dRaffels was founded by an engineer and a sales leader with a clear technical vision and strong market intuition. As the team began building the backend infrastructure required to support a decentralized raffling platform, they also started preparing for early conversations with investors.

At this stage, much of the product existed as code, architecture diagrams, and theoretical explanations. While technically sound, these artifacts made it difficult for non-technical stakeholders — particularly investors — to fully grasp what dRaffels could become as a consumer-facing product.

Following the completion of market and user research, Parallel² was brought in to translate insights into a cohesive product and brand vision. The goal was not simply to design screens, but to create a believable, differentiated experience that investors could immediately understand.

The Challenge

The challenge was twofold:

1. Designing a viable peer-to-peer marketplace experience

2. Establishing a clear, credible brand for a new decentralized product

Peer-to-peer marketplaces inherently balance two competing audiences: buyers and sellers. Optimizing for one at the expense of the other risks undermining the entire platform.

For dRaffels, this tension was compounded by additional complexity:

• Decentralized infrastructure

• Token-based participation

• Trust and fairness concerns

• The need for extremely low friction

The product needed to feel trustworthy, modern, and simple — while also communicating legitimacy to investors and early adopters in a crowded and often confusing crypto-adjacent space.

Our Role

Parallel² led the end-to-end product and brand design effort, translating research insights into a unified experience that could support fundraising, early user validation, and future development.

Our role included:

• Defining product architecture and user flows

• Designing investor-ready prototypes

• Creating the visual identity and brand system

• Establishing early design system patterns

• Aligning UX, visual design, and brand decisions

• Supporting positioning and storytelling for fundraising

The work focused on making dRaffels understandable, credible, and differentiated — not just functional.

Approach

Ideation & Architecture

From the outset, the design strategy acknowledged a core marketplace reality:

Most users are buyers, but sellers determine whether the platform survives.

Rather than forcing both audiences into a single experience, the product was intentionally designed around two distinct but equal spaces:

• Players (buyers)

• Hosts (sellers)

This separation allowed each group’s needs to be addressed without diminishing the other, while still maintaining a cohesive overall system.

User flows mapped:

• Onboarding paths

• Core actions and decision points

• Raffle discovery and participation

• Raffle creation and management

These flows evolved iteratively as assumptions were tested and refined.

Wireframing & Early System Thinking

Sketching and wireframing focused on reducing friction and establishing consistent patterns early. Even at this stage, system-level decisions were being made — particularly around how lists, navigation, and repeated elements behaved across the app.

Player Dashboard

Early dashboards surfaced essential information but missed a critical element: token visibility. Making token balance immediately visible — along with a clear path to purchase more — became central to the experience.

Search & Browse

Instead of dedicating permanent space to browsing categories, search and discovery were consolidated into an overlay. This preserved screen real estate and prioritized what mattered most in an early-stage marketplace: what was available right now.

Branding & Visual Identity

Branding played a critical role in reinforcing trust and clarity.

The visual identity needed to:

• Feel credible in a decentralized context

• Avoid the visual clichés common in crypto products

• Support clarity rather than spectacle

Color became a primary structural tool. Separate but related color families were introduced for hosts and players, helping define context and intent without relying on labels. Analogous color schemes were chosen to create smoother transitions, neutral shared spaces, and visually pleasing gradients throughout the UI.

Typography, spacing, and visual hierarchy reinforced readability and calm — supporting the idea that users should quickly understand rather than interpret.

Navigation & Interaction Refinement

Visual design influenced UX decisions throughout the process. Early header-based navigation felt dated and ergonomically inefficient on mobile devices.

Transitioning to a bottom tab bar:

• Reduced thumb travel

• Improved discoverability

• Unified role-specific and neutral areas

This change improved both usability and visual cohesion.

Key Insights

1. Brand and product clarity are inseparable

Trust was communicated as much through tone, color, and visual restraint as through functional features.

2. Separate experiences reduce cognitive load

Designing distinct but equal spaces for buyers and sellers clarified intent without fragmenting the product.

3. Color can communicate role and context

Thoughtful use of analogous color systems reduced the need for labels or explanation.

4. Investor understanding requires experiential design

Interactive prototypes conveyed value and potential far more effectively than technical documentation or abstract explanations.

5. Systems thinking pays off early

Establishing consistent patterns and early system foundations prevented fragmentation as the product evolved.

Outcome

The design work provided dRaffels with a clear, credible product vision that could be communicated beyond technical documentation and theory. The prototypes enabled investors and stakeholders to quickly understand the value, structure, and potential of the platform.

As a result, dRaffels was able to use the work produced by Parallel² to successfully secure pre-seed funding. The project is now actively in development, with the design foundations continuing to inform ongoing technical and product decisions.

Key results included:

• Investor-ready interactive prototypes

• A clear, differentiated brand identity

• Defined player and host experiences

• Early design system foundations

• Strong validation from potential users and stakeholders

This engagement reduced uncertainty at a critical stage, aligned the founding team around a shared vision, and created momentum that extended well beyond fundraising.

Reflection

Design can align vision, communicate value, and reduce risk — but it cannot replace market timing, capital, or execution at the business level.

For Parallel², the project remains a strong example of how research-led product and brand design can transform abstract ideas into clear, credible experiences.