Haven1 ⬩ Blockchain

Designing a unified Web3 ecosystem from zero to 500K+ users.

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I’ve summarized the key highlights here, but the real magic is in the details. I’d love to personally walk you through the thinking behind every design decision that shaped the Haven1 ecosystem. Contact me for a detailed design case study.

Overview

I joined Haven1 at day zero to lead product design strategy from a blank canvas to a full blockchain ecosystem. I stayed hands-on designing core apps while simultaneously building the design function. This included hiring and mentoring designers, establishing internal processes, and creating a scalable design system that unified 7 products.

My Role
  • Lead Product Designer
  • 0 -> 1 -> Scale
Team
  • 2 PMs
  • 12 Engineers
  • 3 Designers & 1 QA
Contribution
  • Product Design - Visual & Interaction
  • User Research
  • Product Strategy & Prioritizations

Impact

In two years, Haven1 grew from zero to 500,000+ wallets with over 100,000+ fully KYC'd users, a rare feat in DeFi. Design played a central role in making that level of trust feel achievable for everyday users, not just crypto natives.

230K+KYC'd users
500K+Wallets onboarded
7Products launched
The Problem

Over $2B lost to DeFi hacks and scams in 2023

These weren't edge cases. Hacks, scams, and bad UX cost people real money. Those responsible rarely faced any consequences. For anyone trying to build something trustworthy in that space, the first challenge wasn't the technology. It was earning trust the industry had already burned. So we built Haven1 from the ground up to feel different. Starting with the foundation.

Mixin Network

$200M

Multichain

$210M

Kyber Network

$54.7M

Foundations

One system, 7 products

The early screens got us moving, but they were built fast. Inputs, buttons, and layouts varied just enough to feel off across products. So we built the system from tokens up. Color, typography, spacing defined at the base level, never hardcoded. Components built on top. Every screen after that built on top of those components. It was a trust decision as much as an efficiency one. In a space where users are already skeptical, consistency isn't just a design value. It's a signal.

Before: functional, but built independently.
After: same components, consistent patterns.

The foundation covered everything. A full color token system across brand, neutral, and semantic values. A single typeface applied consistently across all products. A custom icon set. A component library used across 7 products.

Brand foundation
200+ Custom icons
Semantic color tokens
Spacing tokens
The foundation allowed us to reach 1:1 parity between React & Figma components
Mobile-first responsive design

Built lean, built right

The goal was never a perfect system. It was a system that worked without hand-holding. At the time I was the only designer, onboarding a new hire, and working closely with engineering.

That included providing the initial JSON token structure so tokens translated into code without misinterpretation. In a startup, resources are tight. Building it right the first time was the only option.

The Ecosystem

Building around the user journey

There weren't many references for what we were building. A permissioned DeFi portal with verified apps, KYC'd users, and a deliberate onboarding path didn't really exist yet. So we started from first principles.

First Principles: What does a user need first?
The answer shaped everything. Bridge first. Without assets on Haven1, nothing else works. Before that, KYC. We designed the flow in that order: Verify -> Bridge -> Explore.
KYC was mandatory upfront in the early version
KYC became optional with rate limiting to balance friction and compliance

As the ecosystem grew, so did the Portal. The flat nav became grouped by user intent. Overview, Trade, Earn, Others. Nested navigation was added for products like Stake. The hApp Store gave users a way to discover and filter verified third-party apps alongside native protocols.

Early version. Navigation had no grouping or hierarchy
The Portal at scale. A structured entry point into the full Haven1 ecosystem

The layout isn't decorative. Every decision, the nav order, the hero nudge toward Bridge, the hApp Store placement, reflects how a user actually moves through the ecosystem. Design and product aligned on that from day one.

Results & Reflections

What it added up to

The best feedback wasn't in a report. It was in how people talked about the product.

Over two years, Haven1 grew from zero to 500,000+ wallets. More than 230,000 of them fully KYC'd, a rare number in a space where most users avoid any kind of identity verification. 7 products shipped. One design system holding all of it together.

Those numbers didn't happen despite the design constraints. They happened with three designers, no process playbook, and a lot of decisions made in real time.

Looking back

Building this much with a small team is what I'm most proud of. Not because it was hard, but because the work held up. If I started over I'd reach for an existing token framework like Tailwind instead of building from scratch. The outcome would be the same, but faster. What I wouldn't change is the decision to build systematically from day one. In a space defined by chaos, that was the right call.