AP3

DeFi product work by Connor Lee

05 / 09

Project periodDec 2023 – Jan 2024

Drift

Drift Points

Keep progress inside the trading loop.

Role
Design trial · product UX/UI
Medium
Web app concept
Design trial
2-week trial5 proposed progression levels
Drift trading interface with an expanded F1 points badge
Drift mobile leveraged swap interface showing USDC to SOL with leverage controls
Exploratory design trial · not shipped workLeveraged swaps · supplied interface capture
Scroll to see the case study Trading ecosystem

Drift Points, project 5 of 9

Design trial Trading & incentives · Dec 2023 – Jan 2024

Drift Points

In a two-week design trial, I created Drift's Driver badge concept to show points and earning inside the exchange. Racing-inspired progression gave status a clear identity; teams and circuits remained future extensions.

Exploratory design trial

Problem

A separate points destination risked disconnecting rewards from the trading behavior they were meant to encourage.

Approach

Place a compact Driver badge inside the exchange. Expand it for points, risk, rank, and progression; reserve teams and circuits for a later phase.

Trial outcome

Designed entry, earning, badge, and dashboard states with five progression levels informed by trading behavior. This was exploratory trial work, not a shipped Drift engagement.

Selected artifacts

Product & process.

Product states, decisions, and the system behind them.

Driver badge · two states

A Driver badge that keeps rewards inside trading

Drift trading interface with an expanded F1 points badge showing points, risk, level, team, and race position
Design trial · not shipped
Drift Points working file, from an exploratory two-week design trial that did not ship. Points, risk, and race values are illustrative.
Refining the badge from a volume meter into a compact, persistent trading identity.

01

Points at the moment of the trade

Order tickets estimate the points a trade will earn before it is placed. Takers see points beside price impact and liquidation; makers see them beside the rebate. The confirmation restates both.

Taker and maker tickets · points beside the costs and rebates traders already weigh.
Confirmation · rebate and points, restated before the order is sent.

02

Give points a product home

The dashboard connects point balance, history, and active positions to a path back into trading.

A points overview connected to the account and its active trading positions.

03

Close the earning loop

Entry states explain earning before the first trade and preview the Driver badge.

Before earning: deposit guidance, role selection, and a preview of the Driver badge.

04

Turn activity into identity

Levels and race progress reflect trading behavior. Team and circuit states remain future concepts outside the MVP.

Race position and stage progress.
Five levels tied to participation and fee behavior.
Team identity built from shared trading activity.

05

Keep the signal legible at every scale

Reward colors stay distinct from financial red/green signals, keeping the small control legible without confusing money and points.

Compact points states tested for contrast, hierarchy, and earned emphasis.
One compact control, five level marks, sized for the exchange header.

06

From a full circuit card to a lighter badge

The trial began with a full F1-style circuit card, then simplified to points, volume, and time remaining so the badge could sit beside the order book.

1 · Initial direction: the full circuit card.
2 · Simplified: points, volume, and time remaining.
3 · In the trade: the lighter badge beside the order book.

07

A visual language for the circuit

Crossed flags, spectral gradients, and neon motion bring a racing identity into Drift's dark exchange.

The points program's crossed-flags identity and launch atmosphere.
Start state · Drifters… start your engines.
Earned state · the points pill at full glow.

The existing product ecosystem

Built within a trading ecosystem

The trial had to fit Drift's established trading experience. Adding a points layer meant first understanding its component system, trading workflows, and cross-platform patterns, shown here as Drift designed them.

Existing Drift product design system. Points integration design trial by Connor Lee.

Design system

Existing Drift button library, with buy, sell, wallet, secondary, and ghost button variants across sizes and interaction states.
Buttons across sizes and interaction statesSource

Trading experience

Existing Drift desktop trading design reference with an order form, SOL price chart, account information, and positions.
Desktop trading · Existing design referenceSource
Inside the order form

Price, size, leverage, and order controls within the trading workflow.

Existing Drift limit-order form showing long and short directions, limit price, size, leverage, and order options.
Limit order · Existing design referenceSource

Cross-platform

Existing Drift desktop portfolio design reference showing balances, performance, open positions, and market information.
Desktop portfolio · Existing design referenceSource
Existing Drift mobile trading exploration with a complete SOL perpetual market chart, positions, buy and sell controls, and navigation.
Mobile trading · Existing explorationSource

Source files

Explore the Drift working files.

The existing product ecosystem and the points design-trial exploration.

Existing Drift product design system, trading workflows, and mobile exploration. Points integration trial work and the separate Points working file by Connor Lee. Connor's points work was an exploratory trial and was not shipped.

DeFi work — AP3