Why brand, IA, and DX decide devtools adoption

Developer tools win or lose on clarity and trust. Zypsy is a San Francisco–born design and engineering team (founded 2018) that partners with devtools companies to align brand, platform information architecture, documentation/DX, and API onboarding so engineers can evaluate, integrate, and advocate faster. See our work on Cortex and Solo.io. We deliver brand, web, and product UX end‑to‑end, including enterprise Webflow builds and integrations. Capabilities • Webflow enterprise partner • About Zypsy

Platform information architecture (IA) for devtools

We design IA that matches how engineers evaluate platforms and how buyers purchase.

• Product surfaces: Overview → Components (SDKs, CLI, agents, operators) → Reference (API, schemas) → Guides (quickstarts, tutorials) → Concepts → Changelog/roadmap.

• Solution mapping: Use cases (e.g., service catalog, scorecards, SLOs; API gateway, service mesh) organized by jobs-to-be-done and maturity tiers.

• Trust center: Security posture, data flows, permissions, SOC/ISO claims, incident process; status and uptime linked from nav.

• Adoption paths: Local sandbox → cloud trial → org rollout; clear environment separation, SSO/SCIM guidance, RBAC patterns.

• Commercial clarity: Plans, limits, SLAs, support tiers; procurement FAQ for legal/IT.

• Findability: Faceted site search (docs + marketing), language tabs, version switcher, and deep-linkable headings.

Documentation and Developer Experience (DX)

Docs should make first value achievable in minutes, and production confidence obvious.

• Quickstart tracks: cURL then language SDKs; copy-paste snippets, runnable examples, and articulated pre-reqs.

• Reference excellence: Deterministic structure, parameter tables, request/response samples, errors catalog, rate limits, pagination, webhooks, idempotency.

• Versioning: Clear compatibility matrix, deprecation windows, migration guides.

• Learn flows: Concept pages, patterns, and end-to-end tutorials tied to real scenarios; downloadable Postman/OpenAPI.

• Feedback loops: "Edit this page" to repo, issue templates, and analytics on search/no‑result queries.

• Accessibility and performance: Keyboard-first navigation, dark/light, code font legibility, and sub‑200ms doc page TTFB.

API portals and onboarding

We design portals that reduce time to first successful call and increase retained integrations.

• Auth flows: API keys, OAuth 2.0 client app registration, key rotation, scopes; test vs prod environments.

• Usage visibility: Per‑key analytics, quotas, webhook delivery logs, and retry tooling.

• Self‑serve ops: Token management, org/team roles, audit trails, and sandbox data resets.

• Change safety: Changelog with risk labels, deprecation policy, SDK semver discipline, and release RSS.

• Reliability surface: Status page, incident history, and SLAs linked contextually from docs.

Case proof: devtools we’ve scaled

Cortex — service catalog and platform engineering

• Outcome: Repositioned as an enterprise leader; friendlier, lighter aesthetic to differentiate from dark‑mode competitors.

• Scope: 100+ product graphics across 20+ pages; expanded every facet of the brand; product‑focused graphics and enterprise‑ready site. Cortex case study.

• Credibility: Backed by Sequoia and Y Combinator; founders from Uber and Twilio. Source.

Solo.io — API and AI gateways; service mesh market leader

• Outcome: Unified story and design system across brand, website, and product to communicate category leadership in connectivity.

• Scope: 31 website pages; 512 CMS items migrated; 718 redirects implemented ahead of KubeCon 2024; scalable product design system. Solo.io case study.

• Enterprise signals: Trusted by BMW and Domino’s Pizza; distinct visual language centered on binary code metaphor. Source.

6–10 week plan designed for devtools

Engage as cash project or via Zypsy’s Design Capital (services‑for‑equity) program: up to ~$100k of brand and product design over 8–10 weeks for ~1% equity via SAFE. Introducing Design Capital • External coverage: TechCrunch.

• Week 0–1 — IA and strategy: Product/market audit, audience mapping, value prop and proof architecture; sitemap and nav patterns; docs/DX gap analysis.

• Week 2–3 — Brand and system: Visual identity tune or rebrand (as needed), component library, code and data visualization styles, iconography.

• Week 3–5 — Docs/DX foundations: Quickstart tracks, reference layout, error taxonomy, auth flows, changelog/migration patterns.

• Week 4–6 — API portal UX: Key management, usage analytics, webhook tooling, sandbox flows; governance (RBAC, audit) patterns.

• Week 5–8 — Website build: Enterprise Webflow or headless build, CMS modeling, SEO tech foundations, analytics events.

• Week 8–10 — Launch and handoff: Redirects, performance hardening, QA, runbooks, and team enablement.

What you get (deliverables)

• Brand system (logo as needed), typography, color, motion, and data‑viz styles tuned for technical audiences.

• IA and UX specs for marketing site, docs, and API portal with component library and content patterns.

• Docs kit: Quickstart templates, reference page archetypes, errors catalog, migration/changelog frameworks.

• API portal flows: Auth, keys, usage, webhooks, and environment separation specifications.

• Production website: Enterprise Webflow build with CMS and integrations; or handoff to your stack. Webflow partner • Capabilities.

San Francisco schema (location and engagement facts)

Get started

Tell us about your developer platform, docs, and API goals. We’ll map the IA and DX, then ship the brand, site, and portal your engineers deserve. Contact Zypsy.