Context
As part of its Open Banking strategy, Wells Fargo aimed to develop a developer portal to expose RESTful APIs from various business lines, including retail, commercial, and investment banking. The primary audience for the portal included:
- Developers integrating with Wells Fargo APIs
- Partners and prospects using APIs for solution selling and marketing
- Large enterprises seeking a visual showcase of API capabilities
The portal was designed to serve as:
- A solution-selling and marketing tool for Gateway Partners and potential clients
- A visual showcase for business stakeholders from large enterprises
- The primary reference site and dashboard for developers integrating with the APIs
My Role
As Executive Design Director, I collaborated with key stakeholders at Wells Fargo to define the strategic design direction for the Open API portal.
I led a small product strategy and design team, including a UX strategist, information architect, and visual designer. Our team worked closely with Chief Product Owner along with stakeholders from Engineering, Sales, and Marketing.
This was a four-month engagement, during which we focused on shaping the user experience, interface design, and strategic positioning of the portal to ensure it met both developer and business needs.
User Research
Over the course of one month, we conducted in-depth user research, focusing on the following key user groups. Our research approach combined multiple methodologies, including user interviews (n = 18), surveys (n = 85) and industry analyst reports (Forrester, IDC).
The goal was to understand user roles, motivations, needs, and expectations for the Open API portal. Additionally, we conducted a competitive analysis of Open API portals across various industries to identify best practices and inform the design strategy.
User Personas
Engagement and Experience Strategy for the Developers
Design Thinking Approach
We facilitated a series of Design Thinking workshops to define the vision, assess the current state, align stakeholders, review user research insights, and ideate on potential solutions. These sessions brought together teams from business, engineering, and design to ensure a shared understanding of objectives and challenges. The final workshop focused on creating a prioritized product roadmap and defining the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for the platform. This collaborative approach ensured that the solution was user-centric, strategically viable, and technically feasible while fostering alignment across all teams.
User Journey Mapping
Opportunity Matrix
Portal Design
Wells Fargo Gateway: developer.wellsfargo.com
Business Impact
Wells Fargo Gateway has become a centralized enterprise API channel, integrating across the company’s various business lines and enabling faster payments and data services. Within two years of its launch, the platform delivered significant business impact, including:
- 1.5 billion API calls in 2019
- 40 enterprise functions leveraging APIs, including treasury management and payments
- 17 API product types, covering services such as foreign exchange and ACH
- 15 strategic partnerships with data aggregators
Press Release
https://developer.wellsfargo.com/newsroom/announcements/wells-fargo-surpasses-one-billion-api-calls
See other Case Studies.
abhijit.design 