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Project

PDF to Web

Making years of technical content actually readable.

Content Design | Web Experience | Enterprise | MuleSoft | Salesforce

6 Months

Project Duration

3

Core Objectives Solved

Proven

User-Tested & Validated

MuleSoft · A Salesforce Company · RedCrackle Client · Project paused post-acquisition

The Brief

MuleSoft had a problem that most enterprise companies share — years of valuable technical content locked inside PDFs. Long whitepapers on microservices, API patterns, integration architecture. Genuinely useful material for developers. Almost impossible to actually read.


The brief was deceptively simple: turn PDFs into web experiences. The reality was considerably more complex — the solution needed to simultaneously solve for SEO discoverability, user engagement, content analytics tracking, lead generation through form gates, and MuleSoft's ability to cross-promote their products throughout the reading experience.


I worked directly with MuleSoft's Product Manager and an Analytics Developer — a rare collaboration that meant design decisions were validated with real tracking data, not just intuition.

The Three Problems

Safal AI is built around three core AI tools, each addressing a specific knowledge problem the firm faces daily:

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Problem 1 —

Discoverability

PDFs are invisible to search engines. Years of valuable technical content was generating zero organic traffic because it couldn't be indexed. Converting to web pages meant every section became searchable, linkable, and shareable.

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Problem 2 —

Readability

A 40-minute read as a continuous PDF is overwhelming. The same content broken into structured, navigable sections with clear hierarchy, read time indicators, and bite-sized pages becomes genuinely approachable. Developers could jump to exactly the section relevant to them.

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Problem 3 —

Trackability

PDFs tell you nothing about how people engage with your content. The web experience was designed with a comprehensive analytics layer — tracking form fills, time on page, pages clicked through, share button interactions, and "Ask an Expert" conversions. For the first time, MuleSoft could understand how developers actually consumed their content.

The Design Solution

The solution was a three-column web experience modelled after MuleSoft's existing design language — studied, validated with their design lead, and built to feel native to their site.


Left Rail — Navigation

A collapsible tree structure showing the full document hierarchy — all sections and subsections visible at a glance. Users could see the entire content structure before reading a single word. Expanded by default on first visit so users immediately understood what they were getting into. Each section clickable, taking users directly to that page.


Content Area — Centre

Each PDF section became its own web page — with a clear H1 title, read time indicator, and content formatted following MuleSoft's blog typography and image treatment. Pagination at the bottom connected pages sequentially. The visual and information load of a 40-minute PDF was reduced to digestible, focused sections.


Right Rail — Context

Related content tiles, cross-promotional MuleSoft products, and an "Ask an Expert" CTA. This was the business value layer — every reading session became an opportunity to surface relevant products and capture leads from an already-engaged audience.

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The Form Gate System

One of the most technically complex design decisions was the form gate — a lead capture mechanism that appeared as a popup whenever a new user arrived, regardless of which page they landed on.

The system needed to:


  • Detect whether a user had previously completed the form
  • Show the form only to new or unverified users
  • Support progressive profiling — showing different form fields based on what MuleSoft already knew about the user
  • Load a virtual thank you page on submission without disrupting the reading flow

I designed every state: form popup, filled state, error states, success state, and the ungated experience for returning users. The result was a lead generation mechanism that felt frictionless — not a wall, but a natural part of entering the content space.

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Share & Distribution

The share system was designed with three distinct options depending on context:

On the Landing Page:


  • Share Link to This Doc (copies the full article URL to clipboard)

On Content Pages:


  • Get Link to This Page (copies the specific section URL)
  • Get Link to This Doc (copies the full article URL)
  • Download PDF (original PDF still available for users who prefer it)

This distinction matters — a developer sharing a specific section with a colleague needs a different link than someone sharing the whole document. Small decision, significant usability improvement.

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Two PDF Types — Two Templates

The project tested two content lengths: a long-form whitepaper and a short-form document. Each rendered differently in the web experience — the navigation depth, pagination structure, and content hierarchy adapted to the length of the source material. This wasn't one template applied universally — it was a system flexible enough to handle different content structures gracefully.

Outcome

The web experience was built, tested by the Analytics Developer, and validated — proving that developers engaged meaningfully with the structured web content versus the original PDF format. The project was paused when Salesforce completed its acquisition of MuleSoft and subsequent layoffs hit the team.

The work was solid enough that the Product Manager — later brought me on as a freelance designer for his next venture. That's the outcome that matters most.


Project paused post-Salesforce acquisition. Design validated through user testing.

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Contact Me

Let's build something worth using.

I'm currently open to full-time Product Designer roles and select freelance projects.


If you have something interesting, let's talk.