Rupesh N. Chavan Lumen · Process

The full process

The research, personas and flows behind Lumen. The case study covers the decisions; this is the work underneath them.

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02 · User Research

User Personas & Goals

Lumen's users range from DeFi-native engineers who want true key ownership and multi-chain access, to financial professionals seeking non-custodial yield, to crypto-curious newcomers who want to buy their first ETH without a YouTube tutorial.

👤
Kenji Yamamoto
Software Engineer, 28
Goals
  • True key ownership without relying on centralised exchanges
  • Multi-chain portfolio in one unified view
  • In-app DeFi access without bridging to external protocols
Pain Points
  • MetaMask UX hasn't changed in 5 years
  • Bridging between chains is a 15-step nightmare
👩
Zara Ali
Financial Professional, 35
Goals
  • Hold BTC and ETH as a long-term hedge
  • Earn yield on stablecoins without active management
  • Access funds without exchange counterparty risk
Pain Points
  • Hardware wallet setup is too complex
  • Afraid of losing seed phrase access permanently
🧑
Carlos Rivera
Crypto-Curious Student, 22
Goals
  • Buy first crypto with a debit card, no complexity
  • Understand what he owns without jargon
  • Send money internationally without bank fees
Pain Points
  • Every crypto app requires extensive KYC before doing anything
  • Fees are hidden until the last step
03 · Business Challenges

Core Challenges

CHALLENGE 01
The Seed Phrase Problem
Seed phrase generation and backup is the most critical and most failure-prone moment in self-custody onboarding. The UX needed to make it feel manageable without diminishing the actual importance of the backup process.
CHALLENGE 02
Multi-Chain Without Confusion
Supporting 12 chains is a strength and a UX liability simultaneously. Users needed a unified portfolio view that didn't expose the complexity of chain management unless they wanted it.
CHALLENGE 03
DeFi Accessibility
In-app swaps, yield positions, and protocol access needed to feel like mobile banking features, not DeFi dashboards. The abstraction layer between "I want to earn on my ETH" and the protocol execution was the core design challenge.
CHALLENGE 04
Trust Without Centralisation
Self-custody means Lumen cannot recover lost funds. The product's trust signal is architectural. Open source code, verifiable key generation, and security audits, not brand promises. Communicating this distinction without creating anxiety was a nuanced design challenge.
04 · Secondary Research

Market Insights

FINDING 01
73%
Seed Phrase Abandonment Rate

73% of users who begin a self-custody wallet onboarding process abandon at the seed phrase step. Either due to confusion about what it is, fear of losing it, or friction in the backup process. This is the most critical UX problem in Web3. (Source: a16z Crypto State of Crypto 2024)

FINDING 02
$1.3T
Total Self-Custody Market

The total value of assets held in self-custodial wallets exceeded $1.3 trillion in 2024, growing 340% over 3 years. Driven by exchange collapses (FTX, Celsius) that made counterparty risk tangible for mainstream crypto holders. (Source: Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report 2024)

FINDING 03
67%
UX as Primary Adoption Barrier

67% of crypto-curious users who have not adopted self-custody cite "too complicated" as the primary barrier. Above security concerns (42%) and fee complexity (38%). UX is the primary adoption lever, not education. (Source: Galaxy Digital Crypto User Survey 2024)

07 · User Flow

The Sovereign Journey

STEP 01
Iridescent Hero
Full-screen hero with animated mesh gradient and coin/token visualisation. Communicating "this is the financial internet" before any product feature is stated.
STEP 02
The Sovereignty Promise
Three-word articulation of the value proposition: "Your Keys. Your Coins." followed by a visual comparison of custodial vs. non-custodial risk, making the abstract tangible.
STEP 03
Product Walkthrough
Four core interactions (Portfolio View, Swap, Send, Earn) demonstrated with high-fidelity mobile UI. Showing the banking-app simplicity applied to DeFi operations.
STEP 04
Chain & Asset Coverage
12 supported chains and 150+ tokens visualised as a living ecosystem, not a static list. Communicates breadth and activity without a logo wall.
STEP 05
Trust Architecture
Open source code link, security audit reports, and key generation transparency. Converting the technical trust signals of self-custody into accessible, scannable content.
08 · Toolkits

Tools & Workflow

Tools and methods used throughout the Lumen design process. From crypto UX audit and banking app benchmarking through to iridescent visual system execution.

🎨FigmaUI Design
🔮Syne & SoraTypography
📐Claude CodeFrontend Build
🔗Web3 Protocol ResearchDeFi Architecture
🗺️FigJamOnboarding Flow
09 · Process

From seed phrase fear
to sovereign simplicity.

The process for Lumen kept circling back to a single tension: every time we simplified an interaction, we risked hiding information that a user genuinely needed to make a safe decision about their money. Simplification and informed consent are in constant negotiation in Web3 UX. The process below is an honest account of how we resolved that tension, which direction we chose at each decision point, and what we would do differently.

01
Crypto UX Audit
Analysed MetaMask, Rainbow, and Phantom onboarding flows. Identified seed phrase abandonment as the universal failure point. Designed an alternative "guided backup" flow with progressive confirmation.
02
Banking App Benchmark
Deconstructed Monzo and Revolut's onboarding UX. Applied the same "zero-jargon first interaction" principle to Lumen's wallet creation flow.
03
Visual Language
Developed the iridescent mesh + grain visual system, communicating "the future of money" through abstract, expressive visuals rather than literal crypto iconography (no Bitcoin logos in the hero).
04
Progressive Disclosure Architecture
Built the UX hierarchy around three user modes: Crypto-Curious (simple buy/send), Financial Professional (yield and portfolio), DeFi Native (protocol access). Each mode is accessible without exposing the others by default.
05
Onboarding Prototype & Mode Architecture
Four iterations of the seed phrase onboarding flow, testing with 22 participants across technical skill levels. The 12-word all-at-once display tested worst with non-crypto users. "I felt like I was going to lose everything if I scrolled past it." The guided 3-step confirm backup sequence brought abandonment down by 44%. The three-tier user mode architecture (Crypto Curious, Financial Professional, DeFi Native) defaults to the first mode on launch. Advanced mode opens up after 3 completed transactions, not via a manual toggle, removing the choice that caused paralysis in earlier versions.
06
Trust Architecture, Accessibility & Regulatory Context
Open source code links and security audit reports were treated as design content, not legal footnotes. Linked directly, not buried. The violet primary system passes WCAG AA at 5.1:1 on dark backgrounds. The amber action colour on dark is 4.6:1. Regulatory context for a product handling onchain financial assets informed the consent architecture throughout: users confirm what they're signing, not just that they're signing something. That distinction drove several micro-copy decisions that might look trivial but are fundamental to informed financial consent.
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