The Vision

Designing the Next Generation API Dashboard

In 2021, Railsr set out to launch an API dashboard for its global customer base. The goal was to create a product that could meet their demands while providing a unique user experience.

The dashboard included features such as API key management, user management, launch guides, and developer documentation. Railsr's API dashboard was unique in the sense that it provided a comprehensive set of tools for developers and product managers to work with. The launch guide provided valuable insights and step-by-step instructions for customers to integrate Railsr's API with their own products. The developer documentation included detailed information on the API's endpoints, parameters, and response formats.

The Challenge

Focus on the Developer Experience

Our challenge was to reduce the time-to-market for our customers. Our banking and credit APIs had been released, but:

• Customers were slow to launch as they were entangled in regulatory requirements

• If they made it to launch, customers were at risk of building financial products that did not meet industry standards from an App Store, Legal, and ADA perspective

The Role

Senior Product Designer

As the lead designer, my contributions spanned the entire process. Some of my responsibilities included user research, wireframing, prototyping, designing the final screens, creating the design system, and producing the final UI Kits.

In this role, I focused on documenting our API capabilities from a UX/UI standpoint. Accessibility design and legal compliance were of the utmost importance.

For accessibility, we held our designs to the WCAG 2.1 AA Standard to ensure people from all walks of life could use our financial solutions. We followed Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines to guarantee customers’ applications would be accepted into the iOS App Store. For our legal and compliance, we validated all designs with internal and external counsel to ensure all experiences were compliant and in accordance with industry regulations.

The Process

The 5 D’s

The Discovery

Customer Journey Map

The Solution

A Three-Pronged Approach

The solution was to create a fully integrated launch plan by connecting the dots between our best-in-class APIs and the end-user experience. We could slash the traditional time to market from years to weeks. We created a comprehensive launch guide that tackled the problem using a three-pronged approach.

• We refined our Developer Documentation for our APIs

• Designed a UI Kit to be paired alongside it

• Developed an API Dashboard that housed the entire experience.

This case study will focus on the API Dashboard. If you would like to learn about the UI Kit, please see the UI Kit Case Study.

By providing a dashboard to our customers, we could show them exactly what was needed to implement a successful Embedded Finance product. In the Dashboard, we created a one-stop solution for our customers to access our launch guides, edit their keys and connect with their customer base.

Click on the button below to see the Key Management Wireframes in Figma.

By mid-2022, the Railsr API dashboard had become an essential tool for their customers, allowing them to manage their accounts and access developer resources with ease. The dashboard provided a seamless experience between the backend APIs and the front-end user experience. The API dashboard was a great success, largely attributed to the comprehensive user interface and the developer-centric features that Railsr included.

Overall, the Railsr API dashboard was a great success, due to the comprehensive set of developer tools and the intuitive user interface. The API dashboard provided customers with a unique and intuitive experience when managing their financial services. It allowed Railsr to differentiate itself from its competitors and provide its customers with a valuable service that met their needs.