FedEx Developer Portal
They asked for documentation. The problem was onboarding.
FedEx’s developer experience was split across five disconnected tools for onboarding, API discovery, sandbox keys, and production credentials.
Developers were abandoning before they ever saw product value. Five logins, no shared patterns, no single source of truth.
I led product and UX design across six personas for nearly three years, consolidating everything into a single governed platform with shared patterns for API status, billing, webhooks, and account management.
Live for thousands of FedEx developers worldwide, validated through biweekly usability testing across four countries.
A docs refresh became a platform redesign.
Research showed the barrier wasn’t content. Developers never got far enough to read it. I made the case for a full platform redesign instead of a doc refresh, and won the budget to deliver it.
Six developer archetypes, five lifecycle phases, one choice: optimize for solo developers moving fast, or enterprise teams managing complexity. I designed for both with progressive disclosure.
Confidence first. Commitment second.
Developer platforms hide their value behind sign-up walls. This one answers three questions before asking for an account: what can I build, how hard is it, and how good are the docs.
Most platforms hide what can go wrong. This one didn’t.
Webhooks push real-time shipment data into warehouse dashboards. Misconfiguration breaks a logistics loop. I designed for the four paths that don’t end in success: no billing account, no shipping account, accounts already associated, contributor without permission.
Tests with real developers told us trust is built or lost in the failure paths. Each one became a first-class lane with its own content, actions, and recovery.
A platform that grows with you.
The post-login home isn’t one screen. It’s four states: new user, organization created, accounts added, full administrator. Simple on day one, deeper as needs grow.
Authored as a system, not per screen.
Toast, alert, modal, and gate are named types with shared structure and variable interpolation. The live copy file uses the same primitive across every surface. Consistency at scale, without copy-pasting.
One platform, five decisions deep.
How the platform’s architecture took shape, decision by decision. Click through the five calls below.
New components, built to live inside FedEx’s 1DX system.
I led the design library updates, running weekly workshops with FedEx’s internal brand team so the platform and the broader system evolved together. Every pattern authored once, documented with its full set of states.
leading product and UX across the entire platform.
biweekly research with real developers, internal and AnswerLab-led.
across two product increment cycles inside FedEx’s cadence.
pre- and post-login, APIs, webhooks, org admin, and the library.
Reframed a docs project as a platform redesign.
Research said developers left before the docs. I argued for the bigger scope, and won the budget.
First-classed the in-progress lane.
Saved-but-incomplete projects, permission gates, and system states treated as primary surfaces, not edge cases.
Authored notifications as a system.
Toast, alert, modal, gate as named types with shared templates. One pattern, every surface.