Designing a new API portal

Initial company & product state

Axway’s API management offering was newly emerging and lacked a public-facing developer experience. The portal did not yet exist, domain knowledge was uneven, and the implementation platform (Joomla) imposed technical constraints.

Compounding this, Axway faced an imminent Gartner Magic Quadrant evaluation where the absence of a developer portal was a known gap.

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Challenge

Design and deliver a credible, functional API portal that:

Demonstrated Axway’s API management capabilities
Supported onboarding and application management
Could be implemented rapidly within Joomla
Met Gartner expectations under a 36-hour delivery window

The team had only four people, a very tight delivery window, and uneven expertise across remote contributors and time zones. The platform was on Joomla, which required careful design-to-code translation. The API management offering was still evolving, with limited deep domain knowledge, so we had to figure it out as we went. Oh, and to top it all off, we had a Gartner MQ deadline to hit in a few days with this absolutely brand-new product already noted as a critical gap in Axway's offerings. It was a 36-hour marathon to close out the year on a high note!

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Rapid IA and UX definition

Designed sitemap and information architecture for the entire portal
Created wireframes and high-fidelity mockups under tight iteration cycles

Developer workflows

Designed application management flows:
- View and create applications
- Generate and manage API keys and OAuth credentials
- Share applications and manage scopes
Visualized API usage, success/failure rates, and processing metrics
Designed homepage sections highlighting APIs, documentation, onboarding, and quick access paths
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Approach

Designed sitemap, navigation and information architecture, and wireframes for the entire portal.
Created high-fidelity mockups, icons, and illustrations.
Collaborated closely across countries and time zones.
Contributed to the Joomla implementation to accelerate delivery.
Crafted a homepage showcasing APIs, documentation, onboarding steps, and quick links.
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***Applications:*** *Users could view all applications, create new ones, and drill down to details and API usage per application.*

***Viewing an application:*** *Users could see the application status, API and API status, and API keys.*

***Editing an application:*** *Users could generate new and manage existing API keys and OAuth credentials, view secret information, delete keys, and manage OAuth scopes. They could also share the application with others.*

***API usage:*** *Within an application, this shows which APIs are being used, whether they were successful or failed, processing time, and more.*

Website

We also had to create a website page for the application - this was animated (the animation wasn't done by me).

*We broke up the homepage into 4 and each took one. I did Create.*

Sample rebranding for demo

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The team successfully delivered a polished, modern API portal in time for the Gartner analysis, supporting Axway’s platform credibility. The experience guided developers more effectively and demonstrated Axway’s readiness in the API management space.

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