I. Background and the challenge
interBTC realizes the true free nature of BTC and decentralized finance. A 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset, fully collateralized, interoperable, and censorship-resistant. I worked for Interlay from January 2021 to July 2021 as a UI/UX designer and a frontend developer.Being a startup with around 10 developers, I had a mixed bag of responsibilities. I started with working on a deadline where I designed the polkaBTC(now interBTC) app in less than two weeks right in time for beta launch. Later, when we transitioned to interBTC, I built a design system in Figma and converted it into code using react and storybook components. Later, I worked on developing user flows, wireframes, redesigned UI of the application with new features like Vault staking and Vault activity and developed several interBTC app features. I've also offered support to users using interBTC app on Interlay's discord
The biggest challenge that I faced when starting out with the Interlay is the complexity of interBTC. Being a decentralised system having multiple system maintainers which results in a lot of edge cases, it was essential to abstract the complex mechanism and provide the user with a seamless experience of Bitcoin Defi.
Agency
- Interlay
Role
- UI/UX Designer
- Frontend Developer
Tools
- Figma
- React JS
- TypeScript
- Tailwind Css
Missions
- Wireframing
- UI Design
- Development
II. What I worked on
I’ve created user flows to cover edge cases that a user can run into while using the application, this allowed us to create descriptive error messages that can be shared in our community channels for devs to debug. We based the look and feel of the application to similar apps like renBTC and wBTC that brings Bitcoin onto smart contract platforms but in a centralised way, we feel this allows avid Defi users to quickly use the application as it establishes familiarity and reducing the cognitive load to use a new app.
I’ve contributed heavily to the UX of the application. I’ve redesigned the flow of the application to make the whole issuing and redeeming interBTC a seamless experience. I’ve designed a staking feature that allows users to stake their DOT in vaults for rewards while allowing vaults to use this stake as collateral to issue more interBTC, thereby increasing the Total value locked in the platform. I’ve also worked on designing dashboards for users and vaults, allowing them to monitor their collaterals and stake.
On the UI part of the application, I’ve contributed to building a design system for interBTC, the objective of the design system is to allow easy scalability of interBTC in the future with already established design components and variants in Figma. This design system also allows consistency in the design of interBTC as all the design components and branding colors are established. On the dev side, I’ve worked with react and storybook components to build the design system, storybook allows for rapid prototyping and testing of individual components in isolation. The app was initially developed using Scss, we’ve refactored the application to use Tailwind CSS. This refactoring helped us to establish standard class names while multiple devs are working on the UI. I’ve contributed to refactoring parts of the application and developed UI features using React and Tailwind CSS.
II. What I learnt
Working at Interlay was a fun experience especially with an incredibly talented team. My previous development experience was limited to 3devs, Interlay has helped me write code professionally with lots of devs working on the same project. I’ve learned to use git in a professional dev environment, pushing PRs with proper commits, comments and following product release cycles which makes the job of reviewers easy. I’ve learned to use fun tools like VIM and shell commands which I have to admit have a steep learning curve yet VIM became my favourite editor. Interlay being a remote team, asynchronous communication and communicating explicitly is another thing that I grasped.
On the building part, I’ve learned to use React hooks, TypeScript, nitty-gritty of JavaScript and a bit of Rust. While designing for interBTC, I’ve put a lot of research into understanding UX issues that new users might face when they enter the crypto space and trying to resolve them by putting forth easy-to-use and straightforward designs.
Overall, working at Interlay grew me as both a developer and a designer. I learnt to take responsibility for my work, experimenting, picking new skills in no time and most importantly gave me a warm feeling that the work I do matters.