My role
Sole designer on Kaching, embedded with Product and Engineering. I owned research, information architecture, and design end-to-end.
I also ran the design-team workshops that shaped the Megadraw expansion, pulling in designers from across Cronos to pressure-test the structure before we committed to build.
Research focused on how users thought about saving, winning, and trust in a product most of them had never encountered before.
The challenge
8 weeks to design a product from scratch. 20% of CRO holders had tokens sitting idle, not staked, not earning, not moving. The problem wasn't awareness. It was that DeFi felt complex and risky to anyone who wasn't already a trader.
The PM proposed a staking pool with a lottery. I suggested a different framing: a savings account. Same mechanics, familiar language as everyone already knows how a savings account works. The prize draw becomes the hook on top, not something users have to get past first.
That one reframe shaped the language, the IA, and the visual tone of everything that followed.
Research approach
Competitive
analysis
Workshop
& IA
Prototyping
& testing
I audited six prize-linked staking and DeFi yield products: PoolTogether, Cabana, Aave, Tectonic, Yotta, and Premium Bonds comparing feature set, visual approach, and real usage data. The audit produced three opportunities Kaching could own.
Where Kaching differentiates
Behavioural simplicity over DeFi mechanics.
Mobile-first, Cronos-native
Prize draw as the headline,not a side feature
Card sorting workshop
(how I drove alignment)
The MVP's core flow (deposit, earn yield, check the lottery) borrowed proven DeFi patterns, so I didn't burn a research cycle re-validating what already worked. Megadraw was different. Its new mechanics (eligibility tiers, unlocking periods, prize-share math) needed real testing.
I ran a card sorting workshop with eight designers across the wider Cronos team, surfacing three candidate IA directions. Two follow-up design syncs (January 2024 and January 2025) let the broader team review each option. By the end, the Megadraw IA wasn't a proposal waiting for sign-off. It was a structure the broader design team had built and could defend.
Design principles
Principle #1
Familiar over accurate
Use mental models users already have (savings account, Premium Bonds) rather than technically correct DeFi terminology.
Principle #2
Make the prize the product
Most savings products treat the draw as a feature. Kaching makes it the headline. Every screen keeps the next draw visible.
Principle #3
Savings through engagement
A deposit is just the entry point. Gamification, competition, and the daily draw are what turn a one-time action into a habit.
Principle #4
Earn trust before asking for commitment
Users are being asked to deposit real tokens into a protocol they've never used. Clarity and transparency at every step has to come before the ask.
With the structure locked from the card sort, I translated the outcomes into a five-pillar information architecture and the primary onboarding journey. Both held without rework from this point through to the Megadraw launch, which was the truest test of whether the workshop had paid off.
Wireframing & Validation
With architecture and principles locked, I moved into wireframing and early validation to pressure-test the riskiest parts of the flow before visual design. The goal was confidence, users had to understand the system, complete key actions, and recover from mistakes without extra explanation
User test results
We tested two flows: the core deposit and lottery experience, and the Megadraw.
Core flows tested well.
All participants completed the deposit flow, understood that CRO deposited earned lottery tickets, and could navigate the draw experience without friction.
Two design decisions didn't hold up.
The winning chances were shown as a star rating out of five. Participants found it ambiguous and couldn't tell what the stars represented or how to improve their score.
The account and dashboard screens were also merged in the first design, which created too much information density on a single screen and caused confusion about what action to take next.
The Megadraw mechanic wasn't landing. Users were confused by the eligibility mechanics and expected more information before they could trust the feature.
Post-testing decisions
Testing surfaced three findings. Two were addressed before launch. Megadraw was deliberately deferred the mechanic needed more iteration time than the deadline allowed, and the protocol wouldn't reach the TVL threshold needed to activate it within the first month anyway.
Winning chances. The star rating was confusing, users couldn't tell what the stars represented or how to improve their score. I partnered with engineering to confirm the threshold data was queryable in real time, which unlocked a dedicated screen: a probability ladder tied to actual deposit amounts, with a personalised nudge showing exactly how much CRO a user needed to reach the next tier.
Information architecture. The first design kept navigation minimal to avoid overwhelming users. Testing showed the opposite problem, users were conflating distinct mental jobs: account management, performance tracking, KCH, and Megadraw. Each was separated into its own surface with one clear job.
With those fixes in place, we moved into high fidelity with engineering building in parallel.
Design decisions
I worked with the Creative team to define the visual direction, colour palette, and tone making sure the interface felt credible and calm in a category prone to feeling chaotic.
From there, I established the core UI foundations and component patterns, evolving them into a lightweight design system the team could build against in parallel. This let two designers work on different surfaces at the same time without drift, a governance move, not just a design one.
Make the prize the product · Earn trust before asking for commitment
The home of the protocol. Base and Turbo accounts sit as swipeable balance cards with their live yield APR, while Stake, Unstake, and Migrate are one tap below the balance. The persistent next-draw countdown chip in the corner means the prize moment is never out of view, no matter where the user is in the app.
Draw detail
Make the prize the product · Savings through engagement
The ticket-holding moment. Tickets owned and monthly winning chance lead, the countdown to the next draw anchors the screen, and the Base/Turbo tabs at the top let users switch draw types without losing context. Daily rewards by tier and cumulative protocol payouts sit below the fold for the players who want to dig in.
Earn trust before asking for commitment · Savings through engagement
Portfolio at a glance. The pie chart breaks down Base vs Turbo allocation, the five-day winning history strip shows recent draws at a scan, and unclaimed rewards in CRO and KCH live in their own card with their own claim CTA so payouts never get forgotten in escrow.
Familiar over accurate · Earn trust before asking for commitment
The behavioural design moment. The probability ladder shows the user's current monthly winning chance against the deposit thresholds needed to climb to the next tier. The concrete nudge ("Deposit 6,735.98 CRO to increase chances to 50%") translates abstract probability into an actionable next step, which is exactly what makes prize-linked savings stick.
Savings through engagement
The user's identity inside the protocol. The Prize Magnet badge surfaces the achievement layer, while Draw and KCH rankings plus total wins make engagement legible at a glance. Wallet balance covers CRO, KCH, and xKCH on one card with inline Get actions for topping up each.
Savings through engagement
The community layer. The podium gives the top three players a visible identity (avatar, wins, USD value) which turns wallet addresses into characters users start recognising. Draws / KCH / Hall of fame tabs separate ranking types, and All / Monthly / Weekly filters let users find their own position on the timescale that motivates them.
Make the prize the product · Savings through engagement
Megadraw didn't launch at MVP, the protocol needed to reach a minimum TVL threshold before the draw could activate. Rather than hiding it until launch, we surfaced it as a teaser. Users could see what was coming, understand the milestone structure, and follow the "How it works" CTA to learn the mechanic before committing any funds. The countdown created anticipation without false promise. By the time Mega draw went live one month later, users already understood it. The launch felt like a reward for staying, not a surprise feature they had to figure out.
Megadraw — iterations
Before touching any screen, I mapped three hypotheses against the first round of testing findings:
With hypotheses defined I moved into iterations, designing against each one while engineering was building the MVP in parallel. The protocol also needed to reach a minimum TVL threshold before Megadraw could activate which gave us the runway to get it right rather than rush it.
H1
If we surface eligibility requirements explicitly at the point of entry, users will understand what they need to qualify before committing funds.
H2
If we show the prize pool progress as a collective milestone, users will feel their deposit has visible impact rather than disappearing into an abstract pool.
H3
If we separate Megadraw from the daily draw into its own dedicated surface, users will understand they are distinct mechanics with different rules.
Megadraw milestones
Hypothesis 2 · Hypothesis 3 — collective progress made visible, Megadraw as its own surface
The milestone visualization shows the protocol's total TVL progressing toward each prize tier in real time. Users can see exactly where the pool sits (26,345,678 CRO) against the next unlock (30M), and every deposit moves the needle. The "How it works" button surfaces the eligibility rules at the moment users are most motivated to understand them when the prize feels close.
Megadraw lives on its own dedicated tab with its own navigation, completely separate from the daily draw. Users aren't switching between mechanics on the same screen. Each surface has one job.
My Mega Draw
Hypothesis 1 · Hypothesis 2 — eligibility requirements explicit, individual impact visible
The user's current share of the prize is the hero number 5% of the jackpot, translated immediately into a concrete potential win (750,000 CRO / $25,000 USD). No abstraction, no hunting for what it means. Below, the eligibility tiers are shown as a visual progression, the user can see exactly which tier they're on, what they've already unlocked, and what the next deposit threshold is to increase their share. The mechanic that confused users in testing "what do I need to do to qualify for more?" is answered before they have to ask.
Milestone explainer
Hypothesis 1 — eligibility made legible at the right moment
Each milestone bulb on the progress visualization is interactive. Tapping it surfaces an explainer showing exactly what that milestone means: the TVL threshold required, how long it needs to be sustained, and how much KCH gets added to the jackpot when it unlocks. Users get the information they need at the moment they're curious about it not buried in documentation, not front-loaded into onboarding. The mechanic that testing showed users couldn't understand is explained in context, on demand, without leaving the screen.
Milestone unlock notification
Hypothesis 1 · Hypothesis 2 — eligibility clear, collective progress drives individual action
When a milestone is hit, users landing on the protocol are met with a contextual notification explaining exactly what it means and what's required to secure it, in this case, maintaining TVL above 20M CRO for 30 days. The countdown is visible, the condition is explicit, and the CTA takes users directly to Megadraw. A collective achievement becomes a personal reason to act now and keep CRO staked. The mechanic that confused users in testing, what triggers a milestone and what sustains it, is surfaced at exactly the moment it becomes relevant.
Megadraw second testing
Once the MVP launched I ran a second round of user testing, 70% of tasks focused on Megadraw, 30% revalidating the core flows.
10 out of 12 participants
completed all tasks without issues. One user experienced some friction navigating between the milestone states. One had to refer to the Gitbook to fully understand the eligibility mechanic a signal that in-product explanation still had room to improve, but a significantly stronger result than the first round.
Megadraw launched one month after MVP.
Learnings
The biggest lesson was research sequencing. Megadraw's mechanics were new enough to need concept testing before the IA was locked, not prototype validation after. Earlier qualitative interviews would have caught how users thought about eligibility and unlocking periods at the right moment and probably would have surfaced the star rating problem sooner too.
The card sorting workshop was the right call and held all the way through to Megadraw launch. Front-loading structural alignment is always worth it.
