CASE STUDY
ROCKETPLACE
ROCKETPLACE CRYPTO TRADING PLATFORM
PRODUCT DESIGN
UX DESIGN
UI DESIGN
WEBSITE DESIGN
MOBILE / DESKTOP
USER TESTING
BRAND DESIGN
MARKETING
OVERVIEW
CHALLENGE
In 2019 I was approached by the co-founders of Rocketplace, a seed-funded start-up out of Palo Alto to be the Head of Design for a cryptocurrency web app. I was hire 3, along with two very accomplished engineer leads to head up the technical side of the project.

The ask was complex, build a web-based cryptocurrency exchange with a twist, eventually after establishing the partnerships, insurance, MTLs for each state and so on, we would introduce crypto index investing. This would be our competitive differentiator, our true MVP and our future North Star.
APPROACH
We needed first to understand what was needed to basically become a FinTech company, a  bank, after we had established partnerships, insurance and licencing requirements, we could begin defining the MVP. Through competitive analysis we got to work, utilizing a Design Sprint framework, I had determined the MVP features needed to get us to market.
DEFINE THE AUDIENCE, GET TO DESIGNING, GET FEEDBACK
After our target audience had been established, we had a baseline for our product MVP, features, language, and back-office support.
  • Establish key workflows
  • Design UX goals, and translate them into UI designs, specs, and design systems to establish higher design to eng velocity while maintaining component consistency
  • Create high-fidelity prototypes of key workflows and begin user testing, translate feedback themes into product iterations
  • Establish build process, product road mapping with engineering leads
  • Establish feature one-pagers, team alignment and feature demos, along with internal dogfooding and QA testing alongside Head of Product
ALWAYS BE TESTING'
Rocketplace Crypto – Reimagining how crypto investing brings long-term value.
OVERVIEW
"On-boarding was a long, tedious process – users just wanted in, so we let them and conversions increased 20%"
After analyzing the performance data of our ad-to-conversion funnel, we noticed substantial drop-offs in the product onboarding process following the conversion from the marketing page. Although we were generating numerous signups, there were significant drop-offs during the intensive onboarding flow, primarily due to regulatory requirements necessitating the collection of substantial personal information before allowing users to trade.
Following extensive user interviews, we found that users needed to establish trust with our platform before they were comfortable providing such personal information. We took this feedback into account and implemented the necessary changes to address this issue.
  • Optimize onboarding steps to the absolute minimum while still being compliant with regulations, basically 4 major user states that are only asked when the user needs to do them
  • Take user feedback and translate that into an opportunity, after user creates an account with only name and email, they can explore the product before fully committing, building trust
ALWAYS BE TESTING'
On-boarding was a long, tedious process – users just wanted in, so we let them and conversions increased 20%
OVERVIEW
After analyzing the performance data of our ad-to-conversion funnel, we saw significant drop-offs in product on-boarding post-marketing page conversion. We saw lots of signups, with significant drop-offs in the intensive onboarding flow, which regulations require us to gather lots of personal information before you could trade.

After extensive user interviews, we determined that users need to build trust with our platform before wanting to fully commit such personal info, we took that feedback and made changes...
  • Optimize onboarding steps to the absolute minimum while still being compliant with regulations, basically 4 major user states that are only asked when the user needs to do them
  • Take user feedback and translate that into an opportunity, after user creates an account with only name and email, they can explore the product before fully committing, building trust
INTERFACES
MARKETING LANDING PAGES / MATERIALS
BRANDING, TYPOGRAPHY, TONE & VOICE
MOBILE / DESKTOP WEB APP
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
DESIGN SYSTEMS
MOBILE &
DESKTOP UI/UX
We built both web and mobile interfaces, moving quickly by harmonizing designs between the two modalities as much as possible, leading to a massive reduction in double builds for the engineering team.

Utilizing a design system we were able to scale builds quickly and consistently, delivering a unified UX between mobile and desktop interfaces.
INTERFACES
MARKETING LANDING PAGES / MATERIALS
BRANDING, TYPOGRAPHY, TONE & VOICE
MOBILE / DESKTOP WEB APP
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
DESIGN SYSTEMS
MOBILE & DESKTOP WEB
We built both web and mobile interfaces, moving quickly by harmonizing designs between the two modalities as much as possible, leading to a massive reduction in double builds for the engineering team.

Utilizing a design system we were able to scale builds quickly and consistently, delivering a unified UX between mobile and desktop interfaces.
OUTCOMES
Data is the great equalizer. It dedicated most of what we did, but you still need to rely on your gut, and the smart people in the room.
By implementing more advanced user tracking analytics tools, SQL, and a regular feedback testing procedure before and after feature releases we had finally determined a baseline usability "UX" scoring system coupled with a prioritization framework helping us drive more informed feature release cycles and priorities across all teams, ultimately securing a second seed round of funding from our investors.
2,400
SIgn ups in the first 10 months
$500K
Assets under holding in the first year
$9M
2 rounds of seed funding totalling $9M
BRAND
MARKETING LANDING PAGES / MATERIALS
BRANDING, TYPOGRAPHY, TONE & VOICE
BRAND ILLUSTRATIONS / GRAPHICS
ADS / PRINT
UX COPYWRITING
CREATING OUR
BRAND
I had the opportunity to leverage my agency experience and design all in-product and marketing materials with the marketing team, I wanted to ensure we came out of the gates running with a strong brand presence that helped separate us from competitors, created a polished in-app branded UX and provided resources for our marketing team to utilize across growth and social initiatives.
TOOLS
WEBFLOW
FIGMA
USERBRAIN
TYPEFORM
SQL
GITHUB
NOTION
SENDGRID
SUMMARY
Rocketplace taught me how to combine empathy with data, resulting in critical product decisions that drove growth and UX satisfaction. The team I worked with was brilliant, I learnt so much from them about myself, and how I approach product problems in small teams...collaboration and empathy powered this product to the finish line.
"Matt is one of the most talented product designers I have had the pleasure of working with in my career. He's incredibly gifted, works hard and quickly, and throughout the many years we worked together he always had an extremely positive attitude. I could not give Matt a higher personal recommendation and I very much hope him and I have the chance to work together again in the future."
Louis Beryl
CEO, Co-founder Rocketplace Crypto
"Matt has been a fantastic part of our leadership team for 4 years. The quality of his work is first class across every design discipline. He brings a customer-centric approach to every challenge and always produces clean, intuitive end results. On top of this Matt has led our Canadian team through many highs and lows - leading with compassion and authority. We could not have done it without him and he will be the first call next time."
Benjamin Hutchinson
COO, Co-founder Rocketplace Crypto
"I feel incredibly lucky to have worked with Matt during our time together at Rocketplace. On top of being an incredibly talented designer, Matt is a strong leader who is demands excellence from those around him while simultaneously showing deep care and support. When you bring Matt into your company, you can be confident that you are raising the bar on both culture and product - a rare combination. Matt is a low ego yet highly opinionated collaborator, whose agency is always with delivering the best user experience. Anyone who hires Matt would be lucky to have him - I sincerely hope we have a chance to work together in the future."
Ben Gruber
Head of Product, Rocketplace Crypto
TIRED
OF THINKING?
LET'S CHAT.
matthew@dontmakemethink.ca
Linkedin
© 2024 don't make me th!nk
CASE STUDY
Rocketplace
ROCKETPLACE CRYPTO TRADING PLATFORM
Rocketplace Crypto – Reimagining how cryptocurrency investing brings long-term value.
PRODUCT DESIGN
UX DESIGN
UI DESIGN
WEBSITE DESIGN
MOBILE / DESKTOP
USER TESTING
BRAND DESIGN
MARKETING
View Site
OVERVIEW
CHALLENGE
In 2019 I was approached by the co-founders of Rocketplace, a seed-funded start-up out of Palo Alto to be the Head of Design for a cryptocurrency web app. I was hire 3, along with two very accomplished engineer leads to head up the technical side of the project.

The ask was complex, build a web-based cryptocurrency exchange with a twist, eventually after establishing the partnerships, insurance, MTLs for each state and so on, we would introduce crypto index investing. This would be our competitive differentiator, our true MVP and our future North Star.
APPROACH
We needed first to understand what was needed to basically become a FinTech company, a  bank, after we had established partnerships, insurance and licencing requirements, we could begin defining the MVP. Through competitive analysis we got to work, utilizing a Design Sprint framework, I had determined the MVP features needed to get us to market.
DEFINE THE AUDIENCE, GET TO DESIGNING, GET FEEDBACK
After our target audience had been established, we had a baseline for our product MVP, features, language, and back-office support.
  • Establish key workflows
  • Design UX goals, and translate them into UI designs, specs, and design systems to establish higher design to eng velocity while maintaining component consistency
  • Create high-fidelity prototypes of key workflows and begin user testing, translate feedback themes into product iterations
  • Establish build process, product road mapping with engineering leads
  • Establish feature one-pagers, team alignment and feature demos, along with internal dogfooding and QA testing alongside Head of Product
CASE STUDY
ROCKETPLACE
ROCKETPLACE CRYPTO TRADING PLATFORM
Rocketplace Crypto – Reimagining how cryptocurrency investing brings long-term value.
PRODUCT DESIGN
UX DESIGN
UI DESIGN
WEBSITE DESIGN
MOBILE / DESKTOP
USER TESTING
BRAND DESIGN
PRODUCT ROADMAPPING
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
CMS
FINTECH & PAYMENTS
ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN
CULTURE BUILDING & RECRUITMENT
MARKETING & GROWTH
OVERVIEW
CHALLENGE
In 2019, I was approached by the co-founders of Rocketplace, a seed-funded startup based in Palo Alto, to take on the role of Head of Design for a cryptocurrency web application. I was hired as the third team member, along with two highly skilled engineering leads, to spearhead the technical aspects of the project.

The task at hand was quite intricate: to create a web-based cryptocurrency exchange with a unique twist. After establishing essential partnerships, securing insurance, obtaining the necessary Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs) for each state, and more, our ultimate goal was to introduce crypto index investing. This would serve as our distinctive competitive advantage, our true Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and our guiding star for the future.
APPROACH
Initially, our primary objective was to grasp the fundamental requirements for transforming into a FinTech company with the characteristics of a bank. After successfully setting up partnerships, obtaining the necessary insurance, and fulfilling the licensing requirements, we could then move forward with defining our Minimum Viable Product (MVP). To achieve this, we conducted a comprehensive competitive analysis and immediately set to work. Using the Design Sprint framework, I identified the essential MVP features that would pave our way to entering the market.
After our target audience had been established, we had a baseline for our product MVP, features, language, and back-office support.
  • Establish key workflows
  • Design UX goals, and translate them into UI designs, specs, and design systems to establish higher design to eng velocity while maintaining component consistency
  • Create high-fidelity prototypes of key workflows and begin user testing, translate feedback themes into product iterations
  • Establish build process, product road mapping with engineering leads
  • Establish feature one-pagers, team alignment and feature demos, along with internal dogfooding and QA testing alongside Head of Product
ALWAYS BE TESTING'
"On-boarding in a lot of FinTech products can be a long, tedious process – users just wanted in, so we let them in, it built trust and conversions increased."
OVERVIEW
After analyzing the performance data of our ad-to-conversion funnel, we noticed substantial drop-offs in the product onboarding process following the conversion from the marketing page. Although we were generating numerous signups, there were significant drop-offs during the intensive onboarding flow, primarily due to regulatory requirements necessitating the collection of substantial personal information before allowing users to trade.
Following extensive user interviews, we found that users needed to establish trust with our platform before they were comfortable providing such personal information. We took this feedback into account and implemented the necessary changes to address this issue.
  • Optimize onboarding steps to the absolute minimum while still being compliant with regulations, basically 4 major user states that are only asked when the user needs to do them
  • Take user feedback and translate that into an opportunity, after user creates an account with only name and email, they can explore the product before fully committing, building trust
INTERFACES
MARKETING LANDING PAGES / MATERIALS
BRANDING, TYPOGRAPHY, TONE & VOICE
MOBILE / DESKTOP WEB APP
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
DESIGN SYSTEMS
We developed both web and mobile interfaces and expedited the process by aligning designs as closely as possible between the two platforms. This led to a significant reduction in duplicate work for the engineering team. With the help of a design system, we were able to efficiently and consistently scale our developments, resulting in a unified user experience across both mobile and desktop interfaces.
BRAND
MARKETING LANDING PAGES / MATERIALS
BRANDING, TYPOGRAPHY, TONE & VOICE
BRAND ILLUSTRATIONS / GRAPHICS
ADS / PRINT
UX COPYWRITING
I had the opportunity to utilize my agency experience to design all in-product and marketing materials with the marketing team. My goal was to ensure that we launched with a strong brand presence that would set us apart from competitors, create a polished in-app branded user experience, and provide resources for our marketing team to use in our growth and social initiatives.
RESULTS
Data is the great equalizer. It dedicated most of what we did, but you still need to rely on your gut, and the smart people in the room.
By implementing advanced user tracking analytics tools, SQL, and a consistent feedback testing procedure before and after feature releases, we finally established a baseline usability "UX" scoring system. This was coupled with a prioritization framework that helped us make more informed decisions regarding feature release cycles and priorities for all teams. Ultimately, these efforts played a significant role in securing a second round of funding from our investors.
2.4K
SIgn ups in the first 10 months
$600K
Assets under holding in the first year
$9M
2 rounds of seed funding totalling $9M
TOOLS
WEBFLOW
FIGMA
USERBRAIN
TYPEFORM
SQL
GITHUB
NOTION
SENDGRID
SUMMARY
Rocketplace taught me how to combine empathy with data, resulting in critical product decisions that drove growth and UX satisfaction. The team I worked with was brilliant, I learnt so much from them about myself, and how I approach product problems in small teams...collaboration and empathy powered this product to the finish line.
"Matt is one of the most talented product designers I have had the pleasure of working with in my career. He's incredibly gifted, works hard and quickly, and throughout the many years we worked together he always had an extremely positive attitude. I could not give Matt a higher personal recommendation and I very much hope him and I have the chance to work together again in the future."
Louis Beryl
CEO, Co-founder Rocketplace Crypto
"Matt has been a fantastic part of our leadership team for 4 years. The quality of his work is first class across every design discipline. He brings a customer-centric approach to every challenge and always produces clean, intuitive end results. On top of this Matt has led our Canadian team through many highs and lows - leading with compassion and authority. We could not have done it without him and he will be the first call next time."
Benjamin Hutchinson
COO, Co-founder Rocketplace Crypto
"I feel incredibly lucky to have worked with Matt during our time together at Rocketplace. On top of being an incredibly talented designer, Matt is a strong leader who is demands excellence from those around him while simultaneously showing deep care and support. When you bring Matt into your company, you can be confident that you are raising the bar on both culture and product - a rare combination. Matt is a low ego yet highly opinionated collaborator, whose agency is always with delivering the best user experience. Anyone who hires Matt would be lucky to have him - I sincerely hope we have a chance to work together in the future."
Ben Gruber
Head of Product, Rocketplace Crypto
TIRED OF THINKING?
LET'S CHAT.
© 2024 DON'T MAKE ME THINK