Digital Design: Nigeria
In a previous post, I commented on how there wasn’t much local content for digital design in Nigeria, and Africa in fact.
Well, I decided to curate the best resources I could find for designing digital products in Africa. This should be a living list, and maybe when I have enough content, I’ll make a small site.
1. UX Bantu
This is the single most relevant newsletter for any African web designer. It’s curated by Steve Amara from Cameroon, and you should definitely subscribe. Some of the super interesting articles include this one about building chatbots for Kenyan farmers.
Category: Newsletter Visit: http://www.uxbantu.com/
2. Usable
Run by Udeze Kene of the Cocreation Hub, Usable is one meetup you should definitely always make time for. Kene brings together a community of people (designers, developers, enthusiasts) who are interested in designing usable products every month in Lagos and Abuja. Read through previous talk slides on SpeakerDeck here.
Category: Meetup Visit: http://usable.ng/
3. MXLab
Speaking of the CCHub, they run this interesting project called the MXLab. It’s a lab that connects end users to digital service providers i.e gets real people to test your products. They also kind of publish these super cool surveys like how Nigerian students use their phones. They seem to have slowed down a bit with those. Regardless, follow the blog. There’s good stuff there. And maybe use the service to test your product sometime.
Category: Blog, UX Research Visit: http://cchubnigeria.com/mxlab/
4. UXAfrica
Mark Kamua is an “Afro-centric UX Designer” that currently works at the iHub, the most popular incubator in Kenya (maybe Africa). He’s the chief UX designer there and like Kene of the CCHub, he also runs a project you should follow.
Category: Blog Visit: http://uxafrica.co.ke/
5. UXLab
This is where I draw yet another parallel between iHub and ccHub, because iHub also has a lab that blogs. It’s called the UXLab. You should go through their archives and catch up on their work, then follow the blog.
Category: Blog Visit: http://ihub.co.ke/blogs/category/ihub-uxlab
6. #ProductNotes
Emmanuel Quartey, big man at Mest Ghana makes notes on interesting product design on twitter with the Hashtag #productnotes. I’m of the opinion someone should use IFTTT to pull the content into a tumblr or something so it’s easier to follow. For now though, just follow him on twitter.
Category: Twitter Hashtag Visit: https://twitter.com/hashtag/productnotes?src=hash Follow: https://twitter.com/equartey
6. OpenIDEO
Ideo is a global design firm. You should know Ideo, really. OpenIDEO is a subset of the firm that designs solutions to the world’s biggest challenges — including low-income climes and emerging markets. They have super useful case studies when they run projects in Africa. Follow their Medium.
Category: Blog Visit: https://stories.openideo.com/
Have fun reading. And please if you have any interesting links, put me on!