background
internal-only and undesigned
Navy Federal Credit Union had an API portal that was disorganized, undesigned, and only accessible internally. the goal was to build a public-facing developer platform from scratch where both internal teams and external fintech partners could explore, subscribe to, and use NFCU APIs
approach
make it public, make it usable, make it from scratch
1
we researched
we benchmarked banking API portals and best-in-class developer docs, including Capital One and Barclays, to figure out what patterns were worth borrowing. then we defined three personas: internal developers, external fintech partners, and open banking users, and mapped their journeys end-to-end to find where things broke down.
2
we defined
the IA was the foundation. three user types, two access tiers, one system. every feature and access level had to land in the right place for the right user.
3
we designed
i worked alongside another designer through research and mockups. for the last three months i was on my own, finishing the implementation phase and running creative QA with the engineers
impact
live at developer.navyfederal.org
the portal launched publicly with 33+ APIs surfaced through a single catalog. internal developers get automatic access with their existing credentials. external developers can access the open banking APIs, which let third-party apps securely connect to financial data without sharing login passwords