Independent experiment2026
AP3 · Financial astrology
Astro
Double-check the astrology before a directional bet.
- Role
- Design in Figma · built with Codex
- Medium
- Responsive web app
- Prototype
- BuiltRead-only working prototype
DeFi product work by Connor Lee
Role period2023
Marginfimrgnlend
Making risk visible before the next move.
- Role
- Sole product designer
- Medium
- Web app
- Outcome
- ShippedCore lending & risk UX
mrgnlend, project 2 of 9
Case study Lending & borrowing · 2023
mrgnlend
I led mrgnlend from user research through the shipped lending, borrowing, and risk experience, working with engineering on account states and transaction controls.
Shipped product
Problem
Borrowing against volatile assets required users to understand how each action would change their position and liquidation risk.
Approach
Keep the health factor visible across lending, borrowing, and portfolio flows so users can assess risk before acting.
Outcome & attribution
mrgnlend launched with the core lending, borrowing, and risk experience I designed. My role ended in May 2023, before the points program and later market expansion.
Selected artifacts
Product & process.
Product states, decisions, and the system behind them.
Health Factor · Lend and Borrow
- 01
Health Factor stays in view
Balance, liquidity, and Health Factor sit together above every action, so users can judge their position before they lend or borrow.
- 02 · Lend
One mental model for Lend and Borrow
Both actions share the same market rows behind one toggle. The supplied position sits directly above the markets it came from.
- 02 · Borrow
Only the rows change
Switching to Borrow leaves the account summary and Health Factor where they were, so the risk picture holds while the action changes. The toggle and shared rows carried through to the shipped dashboard.
01
The shipped lending system
The product film shows supplying, borrowing, account health, and positions in one responsive surface.
02
Risk changed with the input
The LTV control previews risk as an amount changes, before the user confirms.
03
Research before interface
Research with experienced and newer DeFi users established how to prioritize yield, position monitoring, account health, and recovery.
04
From model to production language
Wireframe iterations resolved the account summary, market rows, and action layer.
05
A useful product before and after deposit
The empty state teaches the first action; funded accounts retain the same hierarchy.
06
The asset row as a product primitive
Five rounds refined market rows before the pattern expanded across assets.
07
Positioning the product
Launch pages clarify the product promise within the application's visual identity.
08
Explore the Figma
Explore the working prototype, flows, and risk interactions.
References & further reading
- 01The lend and borrow table as it stood in May 2023 (opens in a new tab)
mrgn-ts, marginfi's open-source frontend (GitHub) · May 2023
Lend and borrow modes, global and isolated pools, and the column tooltips.
- 02The commit that replaced the table (opens in a new tab)
mrgn-ts (GitHub) · Apr 2024
“feat: improved asset list”: a rebuilt asset table takes over the lend page.
- 03DeFi Lender MarginFi Fuels Growth With Loyalty Points, Spurring Talk of ‘Solana Renaissance’ (opens in a new tab)
CoinDesk · 14 Jul 2023
The points program's launch and early growth, after my role ended.
- 04MarginFi sees $155 million outflow amid leadership shakeup (opens in a new tab)
The Block · 11 Apr 2024
Cites DefiLlama: $811 million in TVL on 1 April 2024.
- 05marginfi Lending (opens in a new tab)
DefiLlama
The historical TVL series. TVL is the value of tokens held in the protocol's contracts; loans are tracked separately.