Head of Engineering01 / 03
Michael Case
Belfast, UK · MS Computer Science, age 36
“My company needs an easy-to-integrate platform for new features.”
- Strategic
- Technical
- Reliable
- Concise
Overview
Apex is a B2B fintech service that powers a “frictionless investing experience” through its APIs. Companies integrate Apex’s tools to run investment features inside their own products, but there was no way for a prospective customer to actually try it first.
I was brought on as the sole design intern to close that gap: a fully functional sandbox environment, designed around three distinct evaluator personas, and shipped as a working MVP within a ten-week timeline.
The problem
Apex had a conversion gap, not an awareness problem
Every trial required a sales conversation, which slowed the funnel and filtered out curious, self-directed evaluators before they ever saw the product.
How might we migrate prospective customers into paying clients, and get them excited enough to test our APIs themselves?
Ideal: a non-technical evaluator opens an account on the spot.
- 0 minNavigates to the developer portal
- 5 minCompletes sign-up for an account
- 15 minGranted access to a sandbox
- 30 minMakes a test call and sees real data
| Firm | Self-service onboarding | Single API + auth | SDK + public docs | Developer sandbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaca Finance | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Drivewealth | No | Yes | Yes | Yes* |
| Apex Fintech Solutions | No | No | No | No |
The solution
The Sandbox.
An exclusive, secure environment where prospective clients could explore Apex’s tools on their own terms. Since nothing like this existed at Apex yet, defining the shape of the product was as much a part of the work as designing its screens.
Research
Three evaluators, three very different needs
Through stakeholder interviews and competitive research, I built three personas representing the realistic range of people who’d evaluate Apex.
Sr. Product Manager02 / 03
Barbara Starla
Chicago, IL · MBA, age 38
“I need to understand Apex’s APIs for competitive research.”
- Thorough
- Non-tech
- Inquisitive
- Broker expert
CEO / CTO03 / 03
Alfredo Sanchez
New York City, NY · BS Computer Science, age 27
“I need a platform that will take my startup to the next level.”
- Ambitious
- Impatient
- Energetic
- Adventurous
User flow
Mapping the path from marketing site to a live API call
I mapped the end-to-end journey before touching any UI, iterating as requirements like identity verification surfaced from engineering.
Entering the Apex website: evaluators head to the sandbox, curious wanderers drift off.
- 1
Enter the marketing website
First touchpoint for a prospective client. No account required yet.
- 2
Permission set-up
Create an account, verify through HubSpot, confirm identity with 2FA via Okta.
- 3
Open the sandbox
An isolated environment is provisioned automatically, with no manual setup.
- 4
Quick startactivation moment
The single screen that had to work for all three personas at once.
- 5
Explore
Resources, tutorials, and developer documentation for self-directed evaluation.
- 6
Test APIs
Live calls against an isolated environment. Real functionality, zero production risk.
Design process
From sketches to a system that didn’t exist yet
Because there was no design system for this product, building one was part of the deliverable.
- 01
Low-fi sketches
Account setup, dashboard structure, and information hierarchy on paper.
- 02
UI kit
A component system built from scratch that reads as technical without alienating non-engineers.
- 03
Final designs
A working prototype of the full Portal experience, from credentials to the first API call.
UI kit
A kit for a product with no design system
A component system built from scratch that reads as technical without alienating non-engineers. One Apex blue carries everything, stepped down to black for surfaces and out to white for text.
Shades
- 052391
- 052083
- 041c74
- 041966
- 031557
- 031249
- 020e3a
- 010a2b
- 01071d
- 00030e
- 000000
Tints
- 052391
- 1e399c
- 374fa7
- 5065b2
- 697bbd
- 8291c8
- 9ba7d3
- b4bdde
- cdd3e9
- e6e9f4
- ffffff
Quick Start card, four CTA styles
Quick Start
Try it yourself to see the beauty of our super awesome APIs and fall in love with its functionality!
Quick Start
Try it yourself to see the beauty of our super awesome APIs and fall in love with its functionality!
Quick Start
Try it yourself to see the beauty of our super awesome APIs and fall in love with its functionality!
Quick Start
Try it yourself to see the beauty of our super awesome APIs and fall in love with its functionality!
Final design
The Portal.
The first screen a client sees after account setup and 2FA. It answers three questions immediately: what do I have access to, how do I start, and what’s happening with my account?
Hello, Company Inc.
sandbox.apexfintech.comCredentials
Endpointapi.sandbox.apex.dev
Sandbox accountSBX-40921
API key•••• a91f
Client IDclt_8842xz
Quick start
Make your first API call in under five minutes.
Start now →128Active accounts
642Orders this week
$2.4MAssets under management
18.3kAPI calls
Representative view of the final Portal design.
Reflection
What this project taught me
Lessons learned
- Communicating research and design rationale to stakeholders and engineers
- Running competitive analysis in practice, not just theory
- Designing to satisfy business objectives, not usability scores alone
- Prioritizing ruthlessly to ship an MVP inside a ten-week timeline
Next steps
- Validate the flow with real prospective clients
- Expand the prototype with additional pages and refine screens
- Extend the flow to better serve Barbara and Alfredo