Jecinta Fabiyi’s journey from a UI/UX trainee at Stutern in Lagos to Senior Product Designer at Sidekick Health in Hamburg reads like a masterclass in intentional career building. But what sets her apart isn’t just the impressive trajectory—it’s the impact she’s created at every stop along the way.
At Youverify, she designed YouverifyOS and vForms, a no-code verification platform that became a new revenue stream and contributed to 300% customer growth and $1M in seed funding. At Spinlet, she tackled the unique challenge of designing music distribution for Africa’s diverse, connectivity-constrained markets. At Wunder, she shaped shared mobility experiences where split-second decisions matter. Now at Sidekick Health, she’s applying that cross-industry expertise to healthcare.
Beyond her day job, Fabiyi founded Design Hub Network, a community supporting emerging designers who, like her in 2018, are navigating the industry without a clear roadmap. Her philosophy is refreshingly grounded: “Designers sometimes overcomplicate things. Clarity, usability, and simplicity almost always win.”
From Lagos to Hamburg, across music, identity, mobility, and health, Fabiyi proves that great product design transcends domains—it’s about empathy, scalability, and solving real problems for real people.
In this exclusive conversation, she shares her journey from curiosity-driven trainee to senior design leader, her evolving relationship with AI tools, the challenges of building design communities, and hard-won advice for aspiring designers navigating an industry that’s constantly reinventing itself.
From a UI/UX Trainee at Stutern in Lagos to a Senior Product Designer at Sidekick Health in Hamburg. How did it all start? What sparked your interest in product design?
My journey into product design began shortly after university. I had a friend who was already into product design. Watching them design digital products was fascinating. It opened my eyes to a whole new world, which fuelled my curiosity into how every screen, button or interaction had a purpose.
That curiosity grew into a deeper desire to understand how digital products are built and how design can shape people’s everyday experiences.
Starting as a trainee at Stutern gave me my first real taste of hands-on product design. It was there that I realized: design isn’t just about making things look good, it’s also about solving real problems for real people. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to work across a range of industries and products, from Information technology to mobility and healthcare,not just to design, but to design with empathy, navigate real-world challenges, and create solutions that truly meet user needs.
Looking back at your traineeship at Stutern in 2018, what were those first few months like? What did you think product design was going to be versus what it actually turned out to be?
The first few months were both exciting and overwhelming. Coming in, I had this idea that product design was mostly just about making screens look polished and visually appealing. I imagined spending my days choosing colors, arranging buttons, and making things “pretty.”
But I soon learned it was much more than that. What I realized was that design is so much more than aesthetics. It’s about empathy, truly understanding the needs, frustrations, and desires of the people who will use the products, breaking down complex problems into simple, intuitive solutions, iteration, testing, and learning from both successes and failures.
Coffee or tea while designing?
Tea all the way! A good cup always sparks my thinking and keeps me focused.
Let’s talk about your time at Spinlet, a digital media company focused on Afro-centric content. What was it like designing for African music distribution? What unique challenges did you face?
Designing for Spinlet was incredibly exciting because music is such a universal language, but distribution in Africa comes with unique challenges like inconsistent connectivity and varying device capabilities. Working on a platform that distributed African music also meant that I had to deeply consider the diversity of the African audience, not just in terms of geography, but also in terms of music genres, language, and digital literacy.
One unique challenge was localization at scale. Africa is incredibly diverse, with users accessing content in multiple languages and from different regions with varying internet speeds. Designing a music streaming experience that was fast, intuitive, and accessible even on low-bandwidth networks required careful prioritization of features and thoughtful interaction design. For example, I had to consider how album art, artist information, and playlists could be displayed without slowing down the app, and how offline download features could be integrated seamlessly.
You then moved to Youverify, an identity verification company solving a very African problem. Can you talk about designing YouverifyOS and vforms? What made identity verification such a complex design challenge?
One of the main projects I worked on during my time at Youverify was YouverifyOS, a B2B SaaS platform for banks and startups to manage KYC, KYB, AML, and other compliance checks. The challenge was that these processes were legally complex and involved a lot of steps, documents, rules and logic. My job was to make all of that understandable and usable even for non-technical users.
To solve this, I worked closely with product managers, engineers, compliance experts etc to fully understand the requirements. I also used progressive disclosure to only show users what they needed at each step, added smart defaults, and designed a clear visual hierarchy so users could complete tasks without getting overwhelmed.
Another major project was vForms, a no-code tool that let our clients build their own onboarding workflows, everything from document capture to face match to background checks. Instead of waiting for custom integrations or engineering changes, they could drag, drop, and configure verification steps themselves. This made the product far more flexible, reduced onboarding timelines, and made the product more adaptable for different business needs.
Overall, the complexity of verification was challenging, but it pushed me to focus on usability, and building tools that could scale for diverse users.
My design effort contributed to making the platform scalable and the improvements in usability and configurability played a major role in driving over 300% customer growth and even contributed to securing an additional $1M in seed funding.
Youverify’s vforms became a new revenue stream for the company—that’s huge! Walk us through how that product came about. What problem were you solving?
The idea behind vForms was to give clients more control and flexibility in how they onboard their customers. vForms was built as a low/no-code tool that allowed businesses to create their own onboarding and verification workflows using a drag-and-drop builder. Instead of relying on developers, clients could design, edit, and launch custom processes themselves. That level of autonomy was something many of our customers lacked.
My role was to make the experience effortless for the users. I designed an interface that was intuitive enough for non-technical users, but still capable of handling the complexity of verifications behind the scenes. I focused on predictable interactions, and logical step-by-step building so users understood exactly how each part of the flow connected.
I also created templates and reusable components for common use cases. This meant users didn’t have to start from scratch every time; they could pick a template, adjust what they needed, and go live. It significantly reduced setup time and made the product intuitive for first-time users.
By empowering clients to manage their own workflows, vForms didn’t just improve their efficiency, it unlocked a completely new revenue stream for Youverify. Seeing vForms speed up onboarding, reduce operational friction, and still contribute directly to the company’s growth was one of the most rewarding parts of that project.
Designing for African users often means accounting for connectivity issues, diverse literacy levels, and varied device capabilities. How did these constraints shape your design decisions at Spinlet and Youverify?
That’s correct. When designing for African users, I had to account for practical challenges like limited connectivity, different levels of digital literacy, and a wide range of devices. At Spinlet, this influenced decisions like optimizing media loading times, simplifying navigation, and ensuring the platform worked well on both high-end and low-end devices. For Youverify, it meant creating verification flows that were intuitive even for first-time users, minimizing the number of
steps needed, and providing clear, contextual guidance at every stage. Across both products, I prioritized simplicity, progressive disclosure, and offline-friendly interactions to ensure the experience was seamless and inclusive, regardless of the user’s environment or device.
At Wunder, you worked on shared mobility software—carpooling, ride-hailing, vehicle rentals. How is designing for mobility different from designing for music or identity verification?
Designing for mobility is very different because people use the app on the move and often under time pressure. Users rely on your product to get from point A to B safely, efficiently, and on time. They’re trying to find a ride, locate a vehicle, or navigate a city, so the design has to support quick decisions and clear real-time feedback. Any confusion can leave someone stranded, so reliability and clarity are critical.
Music products are the opposite. The experience is more exploratory and emotional. Users have time to browse, discover, and enjoy the interface, so you can lean into richer visuals and more expressive interactions.
Identity verification is about trust and compliance. Users are doing something sensitive and often stressful, so the design focuses on reassurance, transparency, and reducing anxiety while still guiding them through strict steps.
Mobility design focuses on speed and real-world constraints, music focuses on engagement and emotion, and identity verification focuses on trust. As a designer, you adjust your approach based on what the user is trying to accomplish and what’s at stake in that moment.
You mentioned maintaining Wunder’s design system. Design systems can be controversial, some see them as liberating, others as limiting. What’s your take after working on one?
From my experience maintaining Wunder’s design system, I see design systems as incredibly liberating, they create a foundation that frees designers to focus on solving higher-level problems rather than reinventing basic components for every project. With a consistent set of components, patterns, and guidelines, teams can move faster, reduce errors, and maintain a cohesive user experience across products.
For me, the real value is in the efficiency and clarity they provide. When I’m designing a new feature, I don’t have to question button styles, spacing rules, or color usage, I can focus on the user journey and interactions. It also encourages collaboration: developers and designers speak the same language, and it makes handoffs smoother and reduces friction in the development process.
Tell us about your design hub network—what is it, and what inspired you to start building this community?
Design Hub Network is a community I started to support and empower emerging designers, especially those who are just beginning their journey and often don’t have access to guidance, resources, or mentorship. The idea came from my own early experience in design. After stutern, I didn’t quite have a clear roadmap or access to people who could help me understand the industry, review my work, or show me what good looked like. I relied heavily on self-learning and trial and error, and while that taught me resilience, it also made me realize how much faster and easier the journey can be when you have a supportive community.
Design Hub Network was created to be that support system. We offer practical resources like workshops, portfolio reviews, design challenges, and curated learning paths. But more importantly, we focus on creating a space where designers feel seen, heard, and encouraged. I wanted to build a community where beginners don’t feel intimidated, where they can ask questions freely, and where experienced designers can give back by sharing knowledge.
Community building is hard work. What have been the biggest challenges in growing the network?
Yes! Community building is hard work. Sustaining engagement and ensuring the content resonates with people at different stages of their careers has been the biggest challenge. When you’re building a community, you quickly realize that beginners, mid-level designers, and seniors all have different needs, motivations, and expectations. Creating content that speaks to all of them, while still maintaining a clear identity, takes intentional effort.
Another challenge is consistency. Community building isn’t something you can do once in a while; it requires constant nurturing, communication, and presence. There are times when life and work get busy, and keeping the momentum going becomes difficult. I’ve had to learn how to build systems, delegate, and create processes that keep things running even when I’m not hands-on.
But despite the challenges, the reward is incredible. Seeing members grow, collaborate, share knowledge, and genuinely lift each other up makes the effort worth it. Those moments remind me why I started the community in the first place.
You’ve designed across music, identity verification, mobility, and healthcare—wildly different domains. What’s the throughline? What principles stay consistent regardless of industry?
Even though the industries I’ve designed for, music, identity verification, mobility, and healthcare, are very different, the core principles that guide my work remain the same. The first is empathy. Regardless of the domain, I always start by trying to deeply understand the user’s context, motivations, fears, and limitations. That’s what allows me to design solutions that feel intuitive and meet the user’s needs.
Another constant is scalability. The products I work on often serve diverse user groups and need to evolve. So I design with scalability in mind, patterns, components, and interaction models that can grow with the product instead of needing to be reinvented every few months.
And lastly, collaboration. For me, working across different industries means working with very different teams, engineers, product managers, data, compliance experts, product marketers etc. I’ve learned that great design comes from building strong relationships, asking the right questions, and making sure everyone is aligned around the user’s needs.
So while the subject matter changes, the core principles, empathy, scalability, and collaboration, stay consistent and continue to guide how I approach every product.
Figma or Sketch and why?
Figma. Figma feels more collaborative and flexible. The real-time multiplayer aspect fundamentally changed how designers work with product managers and developers; everyone can be in the same file, giving feedback, reviewing flows, or checking specs without issues. And because it’s also browser-based, I can work anywhere without worrying about installations or device limitations.
AI tools are everywhere now in design. Are you using any AI tools in your workflow? How do you see AI changing product design?
Yes, I use AI tools actively in my workflow, but more as a collaborator. For me, AI enhances the design process in various ways: speed, exploration,clarity etc
I use AI for research synthesis and ideation. Tools like ChatGPT, Usertesting AI, Notion AI help me summarize interviews, extract patterns, generate user stories, or explore multiple solution directions. Instead of spending hours on manual sorting, I can get to insights faster and focus on the strategic parts of design.
I also use AI to improve efficiency during UI work. For example, AI helps with generating UI content variations, automating repetitive layout tasks, and exploring visual directions. It doesn’t replace the design thinking behind the work, but it speeds up the parts that used to be time-consuming, like generating placeholder data or restructuring components.
Where I think AI will really change product design is in collaboration. Designers will spend less time on mechanical execution and more on defining problems, validating ideas, and shaping product direction. AI will definitely push designers to strengthen their skills in critical thinking, storytelling, systems thinking, and ethical design.
As a senior designer now, you’re likely mentoring others or leading design initiatives. What’s been the biggest shift in your role as you’ve become more senior?
The biggest shift for me as I’ve grown into a senior role is that my impact is no longer measured only by the designs I produce, but by how effectively I empower others and guide the overall product direction.
Mentorship is a big part of that shift. I now spend more time helping designers improve their craft and build confidence in their decision-making. Instead of giving answers, I ask questions that help them arrive at strong solutions on their own. It’s incredibly rewarding to see someone grow because you created space for them to think and explore.
Communication has also become just as important as design. As a senior, I’m expected to present ideas clearly, build consensus, and advocate for users in rooms where decisions are being made.
So the biggest change is that I’ve moved from being primarily a creator to being a facilitator, a strategic partner, and a design leader who elevates both the product and the team.
You’ve designed for music (Spinlet), identity (Youverify), mobility (Wunder), and health (Sidekick). If you could only design for one industry for the rest of your career, which would it be and why?
Honestly, I don’t think I could pick just one industry. What I’ve realised from working across these diverse industries is that what drives me isn’t the sector, it’s the kind of problems I get to solve. Each space challenges me in a different way and teaches me something new.
So for me, the impact matters more. I’m happiest when I’m working on meaningful problems, collaborating with teams, and creating products that genuinely help people. If the work lets me do that, then I’m content, no matter the domain.
What’s your design hot take? Something controversial that might get you in trouble on Design Twitter/Community?
If I had to share a design hot take, it’s that designers sometimes overcomplicate things. We get caught up in fancy interactions, animations, or patterns, and forget that the most impactful designs are often the simplest.
I’ve seen so many products struggle not because the concept is bad, but because the design adds unnecessary friction or confusion. In my experience, clarity, usability, and simplicity almost always win. A clean, intuitive experience that lets users get things done effortlessly is the kind of work that really sticks.
What advice would you give to UI/UX Trainees in Lagos today who are where you were in 2018 at Stutern?
If I could give advice to UI/UX trainees today, I’d start by saying, focus on understanding the “why” behind everything you design. It’s easy to get caught up in making things look pretty or following trends, but real impact comes from solving actual problems for users. Spend time learning how to research, test, and validate your ideas; don’t assume you know what users want.
Secondly, be curious and proactive. Reach out to other designers, join communities, ask for feedback, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Every project, even small ones, is an opportunity to learn and improve.
Thirdly, document your work and build a portfolio that shows your thought process, not just final designs. Hiring managers want to see how you approach problems, not just what the finished screen looks like.
And finally, be patient and persistent. Growth doesn’t happen overnight, but consistency pays off. Keep learning, stay adaptable, and find ways to contribute, even in small ways, to the design community. It will make your journey faster and more fulfilling.
What’s currently on your design inspiration list? Any books, podcasts, designers, or products you’re obsessed with right now?
Right now, I’m drawing inspiration from a mix of books, podcasts, and designers whose work and thinking push me to improve. On the book side, I’ve been really into Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug and Sprint by Jake Knapp, The Universal Principle of UX. They’re great reminders about usability, and fast problem-solving.
For podcasts, I listen to DesignBetter.Co and UI Breakfast. Both give practical insights into design thinking, AI, and how to navigate real-world design challenges.
In terms of people, I follow designers like Mizko, Femke, and Gary Simon. I admire how they share their process, tackle problems, and consistently produce high-quality, thoughtful work.
Thank you for talking to us
It’s a pleasure, thank you for having me.
