Olympus DA0 V3
Design system upgrade to V3
Olympus DA0 V3
DeFi
Experience Leadership
Olympus is a DeFi protocol built around OHM, a treasury-backed token on Ethereum designed to be a stable, decentralised unit of value. Its products, including bonds, swaps, zaps and staking, are powerful, but they rely on mechanisms that can be hard for newcomers to grasp and complex even for experienced users. As the protocol evolved, its interface needed to catch up. As Lead Product Designer, I led the design and launch of the Olympus V3 interface across its full suite of products: bonds, wallet, swaps and zaps. The goal was to turn sophisticated DeFi mechanisms into clear, intuitive flows that new users could follow and experienced users could move through quickly, while building trust at every step. At the heart of V3 was a new design system that brought consistency to complex financial flows. Shared components and patterns for balances, transactions and risk meant every product looked and worked the same way, making the platform easier to learn, faster to build and simpler to extend as Olympus grew. My role Lead product design, UX and UI, design system, high-fidelity prototyping, working closely with engineers, product managers and the Olympus community. What was delivered V3 interface for bonds, wallet, swaps and zaps A design system for consistent, scalable DeFi flows Simpler experiences for new users without slowing down experienced ones
Challenge
Olympus had grown fast, and its interface had grown with it. Bonds, swaps, zaps, staking and the wallet had each been built at different times, by different people, with their own patterns. The result was an experience that felt inconsistent and harder to use than it needed to be, in a product where clarity and trust matter most. The visual layer had become a big part of the problem. Too many colours, font sizes and one-off components meant every new screen involved dozens of small decisions, and every designer and developer could make them differently. That slowed the team down and left users facing interfaces where similar actions looked and behaved in different ways. V3 needed a design system that cut that complexity right back: fewer colours, a tighter type scale and a smaller set of reusable components, so the right decision became the easy one. Doing this in a fully remote, global team made it harder still. Designers, engineers, product managers and community contributors were spread across time zones, often working asynchronously with limited overlap. Decisions couldn’t wait for meetings, and anything left open to interpretation would be built inconsistently. The design system had to be clear and opinionated enough that anyone, anywhere, could pick it up and build the same thing without needing to ask.
Solution
I led the creation of a new V3 design system built on one principle: reduce complexity to create clarity. Instead of adding more options, we removed them, so every screen across Olympus would feel simple, consistent and trustworthy. The first step was cutting back the visual foundations. We reduced the colour palette to a small set of purposeful colours, each with a clear job, such as highlighting actions, showing status or flagging risk. The type scale was trimmed to a few font sizes with a clear hierarchy, so users could instantly tell what mattered most on any screen. Spacing, icons and states followed the same rules, removing the guesswork from everyday design decisions. From these foundations, we built a small library of reusable components for the patterns that appear everywhere in DeFi: balances, inputs, transaction confirmations, warnings and data cards. Bonds, swaps, zaps, staking and the wallet were all rebuilt with these same components, so similar actions looked and behaved the same way across the whole platform. The system was designed to work for a fully remote, global team. Clear, opinionated documentation meant designers and engineers in any time zone could make the right decision without waiting for a meeting. Fewer choices meant fewer disagreements, faster reviews and consistent results, wherever the work was being done. The result was a V3 interface that made complex DeFi mechanisms easier to understand, and a design system that let Olympus build faster and more confidently as it grew.
Result
The V3 design system gave Olympus a clear, consistent foundation across its entire product suite. Bonds, swaps, zaps, staking and the wallet now looked and worked as one platform, making complex DeFi mechanisms easier to understand for newcomers and quicker to use for experienced holders. Reducing complexity paid off for the team as much as for users. With fewer colours, font sizes and components to choose from, designers and engineers spent less time debating details and more time shipping. New features could be designed and built faster, reviews were quicker, and the results stayed consistent no matter who built them or where in the world they were working. Most importantly, clarity built trust. In a protocol where users are moving real value, a calm, predictable interface helped people feel confident in every action they took, and set a new standard for how Olympus presented itself to its community. One consistent experience across bonds, swaps, zaps, staking and the wallet A simplified system with a reduced colour palette, type scale and component library Faster design and development across a fully remote, global team A foundation for Olympus to keep building on
From our Client:
“William was a leader in our product design team and the driving force behind our V3 design system. He brought clarity and consistency to some of the most complex flows in DeFi, from bonds to zaps, and gave the whole team a foundation to build on. His work took Olympus to a new level.”
Zeus
Founder