#002 · Systems Architect · Legendary · 2021 to 2026
AKASHA World
An open-source social platform of eight independently installable apps, where publishing, identity, onboarding, moderation and wallet interactions had to feel like one product.
Lead Product Designer · AKASHA Foundation2021 to 2026. End-to-end UX across the ecosystem; led the in-house design team.
In AKASHA World alone8 apps plus shared Auth, shipped end to end on one open-source design system
Hero media
The chapter media below carries the evidence.
The challenge
Every app installs on its own, so publishing, identity, onboarding, moderation and Web3 interactions had to stay coherent in any combination, for people who had never used a wallet.
What I led
End-to-end UX and the design system; leading the in-house design team; weekly cross-team reviews; working directly with the developers.
What shipped
Eight apps plus shared Auth on a shadcn/ui-based design system, delivered alongside five years of engineering sprints.
Leadership
How I led it.
Ecosystem-level UXEnd-to-end UX across eight apps and shared Auth, 2021 to 2026.
Led the design teamLed the in-house design team across all eight apps and Auth.
Side by side with engineeringWorked directly with the developers; design ran alongside the engineering sprints.
Weekly cross-team reviewsOne design review across all the app teams, every week.
Journeys before screensCross-app journeys mapped first, then broken down app by app.
One design systemshadcn/ui-based tokens, components and interaction specs, in a Figma library synced with code.
01
One shell, eight apps
Each app installs on its own and any World can combine them, so consistency could not be left to individual screens.
Problem
Eight apps, installed independently and combined freely, could easily feel like eight different products.
Constraint
Each app is a separate micro-frontend that a World can install, remove or rearrange, so no screen can assume which other apps are present.
Trade-off
Designing app by app would have been quicker per screen, but every app would have invented its own patterns.
Decision
Map the cross-app journeys first, then design every app inside one shared shell and one design system.
Result
All eight apps and Auth shipped on the same shell and shadcn/ui-based system, kept aligned through weekly cross-team reviews.
01Recording: a beam is composed from blocks in the Beam Editor, then appears in the Antenna feed.
123456
IdentityProfile and wallet address, the same in every app.
Shared top barBack, AKASHA World and notifications stay put as you move between apps.
The active appHere, Antenna's feed and composer. Every app renders in this column.
Shared widgetsFeatured topics and newest members travel with you across apps.
Way into ExtensionsAn invitation to install more apps links the shell to the app store.
Desktop / Global Antenna, from the Figma file. The shell stays the same in every app; only the center column changes.
The eight apps plus Auth
Antennathe home feed
Beam Editorblock-based publishing
Reflectionsthreaded replies
Profileidentity and follows
Extensionsthe app marketplace
Vibes and Vibes Consolecommunity moderation
Searchcross-app search
Settingsuser controls
Authonboarding for crypto and non-crypto users
02
One onboarding, two personas
Crypto natives and newcomers arrive with the same goal: get into a World and post. Both were onboarded according to what they already knew, and extensive interviews and usability testing confirmed the flow that shipped.
Problem
Both groups share a destination, but not the same comfort with wallets.
Constraint
Signing in to a decentralized platform means connecting a wallet and signing with it.
Trade-off
Two separate funnels would have doubled the maintenance for no user benefit.
Decision
One flow with progressive wallet steps: connect, choose a wallet, sign once, confirmed, with a recoverable error state. Each persona meets the steps at the depth their knowledge calls for.
Result
Interviews and consecutive moderated usability test rounds confirmed the flow; wallet-connection drop-off improved across those rounds.
03
Delist, don't delete
Communities need moderation, but at the protocol layer nothing can be removed.
Problem
Communities needed a way to act on harmful content.
Constraint
Content cannot be deleted at the protocol layer, so the usual admin-delete model was never available.
Trade-off
A delete button that only hid content would have promised something the protocol cannot do, and broken trust.
Decision
Community moderation: each community's moderators review reports, explain every decision and delist rather than delete. Every action lands in a public Transparency Log.
Result
Vibes and Vibes Console shipped with a public Transparency Log, so moderation is visible, accountable and reversible.
03Recording: a moderator reviews a flagged beam in the Content Review Hub, explains the decision against the Code of Conduct, and delists it.
04
An app store for every World
Extensions is where both sides of the ecosystem meet: creators build and publish apps, and people install them to enhance their World. Some extensions are full apps; others are plugins that add new blocks to a beam, like polls or tips. Installing takes one sheet that shows what the app will access, a progress state and a ready-to-open confirmation. Apps that may contain sensitive content are marked NSFW and keep their cover hidden in the listing.
Design decisionApps and beam add-ons in one hub
Full apps and plugins sit in one hub, labeled and filterable by type, each with the same Install action. An app enhances the whole World; a plugin adds a block to a beam. People learn one place and one flow for both.
04Recording: browsing the Extensions Hub, reviewing an app's permissions and installing it.
The impact
What changed.
8 + AuthApps shipped in AKASHA World
Antenna, Beam Editor, Reflections, Profile, Extensions, Vibes and Vibes Console, Search and Settings, plus shared Auth.
UsabilityWallet-connection drop-off improved
Observed across consecutive moderated usability test rounds on the onboarding flow.
4Foundation events designed end to end
ETHBucharest, ETHCluj, ETHDam and ETHWarsaw, from the stand to the talks and the materials.
What this shows
Five years leading design for a decentralized ecosystem: eight apps taken from first journeys to shipped product, one design system, and a design team I led, working with engineering week after week. Complex, multi-team, zero-to-one product design is the work I lead best.
I make complex products feel simple: platforms, fintech, design systems, zero-to-one. I lead the design, build the system and ship, with AI in the workflow and craft intact.
12+ years leading design through complex products.
I've shipped white-label banking platforms, decentralized apps, car configurators, e-commerce, taxation tools, education platforms and travel apps. My strength is working through complex projects with many stakeholders and little documentation.
Generalist by nature, with deep design systems expertise. I lead end-to-end, from strategy to pixel, and I build and ship my own products on the side.
Primary designer across the product suite (TFM, Dashboard, Bahith) plus website pages, booth materials and decks: product UX, design systems, marketing material, in English and Arabic RTL. Three design systems built with AI and agents, one from scratch and two derived from existing designs; sales and key-partnership decks; templates for the business team: slides, documents and official documents.
2021 to 2026
AKASHA FoundationLead Product Designer
End-to-end UX for a decentralized social platform, design team lead, design system ownership, foundation events.
2021
Strands Labs (now Strands by CRIF)Lead Principal Designer
For designers who want a shadcn-style neo-brutalist system with real tokens.
Start a bold interface in minutes with components that already carry variables, modes and states, instead of hardcoded values you have to untangle later.
45+ components, 288 variants, light and dark modes
Figma Variables for color, radius, border, spacing and type
.fig file with docs, README and LICENSE; free lifetime updates
For teams building DeFi and Web3 finance products.
Skip the first month of a DeFi product's design: token cards, swap and transaction flows, wallet connect and dashboards, in dark and light, with numbers that line up.
Token cards, swap and transaction flows, wallet connect, dashboards
Dark-first palette with a maintained light mode
Tabular figures for balances, consistent addresses and hashes
Full list
Dark-first neon palette with a maintained light mode
Tabular figures for balances and prices, consistent styling for addresses and hashes
Buttons, inputs, selects, tabs, badges, tooltips, tables, modals, navigation with variants and states
Pricing. Prices and availability as listed on Gumroad, Figma Community and GitHub. Each listing is the source of truth.Want a custom tool? Let's talk
Basma Gh
Lead Product Designer · 12+ years
I lead complex digital products from strategy to shipping: platforms, fintech, design systems and zero-to-one work, with AI in the workflow and craft intact.
0 to 1From product strategy to shipped experiences
SystemsDesign systems and complex product ecosystems at scale
BuilderIndependent tools, products and AI-native workflows
Current roleSince March 2026
Lead Product Designer, Oumla
Primary designer across Oumla's tokenized finance suite on a part-time contract: product UX, design systems and marketing material, delivered bilingually in English and Arabic RTL.
Three design systems built with AI and the agents I created: TFM's from scratch, Dashboard and Bahith derived from inconsistent designs that had no system
Three products: TFM trading, approval and settlement flows; Dashboard role-based access control; the Bahith explorer
Arabic/RTL as a first-class deliverable across products and documentation
Website pages, booth materials, sales and key-partnership decks, and templates for the business team: slides, documents and official documents
A repeatable AI-assisted production process (Read, Decide, Write, Publish) with design decisions kept in my hands
Led AKASHA's design team across 8 apps; investor proposals and MVPs for 20+ clients.
Complex systems UX
Decentralized platforms, tokenized finance, white-label banking, car configurators.
Design systems
AKASHA UI (open source), the Strands white-label system, and three systems at Oumla built with AI and agents, one of them from scratch.
Zero-to-one product creation
Forge, Galley, Neo Brutalism UI Library and NeonFi, from idea to published.
AI-native design and development workflows
Claude through the Figma MCP and Claude Code for production work; a Read, Decide, Write, Publish process that keeps decisions mine; Galley and Forge coded solo.
Career history
2026 to now
OumlaLead Product Designer, part-time contract
Primary designer across the product suite: three design systems, three products, English and Arabic RTL.
More
TFM (trading, approval and settlement flows, TFM Design System), Oumla Dashboard (role-based access control, Dashboard Design System), Bahith (blockchain explorer, design system rebuilt from tokens up). Website pages for the revamp, booth materials, sales deck, investor deck, SAB booth deck, NHC/Sakani presentations, DDQ responses, and templates for the business team (slides, documents, official documents).
Led design across 8 composable apps and the open-source AKASHA UI.
More
Design team lead, design system ownership, four foundation events (ETHBucharest, ETHCluj, ETHDam, ETHWarsaw). World Builder and Etherlaken shipped from the same seat.
Strands Labs (now Strands by CRIF)Lead Principal Designer
Four white-label fintech products for banks, 20+ languages, LTR and RTL.
More
PFM, Engager, BFM and the ESG dashboard on one brandable, localizable, accessible component system. Insight campaigns launched in about 2 minutes instead of weeks.
