Kerning from the best — 5 mins with Aqeela Valley

Published in

8px Magazine

5 min readNov 26, 2020

What does a typical morning look like for you?

My morning routine varies depending on what my calendar looks like. Some days I jump straight into meetings but mostly, I try to start my day off with some type of exercise. I always make sure to grab a coffee before heading to my desk followed by catching up on Slack & emails.
The first thing I do is look at some inspiration on Savee, Dribbble, Muzli or Behance. This puts me in a great creative space before I move on to tackling my tasks set out for the day.

What has been your design journey?

I always loved art & design so initially I wanted to go into Visual Arts but I also had a great interest in technology. I decided to study Multi-Media Technology while I figured out exactly what I wanted to do. To my surprise, I loved it & ended up interning at a small design agency where I eventually worked full time.
I was exposed to all sorts of design like UX, UI, illustration & front-end development. I then joined another design agency where I got to focus purely on web & mobile application design. It was great and I’m very thankful to have always worked with very talented creatives who has honestly shaped who I am as a designer today.
Often in agencies you work on a project for a certain period & once you’ve handed over to the client you don’t get much involvement thereafter. I started to crave the ability to improve the products I was working on as well as measure my UX & design in the hands of the users. So at this point I joined Over — a creative design tool, where I currently work as a Product Designer and loving everything I have learnt thus far!

What do you find yourself having to repeatedly convince others of?

Not only reminding others but also reminding myself that everything is temporary & change is the only constant. In design specifically you have to accept that nothing is really finalised. Change is always bound to happen as we always have to find ways to improve what we had before.
On another note, I also feel that not all design decisions can be based on data — just something to keep in mind.

Do you have a mantra?

I’m not sure of the origin of this quote but it’s been stuck in my head ever since I heard it & I live by it: “Everything is designed, if it’s designed well, it’s both beautiful & functional.”
I think of this whenever I look at any single thing ever made, from the app that I use on my phone to the mug that I’m sipping my coffee from. I firmly believe that when you put effort & quality into anything you make, you have the ability to truly bring out it’s beauty & it’s purpose whilst providing an enjoyable experience. What is life but not a series of experiences? Good experiences matter!
Also, be kind.

Where do you want to go?

I come from a small town just outside of Cape Town, South Africa and I haven’t been fortunate to travel yet. Hopefully when the world is in a better state, that is the very first thing I’d like to do. Japan is at the top of my list because of it’s beautiful aesthetic & culture.
Aside from travelling, I absolutely love working on creative tools, so I want to make sure I continue to do that. I also want to maintain the design system I am currently working on as it’s been really interesting working on complex components — Figma has been a great tool for this!
I have other bigger goals like building my own app & creating a platform to help empower other designers who come from backgrounds with less opportunities, but for now I just want to continue learning and growing as much as I can.

Who do you look up to?

I have many people who I admire, and who inspire me. Steve Jobs, Phil Knight, Nelson Mandela and even my parents for obvious reasons. The list can go on forever!
However, I’m going to give a special shout out to Haraldur Thorleifsson — Founder of Ueno and Tobias van Schneider — Founder of Semplice, mymind & Co-CEO of Carbonmade. Both Haraldur & Tobias are incredible at what they do and I’m always amazed by what they have achieved. They are aspirational and seem like great leaders with great attitudes.
I also highly look up to my very own colleague Daniel Klopper, Senior Manager of UX at Over by GoDaddy. Daniel is a brilliant designer who I met at the start of my career and has been a mentor who has provided guidance ever since.

What’s your remote desk setup?

Currently my desk setup consists of:
– 15inch MacBook Pro on a laptop stand
– 27inch LG UltraFine 5K Monitor (I am still in LOVE with this Monitor)
– 12.9inch iPad Pro (which I use for all my ideas, sketches & testing)
– I always have devices at hand too which I use for testing (my personal iPhone as well as an Android device)
– Trusty Moleskine notepad is a must!
– The most important item is a coaster for my coffee because no coffee stains ever!

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