https://medium.com/swlh/4-years-of-design-at-paystack-b83e456bb8e9
We made this collage at Dá Design Studio last year
As Paystack has grown, the design team has changed and I’ve been at the helm of this. Some things have worked out and others have failed, but in all we’ve learnt good lessons.
As a company, we know we should write more about the work we do. We make mistakes that others can learn from, and we learn so much on the job that there’s a lot we can talk about. But it’s hard to share. It takes time and needs encouragement. I hope this essay bells the cat.
Regardless, this exercise is useful for me to reflect on my growth as a designer, and I hope as a guide for others who have to lead someday. Here are some things I’ve learnt in the past four years of designing at Paystack.
If I woke up and it was 2016 again, the first thing I’ll do is buy Bitcoin (🤷♂). But also, I’ll take documentation very seriously. One recurring problem we’ve faced on the team is giving everyone equal context. Where is what? How do things work? And why?
Without well-written, frequently-updated documentation, it takes more time to understand things. Newer team members are more prone to mistakes, and everything takes longer because changes can cascade unpredictably. Helping to document the work in a searchable, predictable way is something every designer should be proactive about.
We should care for our team mates as much as we do customers. With more volumes, operations becomes more difficult and when processes are manual, the team will struggle. Mistakes are more likely to happen and people won’t get the time or space to do their best work. To solve this, the company needs to automate.
As designers, our role in this is to:
On the other side of product, we can also help with: