Axeda Skins

Axeda sold a proprietary web application that was originally created in Java with a Struts 1.0 frontend. One of the limitations of the product was that the name was hard-coded into many places in the code. The look and feel of the product was firmly rooted in the default gray boxes style of early Java applets.

Axeda management eventually recognized that what had originally been an expedient “non-decision” to create the UI as a forever-proprietary design was hampering their ability to license and market the product through third parties, who wanted to sell the product to their customers as an integral part of a solution.

The work required to extract and “resource-ify” the styles and terms used was not trivial, but this change unlocked multiples of value. Not only did Axeda gain many partners who offered their own version of the product, channel resellers resold multiple reskins of the product to their customers to use on projects of their own.

Axeda UI Before: A very dense Java Struts UI

Axeda UI After: The redesign improved usability and overall appearance in addition to unlocking the OEM resale business model.