Make risk continuously legible
Persistent Health Factor and live LTV show how an action changes liquidation exposure before confirmation.
PRODUCT · Aug 2022 – May 2023
MarginFi
Sole designer of mrgnlend's core lending experience
- Role
- Sole Product Designer (Full-time)
- Team
- Sole designer, working with engineering
- Timeline
- Aug 2022 – May 2023
- Status
- Shipped · role ended May 2023
Problem
Borrowing against volatile assets required users to understand how each action would change their position and liquidation risk.
Approach
Keep the health factor visible across lending, borrowing, and portfolio flows so users can assess risk before acting.
Outcome & attribution
mrgnlend launched with the core lending, borrowing, and risk experience I designed. My role ended in May 2023, before the points program and later market expansion.
- Evidence · core lending experience
- ShippedResearch, borrowing, lending, portfolio, risk, and transaction states through May 2023.
Decisions & details
Decisions & details
ScopeUser Research, UX Architecture, Product Design, Design Systems, Prototyping, Brand & Motion
Key decisions
Unify supply, borrow, and portfolio state
Shared account and asset-row patterns support first deposits, market comparison, and active positions without changing the model.
Design the system through edge states
I iterated empty, funded, borrowing, warning, and approval states with engineering until the core controls held up in production.
Let new products inherit a foundation
Black Box, Superstake, and Omni test different interactions while retaining explicit risk and state.
Project chronology
From research model to a family of financial products
The switcher below separates distinct workstreams; this chronology shows how the risk model and interaction language moved between them during the role.
Aug 202201 · Research Define the risk model before the interface
Mapped how users monitored positions, compared yield, interpreted liquidation exposure, and recovered from risk so hierarchy followed the decision model.202202 · First consumer surface Turn protocol participation into a legible journey
Black Box moved from wireframes through Waiting Room, Vault, acceptance, account, and LIP states while establishing the first mrgn consumer-facing language.2022–2303 · Core product Ship supply, borrow, and portfolio as one system
Iterated empty and funded states, asset rows, Health Factor, LTV controls, approvals, and position management into the mrgnlend experience.Early 202304 · Extensions Explore Superstake and Omni from the same foundation
Extended the system into leveraged staking flows and an AI-agent identity without creating new risk language for every experiment.After May 202305 · Attribution Separate the shipped foundation from later growth
The protocol's points program and later market expansion followed my May 2023 departure; subsequent company growth is separate from my design contribution.
01 / 05
mrgnlend
I led mrgnlend from user research through the shipped lending, borrowing, and risk experience, working with engineering on account states and transaction controls.
01
The shipped lending system
The product film shows supplying, borrowing, account health, and positions in one responsive surface.
02
One account, one risk picture
Balances, liquidity, and Health Factor stay visible together so users can assess their position before acting.
03
Supply and borrow without changing mental models
Shared market rows let users switch between lending and borrowing while account context stays stable.
04
Risk changed with the input
The LTV control previews risk as an amount changes, before the user confirms.
05
Research before interface
Research with experienced and newer DeFi users established how to prioritize yield, position monitoring, account health, and recovery.
06
The full design process
The original deck documents research, risk modeling, flows, and interface iterations through launch.
07
From model to production language
Wireframe iterations resolved the account summary, market rows, and action layer.
08
A useful product before and after deposit
The empty state teaches the first action; funded accounts retain the same hierarchy.
09
The asset row as a product primitive
Five rounds refined market rows before the pattern expanded across assets.
10
Positioning the product
Launch pages clarify the product promise within the application's visual identity.
11
Explore the Figma
Explore the working prototype, flows, and risk interactions.