Designing decentralized insurance from the ground up

2020 was early for DeFi. Most protocols shipped bare-minimum interfaces, and users were eager to explore but hesitant to commit capital when the UX felt unpolished.

Before I joined, the team had a functional protocol, but the interface was a raw smart contract wrapper that barely showcased its capabilities. The UX didn't match the ambition.

On the right side, you can see the MVP version of the UI, it’s a one-screen UI that validates the utility and raised VC funds, but it wasn’t mature enough to gain trust and adoption.

Through 1:1 interviews, competitive analysis of Nexus Mutual and Cover Protocol, and jobs-to-be-done mapping, I identified the core tension: users understood the coverage conceptually but couldn't evaluate what they were actually protected against.

Trust wasn't just about smart contract security. It was about whether the interface communicated risk clearly enough to commit capital.

Competing protocols prioritized functionality over clarity. The opportunity was to make the experience self-explanatory for cover buyers and capital providers

The first step was untangling the product's complexity. Unslashed serves two audiences with opposing mental models: capital providers seeking yield, and cover buyers seeking protection.

I mapped every state, flow, and relationship across the protocol: collateral management, cover purchasing, claims filing, dispute resolution, and policy documentation. This IA became the foundation for every design decision that followed.

The platform supported three core journeys: Collaterals, where capital providers deposit into markets, track APY, and manage withdrawals. Covers, where buyers browse, purchase, and manage protection policies. And Claims, where users file incidents and navigate deposit requirements, challenge periods, and dispute resolution through Kleros arbitration.

The claims process was the highest-stakes flow in the product. I designed a step-by-step guided experience: select protocol, choose incident type, specify compensation, understand deposit requirements, and submit. Every step surfaces the right context at the right time, because in DeFi, clarity is the difference between trust and abandonment.

If a claim gets challenged, it enters Kleros arbitration. The UI needed to communicate status transitions, evidence windows, and appeal mechanics without overwhelming the user.

I designed and built a landing page using Figma and Webflow to give the protocol a credible front door. The goal was to turn curious DeFi users into cover buyers and capital providers by communicating the value proposition clearly and inspiring trust from the first interaction.