge behind this full redesign of VeWorld, VeChain's flagship self-custody wallet — while growing daily active users from 2,000 to 18,000 and surpassing 1 million installs in 12 months.
Making blockchain feel invisible to a 60-year-old while keeping it powerful for a crypto native — the real challenge behind this full redesign of VeWorld, VeChain's flagship self-custody wallet — while growing daily active users from 2,000 to 18,000 and surpassing 1 million installs in 12 months.
Context
Context
From Niche Tool to Mainstream Product
From Niche Tool to Mainstream Product
From Niche Tool to Mainstream Product
VeChain is a leading enterprise-grade blockchain platform. VeWorld is its flagship self-custody digital wallet, enabling users to manage crypto assets, sign transactions, and interact with decentralised applications directly from their phone.
VeChain is a leading enterprise-grade blockchain platform. VeWorld is its flagship self-custody digital wallet, enabling users to manage crypto assets, sign transactions, and interact with decentralised applications directly from their phone.
VeChain is a leading enterprise-grade blockchain platform. VeWorld is its flagship self-custody digital wallet, enabling users to manage crypto assets, sign transactions, and interact with decentralised applications directly from their phone.
I joined as Lead Designer on a team tasked with a full UX and UI overhaul — not just a visual refresh, but a structural rethink of navigation, interaction patterns, onboarding, and account security flows. In parallel, I was building the VeChain Design System, a shared component library that would serve four internal products, with VeWorld as its primary consumer.
I joined as Lead Designer on a team tasked with a full UX and UI overhaul — not just a visual refresh, but a structural rethink of navigation, interaction patterns, onboarding, and account security flows. In parallel, I was building the VeChain Design System, a shared component library that would serve four internal products, with VeWorld as its primary consumer.
I joined as Lead Designer on a team tasked with a full UX and UI overhaul — not just a visual refresh, but a structural rethink of navigation, interaction patterns, onboarding, and account security flows. In parallel, I was building the VeChain Design System, a shared component library that would serve four internal products, with VeWorld as its primary consumer.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Lead Product Designer
Lead Product Designer
Product Discovery
Interface design & Prototyping
Interaction Design
QA tester
Product Discovery
Interface design & Prototyping
Interaction Design
QA tester
Team
Myself (Lead Product Designer)
UX Lead Designer
Product Manager
5 Engineers
QA Engineer
Myself (Lead Product Designer)
UX Lead Designer
Product Manager
5 Engineers
QA Engineer
Tools
Figma
VeChain's Design System
Mixpanel & Ai analysis (Research)
Miro (team brainstorming)
Maze (User testing)
User-survey (social networks)
Figma
VeChain's Design System
Mixpanel & Ai analysis (Research)
Miro (team brainstorming)
Maze (User testing)
User-survey (social networks)
The Problem
The Problem
The app had accumulated significant design debt — failed contrast ratios, misused components, deep drill-down navigation. But as I dug deeper into analytics and survey data, the real problem became clearer than the visual symptoms suggested.
VeWorld needed to grow beyond its existing Web3-native audience and become genuinely usable for mainstream consumers aged 45–70 — people encountering a self-custody wallet for the first time. The interface was making blockchain feel more intimidating than it needed to be. Meanwhile, the crypto-savvy users already in the product couldn't be alienated.
That became the north star: make blockchain invisible — reduce cognitive load to zero for new users, without adding friction for power users.
The app had accumulated significant design debt — failed contrast ratios, misused components, deep drill-down navigation. But as I dug deeper into analytics and survey data, the real problem became clearer than the visual symptoms suggested.
VeWorld needed to grow beyond its existing Web3-native audience and become genuinely usable for mainstream consumers aged 45–70 — people encountering a self-custody wallet for the first time. The interface was making blockchain feel more intimidating than it needed to be. Meanwhile, the crypto-savvy users already in the product couldn't be alienated.
That became the north star: make blockchain invisible — reduce cognitive load to zero for new users, without adding friction for power users.
The app had accumulated significant design debt — failed contrast ratios, misused components, deep drill-down navigation. But as I dug deeper into analytics and survey data, the real problem became clearer than the visual symptoms suggested.
VeWorld needed to grow beyond its existing Web3-native audience and become genuinely usable for mainstream consumers aged 45–70 — people encountering a self-custody wallet for the first time. The interface was making blockchain feel more intimidating than it needed to be. Meanwhile, the crypto-savvy users already in the product couldn't be alienated.
That became the north star: make blockchain invisible — reduce cognitive load to zero for new users, without adding friction for power users.
Constraints
Constraints
Two Audiences. One Interface. Zero Compromise.
Two Audiences. One Interface. Zero Compromise.
Two Audiences. One Interface. Zero Compromise.
A dual audience with opposing mental models. Every label, pattern, and interaction had to work simultaneously at two levels of literacy. Too simple and power users feel patronised. Too technical and new users feel lost. There was no middle ground — only design precise enough to serve both.
Blockchain-specific technical boundaries. Every flow touching transactions, account backup, or key management had to be validated against smart contract interaction logic. Solutions that worked visually often needed revision once engineering flagged on-chain constraints.
Tight release cycles. There was no single launch. Fixes, new features, and design system adoption had to ship progressively — meaning design decisions made early had long downstream consequences.
A dual audience with opposing mental models. Every label, pattern, and interaction had to work simultaneously at two levels of literacy. Too simple and power users feel patronised. Too technical and new users feel lost. There was no middle ground — only design precise enough to serve both.
Blockchain-specific technical boundaries. Every flow touching transactions, account backup, or key management had to be validated against smart contract interaction logic. Solutions that worked visually often needed revision once engineering flagged on-chain constraints.
Tight release cycles. There was no single launch. Fixes, new features, and design system adoption had to ship progressively — meaning design decisions made early had long downstream consequences.
The Turning Point
The Turning Point
It Started as a Visual Problem. It Wasn't.
It Started as a Visual Problem.
It Wasn't.
It Started as a Visual Problem. It Wasn't.
Early in the project the brief felt straightforward — fix contrast failures, update the UI, modernise the visual language. But mapping the full navigation architecture in Miro made something structural visible: the app's complexity wasn't just aesthetic. It reflected the product's internal logic, not the user's mental model.
The deeper problem was that VeWorld had been designed for people who already understood blockchain. Every label, every flow, every feedback state assumed prior knowledge that most of our target users simply didn't have. Fixing the colours was never going to solve that.
This reframe changed the entire scope of the project — and became the lens through which every subsequent design decision was made.
Early in the project the brief felt straightforward — fix contrast failures, update the UI, modernise the visual language. But mapping the full navigation architecture in Miro made something structural visible: the app's complexity wasn't just aesthetic. It reflected the product's internal logic, not the user's mental model.
The deeper problem was that VeWorld had been designed for people who already understood blockchain. Every label, every flow, every feedback state assumed prior knowledge that most of our target users simply didn't have. Fixing the colours was never going to solve that.
This reframe changed the entire scope of the project — and became the lens through which every subsequent design decision was made.
Early in the project the brief felt straightforward — fix contrast failures, update the UI, modernise the visual language. But mapping the full navigation architecture in Miro made something structural visible: the app's complexity wasn't just aesthetic. It reflected the product's internal logic, not the user's mental model.
The deeper problem was that VeWorld had been designed for people who already understood blockchain. Every label, every flow, every feedback state assumed prior knowledge that most of our target users simply didn't have. Fixing the colours was never going to solve that.
This reframe changed the entire scope of the project — and became the lens through which every subsequent design decision was made.
The Framework
The Framework
Designing for "The Two Doors"
Designing for "The Two Doors"
Designing for "The Two Doors"
To solve for two fundamentally different user types without building two different products, I developed an approach I called The Two Doors.
Every screen, flow, and interaction had to pass a two-way test:
Door 1 — The Newcomer: A 58-year-old using a self-custody wallet for the first time. No assumed knowledge, and plain language with clear feedback at every step.
Door 2 — The Power User: A crypto-native user who knows exactly what they want and needs efficiency, control, and zero hand-holding.
The same interface had to let both users walk through their own door without knowing the other one existed. This framework was applied to every redesigned flow — onboarding, account creation, account backup, and navigation — and became the central design principle shared with the engineering and product teams.
To solve for two fundamentally different user types without building two different products, I developed an approach I called The Two Doors.
Every screen, flow, and interaction had to pass a two-way test:
Door 1 — The Newcomer: A 58-year-old using a self-custody wallet for the first time. No assumed knowledge, and plain language with clear feedback at every step.
Door 2 — The Power User: A crypto-native user who knows exactly what they want and needs efficiency, control, and zero hand-holding.
The same interface had to let both users walk through their own door without knowing the other one existed. This framework was applied to every redesigned flow — onboarding, account creation, account backup, and navigation — and became the central design principle shared with the engineering and product teams.
To solve for two fundamentally different user types without building two different products, I developed an approach I called The Two Doors.
Every screen, flow, and interaction had to pass a two-way test:
Door 1 — The Newcomer: A 58-year-old using a self-custody wallet for the first time. No assumed knowledge, and plain language with clear feedback at every step.
Door 2 — The Power User: A crypto-native user who knows exactly what they want and needs efficiency, control, and zero hand-holding.
The same interface had to let both users walk through their own door without knowing the other one existed. This framework was applied to every redesigned flow — onboarding, account creation, account backup, and navigation — and became the central design principle shared with the engineering and product teams.
Process
Process
Discovery through data. Without the luxury of a full research phase, I worked closely with analytics data from Mixpanel and ChatGPT insights to identify where users were dropping off, which flows had the highest friction, and what actions were being performed out of the expected sequence — a strong signal of navigation confusion.
Discovery through data. Without the luxury of a full research phase, I worked closely with analytics data from Mixpanel and ChatGPT insights to identify where users were dropping off, which flows had the highest friction, and what actions were being performed out of the expected sequence — a strong signal of navigation confusion.
Discovery through data. Without the luxury of a full research phase, I worked closely with analytics data from Mixpanel and ChatGPT insights to identify where users were dropping off, which flows had the highest friction, and what actions were being performed out of the expected sequence — a strong signal of navigation confusion.
User surveys provided attitudinal context. They confirmed that the core frustration wasn't the complexity of blockchain itself — it was the interface making that complexity feel more intimidating than it needed to be.
User surveys provided attitudinal context. They confirmed that the core frustration wasn't the complexity of blockchain itself — it was the interface making that complexity feel more intimidating than it needed to be.
User surveys provided attitudinal context. They confirmed that the core frustration wasn't the complexity of blockchain itself — it was the interface making that complexity feel more intimidating than it needed to be.
Mapping before designing. I used Figjam to audit the existing navigation architecture and map every screen, flow, and transition. This made the structural problems visible in a way that was easy to communicate to stakeholders and engineers — it shifted conversations from opinion to evidence.
Mapping before designing. I used Figjam to audit the existing navigation architecture and map every screen, flow, and transition. This made the structural problems visible in a way that was easy to communicate to stakeholders and engineers — it shifted conversations from opinion to evidence.
Mapping before designing. I used Figjam to audit the existing navigation architecture and map every screen, flow, and transition. This made the structural problems visible in a way that was easy to communicate to stakeholders and engineers — it shifted conversations from opinion to evidence.
Design system first, screens second. Because I was building the VeChain Design System concurrently, component decisions made at the system level directly shaped what was possible in VeWorld. Colour tokens, spacing scales, typography, and interactive states were defined with accessibility compliance baked in from the start — addressing the contrast failures at the root rather than patching them screen by screen.
Design system first, screens second. Because I was building the VeChain Design System concurrently, component decisions made at the system level directly shaped what was possible in VeWorld. Colour tokens, spacing scales, typography, and interactive states were defined with accessibility compliance baked in from the start — addressing the contrast failures at the root rather than patching them screen by screen.
Design system first, screens second. Because I was building the VeChain Design System concurrently, component decisions made at the system level directly shaped what was possible in VeWorld. Colour tokens, spacing scales, typography, and interactive states were defined with accessibility compliance baked in from the start — addressing the contrast failures at the root rather than patching them screen by screen.
Iterative prototyping. High-fidelity prototypes in Figma were used to validate navigation restructures and new flows — including the redesigned onboarding, account creation, and account backup security features — before any engineering time was committed.
Iterative prototyping. High-fidelity prototypes in Figma were used to validate navigation restructures and new flows — including the redesigned onboarding, account creation, and account backup security features — before any engineering time was committed.
Iterative prototyping. High-fidelity prototypes in Figma were used to validate navigation restructures and new flows — including the redesigned onboarding, account creation, and account backup security features — before any engineering time was committed.
Key Decision
Key Decision
Color foundation or features first?
Color foundation or features first?
Color foundation or features first?
I made the case for resolving brand colour tokens before designing new features. The counter-argument was speed — deadlines were real. The decision was made to run both tracks in parallel.
I made the case for resolving brand colour tokens before designing new features. The counter-argument was speed — deadlines were real. The decision was made to run both tracks in parallel.
I made the case for resolving brand colour tokens before designing new features. The counter-argument was speed — deadlines were real. The decision was made to run both tracks in parallel.
It was the right call for the business. But it meant screens needed two rounds of UI work as the system matured. I'd make a different recommendation today — and I documented the trade-off clearly at the time. That's what design leadership looks like in practice: advocate, document, then execute with full commitment.
It was the right call for the business. But it meant screens needed two rounds of UI work as the system matured. I'd make a different recommendation today — and I documented the trade-off clearly at the time. That's what design leadership looks like in practice: advocate, document, then execute with full commitment.
It was the right call for the business. But it meant screens needed two rounds of UI work as the system matured. I'd make a different recommendation today — and I documented the trade-off clearly at the time. That's what design leadership looks like in practice: advocate, document, then execute with full commitment.
The Solution
The Solution
What Changed — and Why
What Changed — and Why
What Changed — and Why
The redesigned VeWorld replaced deep drill-down navigation with direct access to core actions. Components were rebuilt using contextually appropriate design system elements. The colour system was rebuilt to WCAG standards and tested across common forms of colour blindness.
The redesigned onboarding, account creation, and account backup flows were built around The Two Doors principle — plain language and progressive disclosure for newcomers, efficiency and control for power users. Blockchain concepts that previously required prior knowledge were reframed using familiar mental models, real-world language, and layered detail that revealed itself only when needed.
What we shipped that didn't work first time: An early version of the account backup flow used iconography borrowed from standard cloud storage patterns. Testing revealed that Web3 users interpreted "backup" as meaning their private keys were being stored externally — a fundamental trust issue in self-custody. We scrapped the pattern entirely and rebuilt around explicit language and a step-by-step confirmation model that made local control unambiguous.
The lesson: in Web3, assumed visual conventions carry more risk than they do elsewhere.
The redesigned VeWorld replaced deep drill-down navigation with direct access to core actions. Components were rebuilt using contextually appropriate design system elements. The colour system was rebuilt to WCAG standards and tested across common forms of colour blindness.
The redesigned onboarding, account creation, and account backup flows were built around The Two Doors principle — plain language and progressive disclosure for newcomers, efficiency and control for power users. Blockchain concepts that previously required prior knowledge were reframed using familiar mental models, real-world language, and layered detail that revealed itself only when needed.
What we shipped that didn't work first time: An early version of the account backup flow used iconography borrowed from standard cloud storage patterns. Testing revealed that Web3 users interpreted "backup" as meaning their private keys were being stored externally — a fundamental trust issue in self-custody. We scrapped the pattern entirely and rebuilt around explicit language and a step-by-step confirmation model that made local control unambiguous.
The lesson: in Web3, assumed visual conventions carry more risk than they do elsewhere.
The redesigned VeWorld replaced deep drill-down navigation with direct access to core actions. Components were rebuilt using contextually appropriate design system elements. The colour system was rebuilt to WCAG standards and tested across common forms of colour blindness.
The redesigned onboarding, account creation, and account backup flows were built around The Two Doors principle — plain language and progressive disclosure for newcomers, efficiency and control for power users. Blockchain concepts that previously required prior knowledge were reframed using familiar mental models, real-world language, and layered detail that revealed itself only when needed.
What we shipped that didn't work first time: An early version of the account backup flow used iconography borrowed from standard cloud storage patterns. Testing revealed that Web3 users interpreted "backup" as meaning their private keys were being stored externally — a fundamental trust issue in self-custody. We scrapped the pattern entirely and rebuilt around explicit language and a step-by-step confirmation model that made local control unambiguous.
The lesson: in Web3, assumed visual conventions carry more risk than they do elsewhere.
Results & Business Impact
Results &
Business Impact
Results & Business Impact
Measured across a 12-month window of sequential releases:
Measured across a 12-month window of sequential releases:
Measured across a 12-month window of sequential releases:
Engagement
Daily Active Users: 2,000 → 18,000 (+900%)
Monthly Active Users: 17,000 → 155,000 (+900%)
Engagement
Daily Active Users: 2,000 → 18,000 (+900%)
Monthly Active Users: 17,000 → 155,000 (+900%)
Engagement
Daily Active Users: 2,000 → 18,000 (+900%)
Monthly Active Users: 17,000 → 155,000 (+900%)
Growth
App Installs: 81,000 → 335,000 (+400%)
Total installs crossed 5 million
Growth
App Installs: 81,000 → 335,000 (+400%)
Total installs crossed 5 million
Growth
App Installs: 81,000 → 335,000 (+400%)
Total installs crossed 5 million
Product Activity
NFT Transactions: 1,000 → 10,000 (+1,000%)
Total on-chain transactions surpassed 38 million
Product Activity
NFT Transactions: 1,000 → 10,000 (+1,000%)
Total on-chain transactions surpassed 38 million
Product Activity
NFT Transactions: 1,000 → 10,000 (+1,000%)
Total on-chain transactions surpassed 38 million
Quality
Onboarding completion rate exceeded 80%
App Store and Google Play ratings both above 4.4 stars
Quality
Onboarding completion rate exceeded 80%
App Store and Google Play ratings both above 4.4 stars
Quality
Onboarding completion rate exceeded 80%
App Store and Google Play ratings both above 4.4 stars