Coinbase
Building a bold new frontier for crypto.
Overview
Coinbase is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, known for its trustworthy and easy-to-use trading app. With crypto, web3 and NFTs rapidly becoming driving forces in the global marketplace, Coinbase saw the opportunity to enter a new stage of hyper-growth and reposition itself as the center of the broader crypto-economy for millions of new users.
Free Association partnered closely with internal teams to define a bold and ambitious vision for unifying design across Coinbase’s product ecosystem, followed by a year-long partnership to help rollout the system and support critical product growth initiatives across the entire organization.
Services
- User Experience Design
- Visual Design
- Prototyping
- Brand & Visual Systems
- Usage Guidelines
- UI Libraries
In the first phase of our multi-year engagement, we embarked on a north star vision sprint to define a new unified app architecture and refreshed visual language that would inform Coinbase’s next generation design system.
Unified Architecture
In order to create a scalable framework for future UX evolution, we consolidated and streamlined core web surfaces and use cases for the web and mobile apps, and built new new entry points for users to explore the the broader Coinbase ecosystem.
Visual Expression
We developed a fresh, distinctive future look and feel that could unite all Coinbase products while still serving the unique needs of different user groups, from crypto-novices all the way to savvy institutional brokerage managers.
After the vision phase, we were brought in to work side-by-side Coinbase vertical teams to implement the new design system across key product areas and new growth initiatives.
Over the course of 12 months, we helped design, test, and ship more than 20 high-profile initiatives across the Coinbase product ecosystem.
Logged Out Web
We led the design, content strategy, and production for a comprehensive sister design system to power the logged out web experience for all of Coinbase.com, driving acquisition strategies and delivering thought-leadership content to the market.
Exchange Platform
Extending our proof of concept work, we completely redesigned Coinbase’s advanced trading platform Exchange, leveraging variants of the new system and adapting them for dense, data-rich displays to serve the unique needs of institutional customers.
DeFi Identity & Profiles
We partnered with the DeFi team to design a product extension allowing users to carry a portable web3 identity and profile across decentralized marketplaces, solving the balance of trust and privacy.
Risk & Compliance Tools
We designed and prototyped designs for a no-code rule builder, allowing internal analysts and compliance managers to create new risk and permission rules without knowledge of complex syntax language.
Growth & Emerging Markets
We helped launch critical UX updates to support internationalization and localization of new user onboarding and payment verification flows for emerging markets, including Brazil and Japan.
Incentives & Rewards
Designed and launched several key reward and incentive programs for new Coinbase users, supported by a global architecture to house them and a shared component library powering their creation.
