Coinbase App Revision

Side project: Product Designer

Problem

The app has confusing navigation, very little information about user portfolio performance, a messy resource section, and unnecessary additional action clicks.

Goal

Revise the layout to help users see and interact with their portfolio quicker and better organize crypto information.

Research

I started my research by going through several pages of reviews in app stores. As a user, I wanted to see if others had the same problems with the app as I did. In addition I reached out to three friends for feedback on their user experience; not to my surprise, they avoided using the app.

After adding up the results, the answers matched my assumptions. Most of the frustration is poorly designed navigation, no information about portfolio performance, and extra clicks in places where data should be displayed.

Pain point

1

Poorly designed navigation
‍Recently app added “shortcuts”, the placement of these is very inconvenient and misleading on the top of the screen.

Pain point

2

Information on portfolio performance
‍There is no information on how the user’s portfolio is doing except the generalized balance.

Pain point

3

Extra clicks on portfolio page
‍The assets module has many unnecessary extra clicks that should load automatically.

Design process

Coinbase blue is not a very original color; unfortunatelly, this color is all over most digital products. Currently, the way it is used in the app looks like default color instead of a brand color. To fix that problem, I decided to bring the primary color into active components, data visuals, CTAs, and as a highlight for secondary information.

Home screen breakdown

Navigation

The current app has bottom navigation, menu navigation, and shortcuts navigation, all of them located all over the app. To minimize the confusion and better accessibility, I proposed adding a shortcuts button to the bottom menu. Since the shortcuts shown in the current layout are not the entire list, it makes sense to combine them into one popup click. That way, the app is cleaner and less confusing.

Portfolio details

The current design displays the balance and a small line bar that doesn't add any importance but seems like a sad attempt to add a brand color. I propose to add a pie chart showing asset owned percentage of the portfolio along with some visual interest, adding the overall performance of the balance.

Module mobility

Since it is an investing app, it would be nice to customize the home screen view in what order information appears. I added arrows to each module showing those can be moved up or down depending on the importance to the user.

Before

After

Redesigned navbar

Before

After

Watchlist / Asset list

In the new design, I made the symbols slightly bigger and added a live performance graph in the background of each crypto. This way, there is visual interest and separation with a purpose.

News / Learning / Advertising

Currently, news and education resources load in an endless scroll. To help the user, I propose the categories are separated and show the top three but also have access to older articles if the user wants to read more. There's also endless annoying advertising that is not very strategic; a simple ad at the end does the trick. The CTAs could also use more descriptive language to convey personality and connection with the user.

Assets screen breakdown

Balance performance

I moved the share button to the top and added a strip showing the detailed performance of the portfolio. I've added shading to the line graph for a little visual excitement while keeping the design minimal and straightforward.

Asset list

A few user interactions could be addressed besides the visual components I covered above. Currently, balance interaction opens another module to choose between balance and price; I think adding buttons to the top solves unnecessary clicks. Similarly, as I'm already on my portfolio screen, I should see all my assets without a "see all" CTA.

Additional performance

Since the bottom module shows Coinbase promotions on the user's portfolio, I chose to differentiate it with the brand color to differentiate its content.

Before

After

Conclusion

It was interesting to see that a brand that depends on user interaction hasn't thought about the user needs. As a customer myself, I wouldn't recommend this brand as it is currently; frankly, I am frustrated and hardly go on it anymore. But few clean and straightforward design decisions can make a world of difference.