Search and Discovery
Lead UX Product Design
ABOUT TOKEN.COM
At token.com, our mission is to make crypto accessible, intuitive, and engaging for everyone, whether they are crypto-curious or crypto-native. We empower users to explore, learn, and invest through a single, video-first platform designed for clarity, confidence, and discovery.
MY ROLE
As Lead UX/Product Designer, I worked closely with a cross-functional team including:
- Head of Design
- UI Product Designer
- Frontend & Backend Engineers
- Product Manager
- UX Copywriter & Researcher
I led the UX strategy and delivery for the new Search & Discovery experience, aligning business goals, user needs, and product vision in a fast-moving, lean environment.
THE CHALLENGE
Our existing “Explore” page wasn’t working—users rarely visited it unless we forced them there at app launch, and even then, engagement was low. The content felt flat and uninviting. The goal? Create a flexible, future-proof space to house all types of creator content, one that serves a wide spectrum of user types: the confident, the curious, the chaotic, and the clueless. We needed to tackle search, learning, and discovery, while asking: how might AI elevate this experience?
THE APPROACH
We started with a lean scoping session to identify what’s achievable given dev constraints. Then, I worked closely with the Head of Design to establish a flexible “north star”, a shared vision that could evolve alongside the ever-changing crypto landscape.
We drew inspiration from consumer-first platforms like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, Instagram, Kraken, and Crypto.com. Key insights included:
Comments and observations:
- “Recent searches” as a standard when fields are tapped
- Persistent, visible search UI aids discoverability
- Personalized recommendations (based on likes, views, or holdings)
- Filters adapt when the search field is active
I mapped two core user flows:
- Gesture-driven discovery: scroll, tap, swipe
- Search-driven intent: direct queries
Throughout the process, I facilitated regular critiques with the Head of Design and peers, balancing open exploration with visual simplicity to avoid misalignment with highly visual stakeholders.
To push the boundaries, I explored:
- How to design for all experience levels, from beginner to expert
- Keeping trending tokens visible for business relevance
- How users could easily find tokens, videos, posts, or categories
- Designing adaptive filters for empty, active, and populated states
- Handling edge cases like missing or outdated content
- Balancing post vs. video preference
- How to make search feel interactive and AI-powered
Early testing helped us define essential functionality: search field states, smart filters, and discovery surfaces. We made intentional decisions about prioritizing clarity over early over-customization.
- Scoped out AI assistant and discussion topics for v1 due to simplification and dev effort and resources allocated to the feature
- Questioned the relevance of “collections” (and began phasing them out)
- Led with trending tokens to align with user behavior and stakeholder goals
- Design for discovery by default: the empty state became a discovery surface
- Ensure quick access to targeted search for focused users
- Explore deeper once inside a token or content detail
Take a look at the final Hi-Fi Prototype: Hifi prototype
- Showcasing early prototypes helped align and de-risk decisions around filters, structure, and user expectations
- Discovery sessions with stakeholders built trust and helped manage expectations while keeping the design team open to feedback