WHY DID THE CEO OF FIGMA COME TO NIGERIA?
It's not everyday the ceo of a design company from silicon valley stops by at yaba, Lagos for a design meetup. So why should you care when they do? and what does this mean for the ecosystem in nigeria ?
Design is a fairly new technical field that spun out of humans that decided to listen to user feedback and simply making changes based on that feedback. Now design is a fast growing human-technical skill with a lower barrier of entry than programming and spans across everything that ever gets created by man.
This is kinda a big deal because we as designers have the responsibility to make sure the “robots dont kill us”. This may be funny but in reality it is more serious than ever. We have reached the horizon of the fourth industrial revolution. Where we begin to merge reality with technology, we would live side by side with smart thinking technology (ai/the robots)very soon and we have to design them to be human.
Designer haven't caught up to this fact… we are still pushing pixels…(or are we ?)
This is a problem!
Designer care about humans so we have to care about technology.
Designers are penetrating every field but its important we talk about our role in the new technical advances like machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, VR and AR and lets really ask ourselves if pushing pixels would cut it anymore…
Designers can code too
We all know you can't change the world designing the best UI…and handing it over to a developer to code it for you.(they ALWAYS change the design )This is why a lot more designers have picked up javascript. which is a very powerful language for a designers to pick up. It opens up the world of front-end and back-end design. Basically, designing but with code.
The line between designer and engineer have begun to blur, a lot more designers are proficient in the frontend and a lot more engineers are beginning to apply design principles — Dylan Field
This means now more than ever designers and engineers have to communicate and collaborate more.
It's our job and responsibility to make sure we build a better world by creating experiences that truly solve problems and enhance the lives of humans. This should involve getting a skill that helps you create and not just design the experience.
FIGMA
So this is where figma comes in, figma is a design tool that seeks to enhance the communication and collaboration amongst all members of the team. With a web based free* design tool it greatly reduces the barrier of entry for design enthusiasts into the would of rapid design and prototyping. It also opens up the door for exporting code to continue building on it by the engineers. It also allows the marketing team to put the copy as well so no need for lorem ipsum. and no need for ctrl+s because it always saves.
THE MEETUP
The meetup was about design systems, why they are important and how figma help us create design systems.
But I think the significance of the event is much greater than we imagine. The nigerian tech ecosystem is growing faster by the second and that has attracted a lot of important people. from Mark Zuckerberg to Sundar Pichair and now Dylan Field..etc.
The market is ripe for disruption and a digital land grab has already started happening. my friend Dylan Field just came for his share :). Which I admire as it was a very humble move and could yield to massive results in future.
How are you positioning yourself for the growth of the technology ecosystem in nigeria ? It's already happening.
Here are some things consider doing
- Go learn a tech skill as the demand for does would almost become a standard requirement for employment.
- Join a community like SENPAI and get connected to creative people like yourself who are also learning.
- Find out how new technologies can enhance what you are currently doing or aspire to do.
- Think big because if you are reading the article in nigeria you are amongst first in line for the land grab.
- If you are a UI designer learn front end.(makes your life easier)
- Realize the amount of training that is needed to grow the community.
I created SENPAI to accelerated the growth of the design ecosystem so I can tax people like Dylan and help them penetrate this market with easy.
Disruption is open us…
