MY ROLE
As part of founding team I built and led product and brand design on a ~50-person team, from zero: brand identity, product & UX/UI design, and design system. Built the async-first workflow between design and engineering. Established and directed the team of graphic designers.
CONTEXT
What started as a bold infrastructure vision evolved iteratively, early versions introduced a speculative layer where developers could launch tokens to raise capital, while full app autonomy remained the north star. Partnerships with Solana, Avalanche, and Skale came in later stages, validating the technical direction.
THE PRODUCT
01
CHALLENGE
Xyber was built primarily for AI-app developers. Builder Hub was their core environment, designed from scratch to cover the full journey: from creating an app to connecting plugins, tracking usage, and managing its economics long-term. All they need, in one place.
SOLUTION
A launch wizard guided creators through 8 steps: metadata, AI parameters, optional plugins, and Launchpad configuration. Post-launch, the Builder Hub became the ongoing workspace: plugins, datasets, analytics, and the full economic layer.
CHALLENGE
Designing the discovery layer meant balancing three things at once: functional utility for users, monetization for app creators, and the speculative layer that Web3 audiences expect. None of them could come at the expense of the others.
SOLUTION
A catalog of apps launched on Xyber where users could trade app tokens, interact through chat or a graphical interface, and pay only for completed work through an onchain credits system. Utility and speculation in one surface.
CHALLENGE
Launchpad was complex by technical design: capped contributions per user, randomized liquidity pool creation, a post-sale lottery. All built to make participation fairer. The design challenge was making that complexity invisible to the user.
SOLUTION
The solution was a near-linear flow that walks users from deposit to token claim without a single moment of confusion. The system does the heavy lifting behind the scenes: the interface just guides user through it.
CHALLENGE
Growth in Web3 runs on community participation — but participation needs a reason. The task was to design a gamified engagement system that turned social actions into a rewarding loop, without feeling like a chore.
SOLUTION
Varied quest system alongside daily retention mechanics: streaks, a wheel of fortune, riddles, live quests tied to real platform activity. Users earned XP, climbed leaderboards, and unlocked rewards. 25k returning users proved it worked.
EXTENDED
02
CONTEXT
We wanted our mascot to become a proof of concept. Xyber was built around verifiable, flexible, and autonomous AI, and Lumira had to embody that: not as decoration, but as a living demonstration of what the platform could do. Integrated into the brand, the product, and the community at every level.
WHAT WAS DONE
Making Lumira work meant solving hard visual problems first: consistency, avoiding the uncanny valley, building a character people would actually connect with. The result was a character with her own YouTube stream, a Twitter presence, and in-app assistant role. On top of it, her NFT collection organically made 8x.
CONTEXT
Xyber was built by Web3 people, for Web3 people, and the brand never pretended otherwise. The positioning wasn't about building a community around the product. It was about being part of one. The ultimate goal wasn't awareness or followers — it was a cult. And for design, that kind of community connection is gold: direct access to feedback and real insights, no surveys, no middlemen.
WHAT WAS DONE
To get there, we needed a face. Pinky, a masked, mildly unhinged character who quickly became beloved. His appeal wasn't polish. It was realness: vague posting, product leaks, and direct unfiltered communication with the community. People didn't just follow Pinky, but waited for him. And every interaction was a signal: what landed, what didn't, what the community actually wanted next.
CONTEXT
The brand was built on postmodernism: self-irony, irreverence, and cultural references layered into everything. Not as an aesthetic choice, but as a genuine communication philosophy. That became the foundation for video content.
WHAT WAS DONE
Each video introduced Xyber's values and technology through entertainment first. Formats that rewarded attention without demanding it. Directed alongside D106en on a shoestring budget, which somehow only made them more on-brand.
The Interview /Mocked
The Office /Unfinished
The Manifesto /Pinned
The Collective /So bad it's good
CONCLUSION
03
