From a young love of painting to senior UX designer, Abo takes us through his unconventional career journey. His hard work on newsletters has seen First Edition come to life and lets us in on some of his favourite things about working at the Guardian.
How did you discover your path towards design?
I grew up in a traditional Nigerian home and lived in Nigeria for 15 years. If you grew up in that environment you would know there are only a few acceptable career paths and they include being either a doctor, lawyer or engineer. I grew up wanting to follow my family footsteps of being a doctor and then I wanted to be a scientist and that flowed into wanting to be an engineer. From A levels I applied to product design, which was mostly looking at how to make physical 3D products, which was interesting but I was steered into product engineering which (of course) my dad was very happy about.
Throughout my uni course I realised I was much more into the design aspect than engineering and I had a friend who was building cool websites at the time and I was fascinated. I then took myself to the university of YouTube and built my design skills from there. I have always had an artist in me from a young age and I wanted to actualise that so I picked up this book called “branding” by Paul Rand and I was hooked. I did my post grad at the London College of Communications and that’s where my design career properly kicked off.
How did you end up working for the Guardian?
I started off in brand design and became multi-disciplined, so I flowed from branding to illustration, to print and many other things, eventually landing in product design. It seems a bit confusing as I studied product design in college but that was physical product and here now I’m getting into product as a service. I started as a UI designer and over time I shifted my focus to get a better understanding of the user experience in a more holistic way. I worked in a few big corporations and then went freelance for a bit and even ran my own small design agency for a time. As I was working freelance at my old university, I was headhunted by someone at the Guardian who offered me an opportunity to work with them. At the time I was more of a product designer and it felt like a great role to expand my UX skills but I was also approached by another company.
When I wasn’t sure what to do, I went for a walk, said a prayer and asked myself which one was more important to me. The Guardian won. It also feels really good when people ask where I work and I get to say the Guardian. A huge key factor in me saying ‘yes’ was the fact that I was in a freelance role and the Guardian were willing to wait 3 months for me to start, it really showed their commitment to me and I felt really wanted.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I always feel like work and life blend into one for me. I always want to make sure my day to day life helps me navigate my work life in the healthiest way possible. I usually start my day with a 10k run and I would then get myself in a clean headspace and pray. I then get stuck into the typical things like check off tasks and look through my day to make sure I can block off space between meetings to get my work done. I am a morning person so I get a huge chunk done in the morning and at around 3pm I take 15 mins to rest my eyes and recharge. Once I finish off my work day around 6pm I go to my renewed hobby of painting and find it so relaxing, It allows me to navigate my mind into a different state.
What was your role in newsletters and specifically First Edition?
When First Edition came out it was something we knew was going to be big and we wanted to get it right from the onset (kudos to my colleague Rhianna Reechaye and the way she navigated the whole team). We knew that it was going to be a great newsletter - because the content that we produce at the Guardian is second to none - but what we wanted to ensure was that our users were getting the full value and not missing out. One of the first challenges we encountered were issues with the user sign up flow and how it wasn’t very UX friendly. The fun part is getting things tested and always working with our UX researcher to make sure they have full input into the work (kudos to Georgia Elis who ensured we were always involving user research and thinking user needs). It felt amazing to work through the roadblocks and finally seeing First Edition landing in the user’s inbox.
What is your favourite thing about working at the Guardian?
I love that they speak true to matters that are currently happening. The Guardian represents people who really want honesty, and I feel like there is a rebel spirit attached to it that I really connect with. Another thing I love is the attention to our mental space and I think that is such a key thing. It’s so important as a staff member to feel cared for and I feel like the Guardian does that. When I speak about mental health or myself being a minority I don’t feel excluded or segregated, instead I feel like I work for a company that really cares about that part of me. I also feel like I am in control of my work. I can bring in really cool, new ideas and implement them. There is always space to be innovative.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would say the journey has been fantastic and I wouldn’t really change anything because everything has shaped my personality. I have taken many risks in my career but I do wish I got in with a company like the Guardian when I was much younger (maybe I wasn’t ready then). I also wish I would have travelled the world but there is still time for that.
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