2020-2022
Hacken is a cybersecurity company building an ecosystem of security B2C products for people in crypto. I worked on an app for that ecosystem called HackenAI, its satellites hVPN and hPass, for the ones who are staking HAI tokens, which achieved an exceptional 70X growth when we launched the products.
Responsibilities
Take the lead on the design of the Hacken Foundation apps.
Release HackenAI app with core functionality in a short period.
Make the development process as smooth as possible in a distributed team.
Support Hacken company with all their design needs.
Having had no prior engagement with cryptocurrency, my initial belief was that Bitcoin and Ethereum represented poor investment choices. However, in the span of two years, I've reconsidered and now, cryptocurrency has become my primary investment vehicle. I continually evolve and adapt my perspective.
Community
The community of Hacken was expecting explosive growth during the following crypto bull run. In addition, Hacken had whale investors wanting to expand its blockchain ecosystem with cybersecurity companies, so they invested in Hacken Foundation and HAI token to start up.
Trust
Hacken had quite a solid reputation in the cybersecurity-related community since, from the very beginning, there were no company failures. Retail investors and significant investors like VeChain trusted Hacken’s intentions to make the most potent security app in crypto.
Value
HAI token needed to have the value that can be purchased as a subscription all at once. So that, heavy-packing the app with features makes sense at the very beginning.
First rule
Do economic research before
developing a crypto product.
Second rule
Do not try to tackle
all the things at once.
Third rule
The go-to way to learn
crypto is invest and explore.
Process & Planning
Technical limitations
A cross-platform app would be implemented using React Mobile back end and web-based front end to simplify the rapid development of the huge project. Blockchain, a major technical limitation, makes the context of business logic, shapes the functionality.
Methodology & Framework
Since the team is spread out across locations we decided to work with Agile model and Waterfall framework.
Team
Executive
Dyma Budorin
Product Manager
Ivan Naumenko
Design
Andrew Veles
Product Team
Eugene Bezugly
UX Flow Planning
To accommodate the required data for all our focus groups: fans of cybersecurity receive their cybersecurity standings and advice for enhancement; retail investors achieve a snapshot of their portfolios; Devotees of DeFi can readily access statistics on their farming performance.
To understand what we need to do and when I started creating a UX flow map of the app. UX flow had a broad overview of the app I wanted to make.
In the preliminary UX Flow designs, I wanted to conceptualize my vision of how HackenAI would work and what features it should have initially.
The Hacken team expressed a need for detailed wireframes, following our structured outline of all User Stories by me and my product manager.
Decision-making based on personas
Ideally, the requirements of all the personas were taken into account in the initial plan. However, we gradually shifted our attention towards the primary groups: retail investors and DeFi enthusiasts (though they are the minority), who predominantly aim to profit as traders and yield farmers. These individuals are somewhat straightforward to comprehend and engage with. For example, retail investors seek to invest their money into an industry that grows proportionately to their projections, while DeFi enthusiasts aim to maximize the returns from minimal investment.
Getting quantitive data
We were able to ask users what they do in real-time and get instant feedback because everything in crypto happens in Telegram and Discord chats. Thus, I will post their general input and needs there. "What do you want to see in our new HackenAI app?" — I asked.
60 responses
over 10 000 members
22 responses
over 1 500 members
3 responses
over 5000k members
Survey among HackenAI users
Hacken has conducted a survey among the community. The main purpose of this survey is to test if we are on the right track with our current developments and what propositions our community would be interested in.
We have presented 12 suggestions. These suggestions are either propositions Hacken was already working on, propositions we would like to develop, or propositions suggested to us by the community.
We asked participants to divide 100 points over these 12 suggestions. This way they had to really make a decision on what proposition they really wanted.
The survey had 85 valid responses
Role
Responses
DeFi enthusiast
10
Twitter stranger
9
Retail investor
33
Hacken investor
33
Setting objectives
Phase 1: Save money
+ Wallet functionality
+ Memberships
+ Incentives: referral program, achievements, collectibles
Phase 2: Give Value
+ Password manager
+ VPN
+ Darknet monitoring
+ 2FA
+ Educational bootcamp
Phase 3: Earn money
+ Foundation token sale
+ Farming
+ Liquidity provider farming
+ Multi-chain
01
To encourage small investors to lead into more considerable investments with the added value of cybersecurity apps they might use for free.
02
To introduce a cybersecurity suite for the Hacken fans, including a password manager, VPN, and more.
03
For the newcomers, to learn more about cybersecurity and how it connects to Hacken, and give a hint on how to secure yourself.
04
Hold assets on a secure wallet, and allow them to interact with their asses comparatively easily. People could farm tokens of the companies connected with Hacken.
Dashboard
Purpose
To fit all the information needed for all the focus groups: cybersecurity enthusiast gets his cybersecurity status and improvement tips; retail investors get an overview of their assets; DeFi enthusiasts could easily find their farming performance.
The challenge
To prioritize that information properly: on a master plan, the main goal was to show how secure the user is; in the second approach (after user research) we found that financial information is more valuable for the user.
Product design
In the preliminary UX Flow designs, I wanted to conceptualize my vision of how HackenAI would work and what features it should have initially.
User interface
The Hacken team expressed a need for detailed wireframes, following our structured outline of all User Stories by me and my product manager.
Wallet
Purpose
To give complete control of the user's assets in the wallet that is created automatically when the user signs up. The wallet is the place where users can buy their memberships and get Hacken Foundation perks like APY booster for farming and free VPN & password manager.
Product challenge
To introduce a multi-chain approach within the wallet. I was working on only the VeChain protocol in the first version of the app, but management decided to go over new blockchains: Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain.
Product design
Hacken was pushing its memberships. Users needed to buy memberships to avoid HAI token holders selling their assets on exchanges by locking a specified amount of tokens on a smart contract.
User interface
To fit controls on the Send screen with the persistent keyboard: the issue was to keep all the controls visible on a smaller screen. All the competitor apps had a 2-step approach in this, but I was asked to do everything in a 1-step way.
Farming
Purpose
The purpose of introducing Farming, LP Farming and Staking features is to make users to save Hacken's token value by sending their HAI tokens for rewards.
ux challenge
To introduce a multi-chain approach within the wallet. I was working on only the VeChain protocol in the first version of the app, but management decided to go over new blockchains: Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain.
Product challenge
To incentivize users to buy memberships for the money they invested in Hacken for perks that aren't available for a broader community.
User interface
To show user's performance at a glance: wallet balance, educational progress, current farming, and referral dashboard. App notifications are also stacking in there.
Education
In partnership with
We found a way how to onboard the users in the cybersecurity suite we offered, along with HAI crypto asset, we partnered with EdEra to develop a 6-series interactive course to learn how to protect yourself and discover the best sides of business with Hacken.
