Foreword by Leo (2023)
Looking back at 2017, the crypto market was nuts and culminated in a massive bull run that was epic by any standard. Now CoinGeckohas has become the defacto aggregator of all things crypto and has done an amazing job in providing the data that crypto speculators seek.
Even today, I always strive to work closely with devs because it's enjoyable but critical for a business's overall CX and UX. This side project showed me that if you are in sync with a developer or dev team, you will always think about technical constraints first but then look to work with the devs to overcome those technical constraints to make a great UX a reality.
Thanks for visiting my side project.
Side Project Summary (2017-18)
In 2017 the cryptocurrency market started to gain traction with more mainstream investors interested in investing in the digital asset market. With over 2,000 crypto coins in the market, many companies were operating and providing little information about their teams, products, and software development.
It was tough to figure out whether a crypto team was about to scam you out of your tokens or if it was a legit product team. I teamed up with Tor Gilbertson (Oracle teammate), a front-end dev, and we built a website tracking software development for crypto projects.
The idea was that if there was legitimate software development, there was a good chance that the crypto team would not scam you since they were putting in real work.
What I Learned
- Working on this website helped me understand the limitations of showing large data sets on a webpage.
- There are limits to displaying data; searchability and findability become a priority for the user because the data becomes overwhelming quickly.
- Technical constraints must be considered in terms of what it help us gain right now. Balance short-term benefits with long-term benefits.
- Working closely with a developer is a ton of fun. It only makes you a better designer.
Website Objectives
- Pull market data from Coinmarket API to populate our index with the latest market updates.
- Pull Github cryptocurrency repository data to measure work being completed.
- Show a combination of crypto market price and software development data in a user-friendly experience.
- Aim at breaking down crypto companies into recognizable sectors that we could use in the future for data mapping.
The Technical Perspective
From his perspective, the dev (Tor) said this about the website.
- Redesign and reengineering of a static cryptocoin index site, by developing an auto-updating back end to interact with public Github repo and market APIs.
- A RESTful JSON API endpoint was created for the front-end to consume. A custom administrative portal for CRUD operations on coins was developed for ease of maintaining records.
- And many front-end improvements were made for calculating trends, index sorting, filtering, search and real-time exchange rate updates..
Design and UI
I'm Leo, the writer behind The Triangle Offense Newsletter. Diving deep into UX, CX, and customer-centric business strategy, I provide insights into using timeless CX and UX techniques to attract and retain customers to unlock business growth. Join me on this journey, and let's reshape how to grow a business together.a