I'm Chinonye, a product designer
Chinonye is pronounced “CHEE-noh-yeh”, but most people call me Nonye. I design payments, marketplace and operations products. Before product design, I spent 5 years in banking, working closely with customers and the teams responsible for serving them.
- CuriosityI ask why before how
- PragmatismI respect constraints
- ResponsibilityI design with consequences in mind
At the bank I managed client relationships and grew portfolios, sitting across the desk from people whose money problems were never abstract. That is where I learned what still drives my work: when a financial product fails, someone's rent, business, remittance or payroll is on the other side.
Curiosity pulled me into tech. I made the switch through self-study and bootcamps in front-end engineering and UX design while still working full time, which is why I'm as comfortable in an engineering standup as in a stakeholder review.
Most of what I've shipped since is not the glamorous part of a product. It's onboarding and verification, merchant dashboards, admin tooling, the internal search service a business runs on. Software people are required to use to do their job, where a confusing screen costs money rather than a bounce. That is as true in a distributor portal or a claims desk as in a payments app, which is why I don't think of myself as only a fintech designer.
Today I'm usually involved before the brief is fully formed, making sense of the problem, the constraints and what is worth solving.
Some of how I work I learned from being mentored. At Afriex I had weekly 1:1s with Miles Fitzgerald, then Director of Design at Microsoft, and they changed how I approach cross-platform design systems, design QA and explaining business trade-offs. I pass that on. Junior and student designers who reach out to me or are referred to me get portfolio reviews, career guidance and critiques of their information architecture, product strategy and interaction design, and I have mentored in a bootcamp, including sessions for The Circuu's Women in Tech cohort of 100 women.
What banking taught me about design
3 habits from the desk that I still work by.
Outside the work
Outside of work, I love travelling and learning about new places, cultures and ways of living. Being in unfamiliar environments helps me notice patterns, question assumptions and appreciate perspectives I might otherwise miss.
Watching and listening
Watching:The East Palace·Community·KPop Demon Hunters·The Office
Spark Joy
Listening·YouTube Music
Where I am now
I'm open to senior product design roles, remote or contract, and available now. Based in Lagos (UTC+1), I've spent most of the last 5 years working with distributed teams across Africa, the UK, Europe and North America, and can be hired directly, as a contractor or through an employer of record such as Deel or Oyster.
I'm Chinonye, a product designer
Chinonye is pronounced “CHEE-noh-yeh”, but most people call me Nonye. I design payments, marketplace and operations products. Before product design, I spent 5 years in banking, working closely with customers and the teams responsible for serving them.
- CuriosityI ask why before how
- PragmatismI respect constraints
- ResponsibilityI design with consequences in mind
At the bank I managed client relationships and grew portfolios, sitting across the desk from people whose money problems were never abstract. That is where I learned what still drives my work: when a financial product fails, someone's rent, business, remittance or payroll is on the other side.
Curiosity pulled me into tech. I made the switch through self-study and bootcamps in front-end engineering and UX design while still working full time, which is why I'm as comfortable in an engineering standup as in a stakeholder review.
Most of what I've shipped since is not the glamorous part of a product. It's onboarding and verification, merchant dashboards, admin tooling, the internal search service a business runs on. Software people are required to use to do their job, where a confusing screen costs money rather than a bounce. That is as true in a distributor portal or a claims desk as in a payments app, which is why I don't think of myself as only a fintech designer.
Today I'm usually involved before the brief is fully formed, making sense of the problem, the constraints and what is worth solving.
Some of how I work I learned from being mentored. At Afriex I had weekly 1:1s with Miles Fitzgerald, then Director of Design at Microsoft, and they changed how I approach cross-platform design systems, design QA and explaining business trade-offs. I pass that on. Junior and student designers who reach out to me or are referred to me get portfolio reviews, career guidance and critiques of their information architecture, product strategy and interaction design, and I have mentored in a bootcamp, including sessions for The Circuu's Women in Tech cohort of 100 women.
What banking taught me about design
3 habits from the desk that I still work by.
Outside the work
Outside of work, I love travelling and learning about new places, cultures and ways of living. Being in unfamiliar environments helps me notice patterns, question assumptions and appreciate perspectives I might otherwise miss.
Watching and listening
Watching:The East Palace·Community·KPop Demon Hunters·The Office
Spark Joy
Listening·YouTube Music
Where I am now
I'm open to senior product design roles, remote or contract, and available now. Based in Lagos (UTC+1), I've spent most of the last 5 years working with distributed teams across Africa, the UK, Europe and North America, and can be hired directly, as a contractor or through an employer of record such as Deel or Oyster.
I'm Chinonye, a product designer
Chinonye is pronounced “CHEE-noh-yeh”, but most people call me Nonye. I design payments, marketplace and operations products. Before product design, I spent 5 years in banking, working closely with customers and the teams responsible for serving them.
- CuriosityI ask why before how
- PragmatismI respect constraints
- ResponsibilityI design with consequences in mind
At the bank I managed client relationships and grew portfolios, sitting across the desk from people whose money problems were never abstract. That is where I learned what still drives my work: when a financial product fails, someone's rent, business, remittance or payroll is on the other side.
Curiosity pulled me into tech. I made the switch through self-study and bootcamps in front-end engineering and UX design while still working full time, which is why I'm as comfortable in an engineering standup as in a stakeholder review.
Most of what I've shipped since is not the glamorous part of a product. It's onboarding and verification, merchant dashboards, admin tooling, the internal search service a business runs on. Software people are required to use to do their job, where a confusing screen costs money rather than a bounce. That is as true in a distributor portal or a claims desk as in a payments app, which is why I don't think of myself as only a fintech designer.
Today I'm usually involved before the brief is fully formed, making sense of the problem, the constraints and what is worth solving.
Some of how I work I learned from being mentored. At Afriex I had weekly 1:1s with Miles Fitzgerald, then Director of Design at Microsoft, and they changed how I approach cross-platform design systems, design QA and explaining business trade-offs. I pass that on. Junior and student designers who reach out to me or are referred to me get portfolio reviews, career guidance and critiques of their information architecture, product strategy and interaction design, and I have mentored in a bootcamp, including sessions for The Circuu's Women in Tech cohort of 100 women.
What banking taught me about design
3 habits from the desk that I still work by.
Outside the work
Outside of work, I love travelling and learning about new places, cultures and ways of living. Being in unfamiliar environments helps me notice patterns, question assumptions and appreciate perspectives I might otherwise miss.
Watching and listening
Watching:The East Palace·Community·KPop Demon Hunters·The Office
Spark Joy
Listening·YouTube Music
Where I am now
I'm open to senior product design roles, remote or contract, and available now. Based in Lagos (UTC+1), I've spent most of the last 5 years working with distributed teams across Africa, the UK, Europe and North America, and can be hired directly, as a contractor or through an employer of record such as Deel or Oyster.