Meet Hafsa — Life as a new product designer at ClearScore.

An occasional series where our designers interview our designers about their career, design interests, and their work at ClearScore.

It can be tough knowing how to break into product design, or what it’s like when you get there. We asked Alex Nicholson, one of our senior product designers to interview one of our junior product designers, Hafsa Ali. They talked about her journey into product design and her experience in her first job in design, at ClearScore.

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Why design?

Alex: Hey, Hafsa. I feel like everyone has a different kind of answer to this question because it’s so much about what personally motivates us. What got you interested in design?

Hafsa: So, I didn’t take the conventional route to design, I actually studied politics and history — quite different to the typical design route. For my A levels, I started like psychology, sociology, biology, so nothing related to design. But I’ve always, always been a creative person, I’ve loved expressing myself creatively. So, I think product design is the perfect lens of everything that I liked because there’s elements of psychology, there’s elements of sociology, critical thinking, and problem solving and being creative. I think my studies were a perfect route for me; the journey has been interesting.

Alex: And why digital product design in particular?

Hafsa: I think why I gravitated towards product design is that you can be creative, solve problems and collaborate with other people. You’re tackling real problems and that inspires you to come up with a lot of great solutions in a creative manner.

Alex: When was the moment when you kind of realised that product design was a job and a thing? Did you always know or were you like, “oh, wait, that’s a thing I can do!”?

Hafsa: Initially, I found out about tech and coding through social media on Twitter. So, I initially started with coding on a mini boot camp with Girls Who Code. And then I stumbled across design and UX and UI. I was like, “Wow, there’s a whole new world of design I had no idea was an actual thing!” From there onwards, I did a diploma and got a better understanding of what UX was, and UI. I did UX challenges and took part in hackathons to build my skills. Then I started applying for product design roles.

Alex: That’s really cool. How’s your coding skills now? Do you still keep up?

Hafsa: Oh, I wish, I wish. I think at one point in the future, I would love to be as confident with my coding as well as my design. But for now it’s on the back burner.

Alex: And I guess there’s so many things you can apply from your psychology background to design because so much of research and UX is built on those foundations?

Hafsa: Definitely. And I love psychology, it’s always interesting to see the human element in design.

Getting into product design and working as a designer at ClearScore

Alex: How long have you been working as a designer now?

Hafsa: ClearScore is my first product design role. So, I think from last year, but I’ve been working as a designer freelancing from for about over a year now. I started during the lockdown period. That’s when I transitioned into the tech industry, doing projects on the side and doing challenges and hackathons. So I would say it’s going on to about a year.

Alex: Now that you’re in the Design team, what’s your favourite thing about doing design at ClearScore?

Hafsa: I think the culture at ClearScore, specifically in Design is what makes it a great experience. I think the fact that everyone’s just super supportive, and super open and transparent. There’s always someone to ask for help. Coming into this role, being a newbie and not knowing where to start, it can be overwhelming at first but there’s always been someone there to support me. And no day is the same. I feel like there’s just always something new.

Alex: If you were giving advice to someone in your position two years ago - say, looking to get into design - what advice would you give them?

Hafsa: I’d say go for it. There’s a lot of pressure to figure out what it is that you want to do [as a career] but you can just give it a go bit by bit, through UX challenges and online courses, and see if it suits you. Taking things step by step was what helped me out. Having consistent steps towards your goal is important because you can see your improvement and that gives you confidence. Take on those challenges, take on new experiences, and it’ll pay off in the long run.

Alex: Is there anything you’d have done differently on your career path?

Hafsa: I don’t think so. Though I took a large chunk of time discovering different parts of tech before I learned that there were options like design and what UX and UI was, and it might have been easier knowing what courses were available, that has helped me too.

Alex: Has your previous experience coding and doing hackathons helped you working with engineering teams that ClearScore?

Hafsa: Yeah. It’s nice to see how our work interconnects and working with developers, a product manager and different people [in my squad] on a similar goal and achieving an objective together is amazing. I’ve learned different skills from other people that way and collaborating together has been a really great experience.

Some of Hafsa’s favourite things

Alex: And then a little bit about you, quick fire.
So, favourite food?

Hafsa: I love anything cheesy. Anything with carbs. Yeah!

Alex: Favourite place to visit?

Hafsa: I love travelling so I don’t think have a specific place to visit. But I think from my childhood, there has always been this cute bakery near my house that we always used to go to. So, that is like my go-to comfort food. Like eating a little bit of history.

Alex: Oh, what’s your favourite pastry from that bakery?

Hafsa: It depends on what I feel like sometimes I get croissants sometimes I get their eclair stuffed with cream.

Alex: Oooh, yeah! That sounds like a happy place. What have you been reading recently?

Hafsa: All About Love by bell hooks. It’s about navigating modern relationships, and how your childhood and different experiences helped shape that.

Alex: Are you mostly a non-fiction reader?

Hafsa: I’m still into fiction but as I’ve got older, I’ve been a lot more interested in nonfiction books.

Alex: I get, like, fiction guilt, because I have a long list of non-fiction design books that I feel like I should be reading. And instead I read a fiction book and I’m like, “this is just so good!”

Hafsa: Oh yeah, fiction is still really good. I mean, even with the design books, sometimes I’ll still leave them just sitting there and read other kinds of books. But you can never go wrong with fiction, you still learn so much.

Alex: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Hafsa: You’ve put me on the spot! Well … I think the best advice I’ve been given is to be disciplined, transparent and be open. It definitely gets you far but you can also be authentic at the same time.

Alex: Thanks for your time, Hafsa, that was so interesting. It’s been so nice to learn a little bit more about your journey.

Hafsa: Thank you!

Interview: March 2022.
Find out more about ClearScore: check out our careers site and find out more about the company on LinkedIn.