DeFi + Real Estate Investment Products

• Introduction
• Problems to be Solved
• Knowing the Customers
• Building the Skeletons
• Wireframing
• FrontRock Marketplace
• FrontRock DEX
• FrontRock Banking
• Prototyping
• Web App Design
• Mobile App Design

Introduction

FrontRock is a startup company that strives to revolutionize real estate investment through blockchain technologies. It allows people to make small investments in fragmentized real estate properties and projects, and provides the accompanying social and banking features to build a holistic real estate investment ecosystem.

In April 2021, I joined FrontRock as the first product designer in the team. I initiated and led the design of three products in their envisioned ecosystem - FrontRock Marketplace, FrontRock Banking, and FrontRock DEX. I designed the wireframes for all three products, and worked with the developers to implement the V0 of FrontRock Marketplace. My design clearly communicated FrontRock’s vision, which helped FrontRock secure angel investment.

Problems to be Solved

There are several problems that FrontRock identified in the real estate industry:

1. High barriers to real estate investment. People invest in REITs (Real Estate Investment Trust) as an alternative, but that largely limits the flexibility.
2. Low liquidity in the real estate market.
3. Lack of communication channels for property buyers and investors.

FrontRock builds three products in the ecosystem to solve these problems:

Knowing the Customers

Based on my research, I concluded that our target customers in this opportunity space would mainly be Millennials and GenZ, who are interested in real estate investment and are not afraid of exploring new technologies. Besides understanding their needs, I conducted market research to understand what platforms they like to use, in order to learn their habits and preferences.

Building the Skeletons

I drew a lot of sitemaps and flows to confirm the features in each of the product. This gave a more detailed look into the overall products before I jump into designing the layouts.

Wireframing

FrontRock Marketplace

The initial idea of Marketplace is a platform for people to view and purchase fragmentized real estate properties. Besides the basic property listing features, I considered the information that would help people to make decision on a real estate investment. And I designed a simple interaction for people to purchase tokens.

FrontRock DEX

Adding on top of the important features for an exchange, such as trading view, market prices, I designed how the tokens on DEX are linked back to the properties, and how users can use both the property and token market information to make a quick trading decision.

FrontRock Banking

FrontRock Banking is a mobile app that breaks the gap between the cryptos world and the real world. I designed the app that allows the users to easily interact with the decentralized finance features in the app, while spending their cryptos as seamlessly as using a normal card.

ACCOUNT

For users to view their fiat and crypto accounts, and make exchanges conveniently.

CARD

For users to view cards, and change crypto account linked to the card. Users can decide which crypto they would like to spend on card payments.

PAY

For users to make payments to others and pay bills.

EARN

For users to earn interest through lending their cryptos. It’s designed to be as simple as depositing money into a savings account.

BORROW

For users to borrow cryptos from available pools. Users need to maintain enough collateral to keep borrowing.

Prototyping

Web App Design

LANDING PAGE

For users to search for everything on the platform, and view social content.

PROPERTY LISTING

For users to view, search for and filter properties.

PROPERTY DETAILS

For users to view property details, purchase tokens pegged to the property and participate in discussions about this property.

PROJECT LISTING

For users to view all real estate projects available.

PROJECT DETAILS

For users to view project details and purchase tokens pegged to the project.

Mobile App Design