The goal of our new brand identity that we launched back in November was to better reflect the core values guiding our mission to empower developers everywhere to create transformative software. As the API economy continues to evolve, so do the needs of the developer community and this means finding new ways to engage developers from across the world. From individual developers to those working in teams to those working in large enterprises – we need a way to engage with all and at every stage of the developer lifecycle journey. As part of the next phase in our rebrand, we have launched a new website to expand the ways developers can interact with our community, products and platform.
I recently sat down with Rapid CMO Paul Friesen to get his take on the website redesign, what it means for Rapid’s API Hub and how it helps power the API economy.
How does this new web launch reinforce the brand the company rolled out in November?
Rapid’s mission is to empower developers with everything they need to create transformative software. To help encompass our leadership as a next-generation platform built for the modern developer, we have launched a new digital presence and expanded the ways developers can interact with us. This builds on the inspiring and fun brand that we introduced in November. The colors, dimensions and even the designs that mimic APIs and API catalogs come to life on the page. In addition, we are not just thinking about how the website looks visually, but also the words we are putting on every page. We are deliberate about what we say and are hyper-focused on the audience for each page. As we build on Rapid’s API Hub and API Hub for Enterprise products, driving that consistent look and voice is incredibly important and I’m excited for how the new website plays into that approach.
How has Rapid evolved alongside the API economy?
At Rapid, we have always prided ourselves on having our finger on the API economy and a very good sense of what technology needs to be in place that allows the API economy to grow exponentially. We have never been afraid to evolve with the market to best serve developers.
Being a cloud first, API-first company, curious what technologies you are using for this new site?
Very spot on. This is an unshakeable foundation of our company – we are developers building software for developers first and foremost. We were drawn to a web stack that would best fit our needs and that of our audience. Truth be told, there are so many great CMS and hosting providers, but in the end we went with Strapi, a headless CMS for our back end. For the front end, we are using NextJS, which is hosted by Vercel and working with Cloudflare for our global distribution.
What’s your favorite part of the website?
Customer stories. As the API industry has evolved and our business has developed, it’s great to see the positive impact Rapid’s API Hub has on so many companies. Hearing how companies like IATA are bringing the entire airline industry into the next wave of digital transformation is awe-inspiring. The same can be said for all of the other examples we have now showcased, from companies in the financial services industry to high-performance technology providers.
What’s next for the Rapid rebrand story?
The great thing about a brand is that it is continuously evolving. Designs are enhanced, websites iterate (constantly) and words are finessed. Ultimately though, none of this can be successful if you don’t have a strong point of view of where the industry is and the determination to bring the very best product offering to the community. I’m confident we have all of these and I look forward to where we go in 2023 and beyond.
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