Product Portfolio Rebrand
From House of Brands to a Story-Driven Platform System
SmartBear had grown through acquisitions into a house of brands. We had powerful products, but fragmented stories. Our goal was to transition to a branded-house strategy and translate a complex software development lifecycle into a simple, intent-driven, three-hub system, so customers could clearly understand what to do, where to start, and how to expand across the platform.
The Challenge
SmartBear customers recognized individual products like Swagger and BugSnag, but often didn’t know they were part of SmartBear.
That created a one-product, transactional buying pattern, limited cross-sell, and made it difficult to communicate the full platform value across the software development lifecycle. At the same time, the portfolio spanned dozens of highly technical capabilities. The story was accurate but not intuitive.
We needed a way to:
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Preserve existing product brand equity
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Elevate SmartBear as the master brand
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Make the platform feel navigable; like a clear path, not a product maze
The Strategy
We reframed the portfolio around customer intent, not product names.
Inspired by how Adobe and Microsoft organize large product ecosystems, we introduced a three-hub platform model:
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API Hub – design and govern APIs
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Test Hub – validate and assure quality
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Insight Hub – understand performance and outcomes
Instead of asking customers to choose tools, we asked: “What are you trying to do?”
Each hub became a recognizable entry point into a broader set of capabilities, thus creating a simple narrative arc across the lifecycle.
This also enabled a parallel shift to a SmartBear-first brand strategy, ensuring the corporate brand led the story, without erasing the equity of the product brands underneath.
My Role
Creative Director & Brand Strategy Lead
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Led the brand and portfolio strategy to transition SmartBear from a house of brands to a branded-house platform architecture.
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Partnered directly with the executive team, product leadership, UX, and marketing to define the hub model and its role in the company’s growth strategy.
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Drove customer research, surveys, and positioning work to validate how developers and testers understood their needs across the lifecycle.
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Served as the internal evangelist by aligning product, engineering, sales, and marketing around a shared platform narrative.
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Designed the visual and logo system for API Hub, Test Hub, and Insight Hub. These were built to be:
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Instantly recognizable
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Scalable from app icons and favicons to booths and global campaigns
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Flexible for motion and product UI
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Established the design system and usage standards so the hubs integrated cleanly into:
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Product UX and UI
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Marketing and digital experiences
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In-person experiences and trade show environments
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Led front-end brand translation and creative direction to ensure the hub system was implemented consistently across touchpoints.
The Business Impact
200%
5,600
227%
Increase in Brand awareness
New hubs activated globally IN FIRST two months
ROI over three years for a global org with 10,000 employees and 200 developers.
Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study conducted by Forrester Consulting
The Business Impact
EFFICIENCY
Created a fully connected, front-to-back platform story for developers and testers from API design, to testing, to real-world insight and performance.
Adoption
Created a fully connected, front-to-back platform story for developers and testers—from API design, to testing, to real-world insight and performance.
commercialization
Delivered a story-driven, lifecycle-based narrative that simplified complex technology into a clear customer journey, making the portfolio easier to understand, sell, and expand.