API Center User Experience Improvement Research and Discovery
01.
Product Overview
North Star
A 6 month long engagement into Discover Financial Services’ API Enablement and Standardization Discovery Research. In this case study we take a look into this deep dive exploration into the API Center, how it is used today and identifying opportunities for improvement.
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6
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Product Team
Lead Experience Strategist & Researcher

Product Design Leadership

Lead CraftWorx Engineer

02.
About the Discovery & Research Workgroup
There is a lot of uncertainty when developing a product and choosing what features to implement next. This is where product discovery and research can help.
03.
What is the API Center Improvement Initiative?
The API engagement seeked to…
- Perform comprehensive CraftWorx & Design Thinking guided discovery into the API Center in order to challenge and prove the THINK Theory in a real-world product lifecycle development.
- Schedule and facilitate user sessions with internal API users and non-users who will participate in the discovery sessions and will be the contributing force in the research study.
- Gather qualitative data and compile research in order to better understand the pros and cons of the current solution.
- Leverage research to make informed decisions on what improvements to features and functionality should be included in the next product lifecycle release.
- Guide design and development. of future stages of the API center, creating a scalable and comprehensive tool which works for the users who helped create it.
04.
The Challenge with the API Center
While the API center serves the purpose for which it was intended, as innovationists, we can’t help but notice the details.
We must work on the discoverability aspect and plan a strategic digital marketing strategy within Discover in order to ensure users find the API center when they need it, and drive adoption ensuring that when they are there, they are engaged. Making it a single source of truth in terms for all our internal API needs.
- Lack of personalization and value in metrics
- Navigation is full of friction and confusing
- Lack of focus on primary persona driving functions
- Lack of meaningful relationships within the experience
- The system is manual and labor-intensive to use
- No automation regarding approvals, submissions, and notifications
- APIs missing important information as there is no error handling in place for the validation of required details.
- No version control or testing is leading to duplicates and confusion over capabilities and ownership
05.
Leveraging the users to tell us who they are.
Personas are fake people.
Not really fake but made up characters who are in the situations and scenarios that a typical user would be in. They have the different origins, roles, characteristics and narratives, and like all of the users, are looking to accomplish specific tasks.
Why are they important?
Personas are a valuable tool to help you get to know your customers, as well as how you can meet their needs or solve their problems. With detailed personas in place, everybody has a more consistent overview of your target audience. Plus, you’re better equipped to provide empathy and insight when discussing features and product changes. Use this template to outline need-to-know information about your customers and take your marketing to the next level
The Consumer
The Provider
06. The user-driven and developed solution
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