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Hello,
I'm Scott

Product designer in Nairobi. I build fintech, digital identity and AI products used by millions across East Africa and beyond, from African fintechs to Microsoft. I design for real-world constraints: low bandwidth, informal economies, cultural nuance. I treat design as a business partner, not decoration.

scottjohn943@gmail.com LinkedIn See the work

Seven years across identity, money and machines that think, to turn a craft into a career #

If you want my future, do not skip my past. Six teams, three countries and a lot of shipped screens made me the designer I am today.

  • May 2025 to Aug 2026

    Smile ID

    Senior Product Designer · Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪

  • Dec 2024 to Dec 2025

    Microsoft

    Senior Product Designer · Remote, People AI Experience 🇺🇸

  • Jan 2024 to Dec 2025

    Burn Manufacturing

    Senior UX Designer, Design Lead · Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪

  • Nov 2022 to Dec 2024

    Andela

    Senior UX/UI Designer · Remote, global 🌍

  • Mar 2021 to Dec 2023

    Kocela

    UX/UI Designer, Design Lead · Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪

  • Jun 2020 to Dec 2020

    Rama Group

    Creative Designer · Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪

Beyond the day job: talks, mentoring and community #

Thought leadership is a big phrase for a simple habit: showing up for the next designer. Panels, masterclasses and mentoring across Nairobi's product community.

  • Panelist

    Nairobi Design Week

    On a panel about designing for African users, with the people who ship for them.

  • Design lead

    Google UX Hackathon

    Led a team through a weekend of research, prototyping and pitching at the Google-hosted UX hackathon in Nairobi.

  • Speaker and mentor

    Africa Product Peers

    Sessions on product design careers and using AI tools without losing the craft, for product people across the continent.

  • Masterclass

    Zindua School

    A masterclass for Zindua's product design cohort on shipping for real-world constraints.

  • Design leader and mentor

    DotNexxt

    Mentoring designers and reviewing product work in the DotNexxt community.

  • Design mentor and contributor

    Android254

    Design mentorship and contributions to Kenya's Android developer community, where design and engineering meet.

How I work #

Habits that survive a deadline

  1. Start from the data contract

    Before drawing a screen I read the API response and the edge cases in it. The AML redesign began with the response schema, not a moodboard.

  2. Bring evidence to the argument

    At KCB, business units pulled between liquidity and retention. Interview data settled it: a flexible withdrawal with the interest impact shown up front.

  3. Engineering in the room early

    On Tendepay, feasibility reviews started at wireframe stage. Back-end constraints found early cut rework by about 30%.

  4. Critique as a routine, not an event

    At Burn I ran weekly structured critiques with a rotating facilitator for a four-person team. Juniors learned to defend decisions; seniors learned to let go.

  5. Ship the words with the screens

    Error states, instruction copy and legal text are part of the design. I write them, test them, and version them with the UI.

  6. Prototype in code when it is faster

    I build HTML prototypes of data-heavy screens so engineers and I review real behaviour, then move the agreed version into Figma with tokens and components.

  7. Version twelve exists because of version seven

    Launch is where the real test starts. I watch what people do once a release is live, read the support tickets and partner feedback, test the weak spots again, and fold what we learn into the next version. Four major releases of the capture SDK came out of that loop.

Range #

A few notable mentions, not the whole list