11 Lessons I learned as a product designer in 2022
After months of putting off writing my first piece, I finally overcame my worries,
I currently work for 4G Capital as a Product Designer.
Prior to that, I worked for NCBA-Digital Business (Now Loop DFS) where I made a significant contribution to the success of a number of digital products such as M-Shwari, Fuliza, and NCBA Loop, to name but a few. Having spent close to a decade at NCBA, I made the decision to leave my comfort zone and embark on a new challenge. This new challenge was presented by 4G Capital, a Neo bank that supports business growth by offering funding and training. I joined the company as a Product Owner and later turned into a Product Designer with Product owner responsibilities.
Working as the lone Product Designer, I ventured to design android and desktop applications for our clients and coworkers.
My first year has been a remarkable learning journey filled with worthwhile experiences. The following are some of the things I’ve learned:
Lesson 1: Spend more time empathizing with users.
Spending more time in the field with colleagues and customers, witnessing how they do business and engage with our products, was eye-opening. I was able to comprehend their motivations, difficulties, objectives, and locations where they use our products and systems. Being in our colleagues’ position allowed me to create features like offline capabilities and intuitive, practical, and useable experiences for both customers and coworkers.
Lesson 2: Separate yourself from design critique.
It might be difficult to accept criticism when it feels like an attack. We frequently become hooked on our designs because we believe we have done an excellent job. Users and stakeholders may have various perspectives on what we have developed since we all have biases, and as designers, it is crucial to remember that we are building for the users, not ourselves. This will make it easier for us to let go of ideas and adopt user input.
Lesson 3: Communicate more with engineers.
I learned that designing screens and sending them over to engineers without engaging them will result in back and forth because of various reasons such as gaps or not being feasible technically. Having frequent chats with the engineers ahead of the refining sessions was a game changer since the engineers could advise us on how to better design features and even question the designs. I learned that it is critical to understand what the engineers expect from you as a designer, as well as what is feasible technically and be easily scaled up without sacrificing the user experience. Understanding this aided us in reducing the time it took the engineers to develop the solution.
Lesson 4: Be theoretically grounded.
“Be anchored in theory ”, as one Arthur once advised me. Everyone in the design profession has an opinion on how designs should and should not appear. For instance, if a stakeholder asks why you put a button on top rather than at the bottom, you can’t respond with “…because it looks nice…” or “…because I prefer it there…”. Design selections must be made with care. User research and UX Laws can be helpful in determining the why of your design concepts.
Lesson 5: Overcommunicate with stakeholders.
Communication, communication, communication. Aside from spending time with the end users, it is important to keep the stakeholders informed of the development.
My weekly walkthrough of the designs and updates on where we are and what to expect helped stakeholders gain confidence in the products we were developing. We presented our road map and held regular meetings with the business to ensure that the priorities were correct. The demos of working software by the engineers gave the exco the confidence that we are getting closer than before.
Lesson 6: Simplify your solutions.
According to my CPO Ross Breadmore, “people are great at complicating things.” With Ross’s assistance, I learned to reduce the complexities of our customer journies and designs while ensuring that the solution is basic enough to be quickly produced while also meeting the demands of end users. This prompted me to consider why we do things the way we do them now. What are we attempting to achieve here? This allows us to streamline flows while still meeting business and user objectives.
Lesson 7: Practice, practice, practice makes progress.
There is a great proverb that reads, “Practise, practice makes perfect,” but we need to change this mindset to “Practise, practice makes progress.” There are no shortcuts in design; you must put in the hours and master the craft. The more you practice design, the better you get at it and the simpler it gets. No amount of academic courses can replace the hands-on experience of designing a product, from empathy through usability testing.
Lesson 8: Colleagues deserve more user-friendly systems.
Am sure I am not the only one who finds some of the systems provided to us at work to be lacking in terms of user experience. Think of the systems you use at work to book your vacation days and other operational tasks. How was your experience?”
Giving customer-facing employees a system with a poor user experience may be a time-consuming and unpleasant experience to use. After spending some time with our colleagues in the field, I realized how stressful it was to use one of our systems. With the findings, I set out to create a better experience that was simple, helpful, intuitive, and enjoyable to use. This is supported by the findings of usability testing of the new Android app prototype that will replace the present system.
Lesson 9: The importance of teamwork.
It is vital to collaborate on the same goal with people who have different experiences, skills, competencies, and points of view. Each member of the team was laser-focused on the jigsaw puzzle of creating products or services that will better serve our customers. Because it was a small team, it was easy to comprehend what they were working on and how it connected to my job, as well as to take into account everyone’s recommendations, help, and have nice conversations.
Lesson 10: Usability testing is essential.
I’ve learned that whether you like it or not, your products will have to be tested. It is either they are tested by the market after its launch or by a small group of genuine users before its launch. Performing usability testing guaranteed that we gained the trust of our users, created simple, helpful, and intuitive user experiences, and, most importantly, received feedback to iterate the designs before development began.
Lesson 11: Hard work is rewarded.
My first year at 4G Capital ended on a high, as I was named a top performer for the year 2022. This is proof that hard work and devotion do get rewarded. I couldn’t have done it without the business teams, engineers, Harry the brilliant business analyst, and Ross’s leadership and support.”
