The Context
ayoba is more than a communication platform; it is an African “Superapp” serving millions of users. It combines chat, rich media channels, fintech solutions, and micro-apps into a single ecosystem. The challenge was to maintain a cohesive user experience across this vast array of services while ensuring the product remained intuitive and culturally relevant to the African market.
Strategic Impact & Key Features
- The TikTok Integration (First-in-Africa): I led the UX/UI integration for a groundbreaking partnership between ayoba and TikTok. The goal was to “bake” TikTok’s short-form video content directly into the ayoba infrastructure. This required solving complex navigation and content consumption challenges to ensure a seamless experience that didn’t feel disjointed from the core app.
- Micro-App Ecosystem: I designed frameworks for “Services” – internal micro-apps that live within the platform. This required creating flexible UI patterns that could accommodate various third-party services while maintaining the ayoba brand identity.
- User Customisation: I pioneered a feature allowing users to customise their bottom navigation bar. At the time, this was a novel approach to navigation, handing control back to the user to prioritise the features (Chat, Music, Games, etc.) they used most.
Design Operations & Technical Mastery
“Parity without sameness: Respecting the OS.”
- Native Fluency (iOS & Android): A major focus of my role was achieving 100% feature parity between Android and iOS. I advocated for and executed designs that strictly adhered to Native Guidelines (Material Design vs. Human Interface Guidelines). This ensured that while the features were identical, the feel was native to the user’s specific device.
- Multi-System Architecture: I built and managed two distinct design systems: one for the Lite PWA (Progressive Web App) to ensure accessibility for lower-end devices, and another for the Core Platform. I also established governance workflows to maintain consistency across the native mobile libraries.
Leadership & Collaboration
- Cross-Functional Alignment: I instigated and led weekly syncs with QA, Developers, and Product Owners to reduce the “design-to-code” gap.
- Mentorship: I actively mentored junior designers, conducting design critiques and helping them upskill in technical UI execution and design thinking.
