katana

Polygon Labs came to us with Katana, a DeFi website design project built on bold ambition. In a Web3 world where assets sit idle and platforms compete for fragments of liquidity, Katana set out to bring balance, concentrating movement into one ecosystem to turn idle capital into productive capital through collaboration and flow.

Our challenge was to translate that vision into a digital experience design that felt alive. Katana already carried traces of a Japanese-inspired aesthetic, with gradients, motion, and anime references. We expanded those into a full digital branding and motion design identity rooted in the discipline of the samurai: sharp, loyal, and driven by community.

This wasn’t about simply designing a website. It was about creating an immersive web design story — one where people could see themselves reflected in Katana’s mission and feel part of its momentum. As a creative technology studio, our goal was to make complex financial systems intuitive through interactive brand storytelling and immersive storytelling website design.

To make complex mechanics feel intuitive, we created a series of looping 3D motion design for web sequences. The Vault Bridge became a tunnel of moving assets, visualizing how funds flow safely into Katana. Chain-Owned Liquidity appeared as a growing reservoir, filling as more users joined. These weren’t decorative elements — they were visual narratives that made the DeFi system tangible and alive.

For the first launch phase, Polygon wanted to make deposits feel less like transactions and more like an interactive web experience. The result was the Gacha Machine: a playful, gamified digital product design inspired by Japanese capsule toys. Each deposit unlocked a crate with a sense of chance and surprise. Sometimes it contained Kat coins; other times, NFT collectibles of varying rarity.

Users began comparing their pulls, sharing them online, and turning what started as a financial action into a shared, interactive game. The Gacha Machine gave the community a reason to gather — not just to earn, but to play, transforming finance into immersive storytelling and interactive brand engagement.

By combining storytelling, motion, and gamification, Katana launched as more than a product — it became an immersive digital storytelling world. The samurai-inspired visuals gave the community a shared identity, the site made a complex financial system feel accessible, and the interactive 3D elements turned participation into something rewarding.

This immersive user experience transformed how people engaged with decentralized finance. Instead of abstract dashboards, they entered a world of design, play, and collaboration — a true brand transformation through creative technology and engagement through design.

Creating Katana was a chance to shape a new kind of digital community within decentralized finance. In a landscape often driven by short-term rewards, Katana wanted to build loyalty and shared purpose. Our role was to make those values visible — discipline, cooperation, and playfulness expressed through digital branding and motion design.

The project showed how brand storytelling through design and interactive brand storytelling can shift perception, turning financial participation into a collective experience. For us, it was about proving that even in the technical world of DeFi website design, design and motion can create belonging — the essence of what defines a digital experience design studio.

For related projects highlighting ROCANI’s approach to cinematic interaction and motion-led design, explore Viva La Labia, Platoon Aviation, and Fin-Erth.