Selective disclosure
Noctis is a DeFi platform and blockchain explorer built for Penumbra, a proof-of-stake blockchain startup.
Market Cap
Circulating supply
UM real time price
The challenge
Designing a blockchain explorer and DeFi platform in 4-month timeline,
The goal was to create a platform that explain how the Penumbra protocol works, including areas such as DeFi, validator insights for staking decisions, liquidity positions made on their DEX, IBC interoperability, and governance participation.
To ensure the design was truly community-driven, I proposed involving the Penumbra community from the start.
We ran surveys via Discord and invited users to participate in recorded usability tests over the wireframes and mockups, also I collaborated closely with blockchain developers, product managers, and design teams to understand the vision of each feature and available data, also coordinated with the UX engineering team, back end and front end, to ensure smooth implementation and handoff.
User Centered Design sprints
Research sprint
Week 1
Understand & Align
Stakeholder aligment
Survey end users
User personas
Week 2
Understand & Align
Afinity mapping
Problem statement
SOW Creation
Sprints per feature after SOW
Week 1
Ideate
Brainstorming
User journey
Low fidelity wireframes
Usability testing internal
Data validation
Week 2
Prototype and test
Mockups with design system
Test
Usability testing end users
AB / Testing
Handoff to development
Responsive screens
Technical documentation
The core user
Leo Nakamoto
Age
Goals
Monitor validators performance, delegation rewards, and network status.
Track transactions, swaps, and liquidity positions performance.
Participate in governance via stake-based voting with full visibility into proposals and outcomes.
Pain Points
Lack of aggregated validator metrics across epochs (e.g., APR, downtime, missed blocks).
Insufficient historical context in many explorers: no trends, no deltas, only snapshots.
Traditional explorers don’t have info about zero-knowledge-based networks.
Needs
Visualization of network health metrics: block times, epoch durations, validator status.
Liquidity insights: volume per pool, swap slippage, LP share evolution.
Governance proposals data with possible changes in the protocol, downtimes etc.
Technology Use
Penumbra CLI
Core Insight
The DeFi Explorer showcases the protocol’s mechanics in a clear and transparent way, helping users build trust in the system.
Outcome
In August 2025 we released all five core use cases, bringing more visibility to the community about validators for staking, governance proposal, and liquidity positions as well as Txs information.
The platform improved liquidity and staking in more than 60% and voting participation in proposals in more than 30%.