Beyond the px — Wallet’s Daniel Abayomi on switching careers, learning, and finding problems

Luis Ouriach

Published in

8px Magazine

6 min readSep 24, 2020

Happy September everyone! This month’s Beyond the PX article is with Wallet Africa’s

Daniel Abayomi

who, after switching careers a few times, landed a fantastic position working on a next generation banking product.

Enjoy.

Who are Wallets Africa?

I lead product design at Wallets Africa. Wallets is a financial institution that is actively solving cross-border banking problems across Africa with just an app and a card.
I get to work with an amazing product team, and be at the forefront of making design decisions that will serve thousands of people across Africa. It’s quite challenging actually.

What has been your design journey up until now?

I have a background in Electrical Engineering. Growing up, I was obsessed with computers and sound systems. I’ve always found computers fascinating and I wanted to build my own computer, amplifier, and speaker — I actually did build a sound system by myself.
In 2018, I began learning web development and industrial design. I would spend hours on Pinterest and I would draw out sketches of furniture, shoes, lamps, etc.
Eventually, I got a job as a front-end developer with a small team. At the time, I didn’t have much knowledge about design, and since the team did not have a designer, I would spend a lot of time on Awwwards replicating some website components to fit our current project.
One weekend, as I was browsing through Twitter, I came across a Slack group for designers, so I joined. I became keenly interested in UI design. I reached out to a fellow designer; Tolu Saba and he shared a couple of resources to get started. Precisely after my first month of learning design, I got a job as a UI designer for a logistics firm. I equally started taking up side gigs and pro bono projects for friends.

What does your typical morning look like?

Well to be honest, I am not a fan of routines, hence, everything is a little all over the place right now.
My routine actually changed during the start of the pandemic. Instead of preparing and commuting to the office every morning, I just get up, listen to music, check my emails and slack groups, and just go through the day.

What does your design tool stack look like?

I use Figma/Sketch for designing mockups. I also use Principle/Invision Studio for prototypes. Often times, I use Zeplin for exports and handoffs to developers. I use Miro and diagram.net for my process flow, empathy maps or personas.

Do you have any design hacks?

In retrospect, I’ve always had a knack for thinking, and questioning things I didn’t understand. That curiosity has greatly shaped how I approach design.
…something about needing to simplify and understand problems before one can attempt to solve them for the other person. And I’m also a great listener.

Do your career aspirations encroach your life?

It does, sometimes I find that I might think I’m taking a break, but then the thing I’m doing is almost related to design. Like redoing your living room, for example.
Something about the color of your clothes (experimenting with palettes on and off screens) and not having a need for corporate outfits like suits for example.
Looking out for music with well structured art e.g the album covers
Also, design is a huge influence on how I type. I ensure to punctuate all my sentences, even when I’m just chatting with close friends.

How do you design ‘for the future’?

Maybe something about getting external inspiration, from things that aren’t directly related to screens.
Late last year, I took an anthropology course and it changed the way I solve problems.
There are basic questions to consider when building human-centered solutions, and this is one of the main reasons why anthropology exists. It breaks the dichotomies and reframes the relationship between ecosystem and human inventions. It also helps to understand the motivations of people in making decisions — are people going to use the product as intended?
How is it going to affect the context where it emerged?
What new skills are people going to develop due to this design or creation?
Anthropology helps to define an answer to these questions by giving it a cultural and social context for prediction and innovation.

Can you explain the team dynamic?

We have a product team of about 15 members right now and we are still hiring people to join more roles in the company. Everyone works remotely though.
I work closely with the CEO who is our Product Manager. It’s been an exciting experience working with him simply because of how patient he is. I have a good relationship with every single member of the team so it’s quite easy to communicate with everyone.

Will your product exist in ten years time?

Our company strives to bring the holistic approach of user experience into banking to significantly improve how people transact across Africa. We are creating borderless access to your money from anywhere in the world; imagine a bank just like your mail.

What advice would you give for those interested in kick starting a career in design?

Your primary job isn’t to solve problems. It’s to find the problem. Focus on learning how to find problems and you’d see that solution is only secondary.
My little tip is to diagnose a problem like a doctor would. A doctor won’t just prescribe a solution to you. Usually, they ask questions by trying to diagnose the problem. Once that is settled, finding a solution is the easy part.
Design isn’t limited to schooling. I tell young designers to keep learning even while they are in school. So as soon as they graduate, they are equipped with the experience that would land them a job. Also, I think companies need to cultivate the habit of hiring people for a junior role because these juniors are zealed and motivated to do better and a company needs that fire.

What are your thoughts on burnout?

It’s kind of inevitable for us as creatives to lose some sleep. But it’s always good to try to strike a balance.
Burnouts might tend to happen often and our brain certainly needs rest in order to function properly.
I understand needing to work past a 9–5, sometimes the hours in the day just aren’t enough.
But not everyone is a night owl, so do what’s convenient for you. Just don’t get too comfortable. Sometimes you just gotta go hard, or go home.

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