Coinbase Cloud

Transitioning Bison Trails to Coinbase Cloud: A Brand and Design System Priotizing Developer Needs

EMPLOYER

Coinbase

CONTRIBUTIONS

Design Systems & Product Experience

TEAM

Design Systems,Engineering, Product

TIMELINE

June 2021 - August 2022

tl;dr

Coinbase Cloud gained a brand identity - it gave developers trust, but stayed separate from Coinbase.

Key Design Solutions

•Developer-first brand positioning: "Built for developers, by developers"
•Technical visual system: Blockchain-specific iconography and isometric illustrations
•Enterprise-grade design language: Professional aesthetics with teal/blue color palette
•Comprehensive design system: Scalable components for rapid product expansion

Brand Differentiation Achieved

•Successfully positioned as enterprise infrastructure provider (not just "crypto exchange with APIs")
•Maintained Coinbase trust association while establishing independent technical credibility
•Enabled competitive enterprise sales against AWS/Google Cloud

250+

Assets launched.

20+

Pages across documentation, blog, and web

Pages of product and brand documentation

OUTCOME

Built for Developers, by Developers

Positioning Coinbase Cloud as the technical foundation that powers the future of finance.

Simplified Complexity

Making blockchain development accessible

Enterprise Reliability

Institutional-grade infrastructure and security

Trusted Foundation

Leveraging Coinbase's regulatory compliance and security reputation

STRATEGY

Bison Trails Gets Aquired - And Needs A New Brand

Coinbase's January 2021 acquisition of Bison Trails created an immediate brand challenge: how to integrate a respected enterprise blockchain infrastructure company serving 200+ developers into the consumer-focused Coinbase ecosystem. Bison Trails was effectively rebranded to Coinbase Cloud, requiring a new identity that could leverage Coinbase's regulatory credibility while speaking directly to sophisticated developer audiences who needed enterprise-grade infrastructure, not simplified crypto trading tools.

Key Challenges

Brand Differentiation:
Distinguishing Cloud from consumer Coinbase without losing brand equity
Developer Trust:
Building credibility with sophisticated technical audiences
Technical Complexity:
Communicating complex blockchain infrastructure concepts simply
Market Positioning:
Competing with established cloud providers in the Web3 space

A look at some of my work at Bison Trails

STRATEGY

Getting to Know Our Users

Through developer interviews and market analysis, we identified key user personas.

Enterprise Blockchain Developers:

Need reliable, scalable infrastructure.

What Influences Their Trust:

Enterprise customer references: Other Fortune 500 companies using the platform successfully
Compliance certifications: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS documentation
SLA guarantees: Specific uptime, performance, and support commitments
Security transparency: Detailed architecture reviews, penetration testing results
Integration support: Professional services and dedicated technical account management.

Web3 Startup Teams

Require quick deployment and robust APIs.

What Influences Their Trust:

Developer community adoption: High GitHub stars, active Discord/Telegram communities
Comprehensive documentation: Extensive code examples, tutorials, and guides
Transparent pricing: Clear, predictable costs without hidden fees
Fast support response: Community forums or direct support for quick problem resolution
API reliability: Consistent uptime and performance for user-facing applications.

Financial Services Engineers

Demand institutional-grade security and compliance

What Influences Their Trust:

Regulatory expertise: Vendor understanding of financial services compliance requirements
Institutional customers: Other banks and financial institutions as references
Compliance certifications: Specific financial services certifications (PCI-DSS Level 1, etc.)
Professional services: Access to compliance consulting and implementation support
Operational resilience: Disaster recovery, business continuity, and incident response capabilities

PROCESS

Strategic Brand Transformation

From consumer crypto to enterprise developer infrastructure

Sunset of Bison Trails

Conducted comprehensive brand audit of Bison Trails' existing developer relationships and brand equity. Analyzed which elements of the technical reputation could transfer to Coinbase while identifying potential barriers (developer perception of consumer crypto brand).

Sunset of Bison Trails

Exploration and Discovery

Developed comprehensive visual identity system including blockchain-specific iconography and enterprise-grade design language that differentiated from consumer Coinbase aesthetics.

Exploration and Discovery

Developed comprehensive visual identity system including blockchain-specific iconography and enterprise-grade design language that differentiated from consumer Coinbase aesthetics.

Planning and Cross-Functional Collaboration

Integrated Bison Trails' core products (Participation/Query & Transact) under Coinbase Cloud branding while maintaining service continuity. Developed unified developer documentation experience and self-serve platform.

Planning and Cross-Functional Collaboration

Transition to Coinbase Cloud

Launched unified developer platform in 2022 with free Node API access, comprehensive documentation at coinbase.com/cloud, and integrated developer tools Coinbase.

Transition to Coinbase Cloud

Launched unified developer platform in 2022 with free Node API access, comprehensive documentation at coinbase.com/cloud, and integrated developer tools Coinbase.

PROCESS

The Sandbox

I explored a couple directions before the one chosen. This direction represents approaching the circles of the Coinbase brand in a micro/macro way. Ultimately this direction felt too complex and not scalable.

SOLUTION

Depicting Complex Concepts in Web3

Icons and Illustrations needed to work at multiple scales—from dashboard overview to detailed network monitoring. Used consistent geometric principles (circles for nodes, lines for connections) to create intuitive mental models for developers managing distributed infrastructure.

Security and encryption concepts

Illustrations blend universally recognized security symbols (locks, keys, shields) with subtle technical details to convey both trustworthiness and sophisticated cryptographic processes.

Developer tools and APIs

Technical workflow illustrations use familiar development metaphors enhanced with blockchain-specific visual cues to bridge the gap between traditional programming concepts and Web3 development paradigms.

Smart contracts and transactions

Visual metaphors combine familiar document and process symbols with blockchain-specific elements to make invisible computational workflows tangible.

Nodes and network topology

Illustrations use connected geometric forms with dynamic visual indicators to represent abstract distributed systems as intuitive network maps.

SOLUTION

Design System Foundations

Built for developers, by developers - positioning Coinbase Cloud as the technical foundation that powers the future of finance.

Color System
Primary Palette:
Cloud Blue (#0052FF): Trust, reliability, technical precision
Teal (#00D2FF): Innovation, growth, accessibility
Supporting Colors: Grays for enterprise professionalism

The color system was designed to convey both technical sophistication and approachability, differentiating from Coinbase's consumer brand while maintaining family resemblance.
Typography
Making blockchain development accessible
Trusted Through Simplicity
Leveraging Coinbase's regulatory compliance and security reputation by maintaining a simple, scalable design system

SOLUTION

Nodes and Network Topology

Representing complex distributed systems in simple, recognizable forms

Individual Nodes

Circular forms with subtle inner details suggesting computational activity

Network Connections

Real-time performance analytics and insights

Node States

Color coding for active, inactive, syncing, and error states

Network Health

Visual hierarchy showing primary/secondary nodes and connection strength

SOLUTION

Developer Docs as Product Strategy

This is where we really differentiated ourselves from other infrastructure providers:

CLI-based quickstart tutorials

with real jq examples for JSON processing—not just toy examples

Actual error scenarios

with debugging guidance—because things break and people need help

Copy-paste ready code examples

formatted for immediate implementation

Everything organized around key crypto primitives

like trading and payments that developers actually use

NEXT STEPS

Future Improvements

This project reinforced the critical importance of designing for both human users and system integrations. The success of design systems depends not just on the tokens themselves, but on the tools that make them accessible, maintainable, and actionable across teams.

Scalability Planning

As Coinbase Cloud expands into new blockchain networks and enterprise features, the brand systemprovides a flexible foundation for growth while maintaining core identity principles.

Ecosystem Integration

The brand positions Coinbase Cloud as a platform for the broader Web3 ecosystem, with extensibility for partner integrations and third-party developer tools.

Developer Community Evolution

The brand foundation enables expansion from infrastructure provider to developer ecosystem leader through community-driven initiatives, educational content, and thought leadership that positions Coinbase Cloud as the definitive voice in enterprise blockchain development.

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