Came in for SIWES, Came Back a Product Designer

Hello fellow Seer, can you tell us about yourself and what you do At SeerBit? 

Hi there! My name is Hameed Adedapo Okeowo. I am a UI/UX designer. I design websites and apps for SeerBit.

Did you always know you were going to be a designer? 

I wanted to be a pilot but that’s an expensive endeavor and it takes a very long time to become one. I eventually had to put the dream aside.  However, five years ago, I had not really decided where I wanted to be in life, but SeerBit gave me an idea of where I should start putting my thoughts. 

 So how did you know that design was the better option? 

I came to SeerBit for industrial attachment in programming in 2019. Because I studied Computer Science in school, I had to get a job related to computer science for my SIWES program. I did that for six months and then realized I wasn’t interested in programming. I realised that doing it as work was not exciting. It was then I discovered my love for design. 

Interesting, so what did you do after that? 

I tried animation first using Blender because I was inspired by videos games and took some courses for about 6 months on animations, design, digital marketing and anything I found interesting, it was hard, but it was also fun. However, I did not have the tools or time to dedicate to anything because I was still in school, so I decided to try web design since we were about to start doing web development at school. I then tested out my skills on a friend that needed a website, then I was using Canva and Wordpress. I did not enjoy using them, so I started doing research and it turned out that Figma was the most used and I started using it. 

How were you able to hone your skills? 

 In 2019, my friends and I started this small startup and there were like 7 of us, here we were doing website design, app design, SEO management, product management, and coding. I started doing user experience research for the starup. I was doing user experience research, design, and digital marketing but my focus was the research part. One of my friends that was part of the startup was someone who had been doing design for a while, so he taught me design and gave me the basics to work on. As I was working, I put that knowledge into working for the startup, I graduated, started taking courses on design, and then I started my youth service in 2022 and I came back to SeerBit to do it.  

Starting at SeerBit, I realised that the little I knew about the design was even less than I Imagined because there was a whole broad spectrum, Sambo my team lead made it very easy to pick up things. I learned about Webflow in about a week, as well as Framer, and Adobe Illustrator but the main things I have learned from Sambo is simple is best, don't attach yourself to the design. Be willing to change it and make sure you design with the mindset that the least smart person on the planet is going to use your app so make it as easy to understand as possible.  

How do you get the inspiration for your designs? 

Video games. And the game that really brought it to my full attention was Horizon Zero Dawn, it started my entire curiosity and interest in animation and design but alas animation turned out to not be something I could adhere to.

 Now that you’re a design expert, do you still plan to be a pilot? 

I still want to be a pilot. If I get the chance and all things line up perfectly, I would do it, so I don't get to a point where I am too old to do it anymore. But even if I do become a pilot, I still want to design, SeerBit has made me fall in love with it. 

How has it been working at SeerBit? 

It's been fun, stressful, interesting, and fun again.

What is your proudest moment? 

It was my second or third month here when a couple of screens I designed were out in the world and people were using it.  

 What do you do when you’re not working? Let me guess, video games? 

Yes, video games and watching anime.

Give a shout-out to someone in the office 

Omotola Sambo, my Team Lead, and Edikan David, my former teammate, and Adebola for his [constructive] criticism.  

Thank you, fellow Seer! 

Thank you for having me.