( Portfolio )Product designer & builder

Ken-Chike Dean

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Product designer & builderLagos, NG — --:--:-- WAT
Available — Nov 2026
( About )Product designer & builder — Lagos, NG

IMG 4580

10+Years in design, from print to product
7Years designing fintech
( 01 ) — Story

I started out designing graphics and interfaces for studios in Nigeria, studied Computer Science at the University of Port Harcourt, and moved into product design at Riby Finance, alongside contract work for Sarge and IDEAMASN.

At Cadana I lead design across payroll, payouts and contractor management: the tools companies use to pay global teams, and the experience of the people getting paid in their own currency.

The way I work has changed with the tools. I spend less time on static screens and more on framing problems, prototyping in real code with Claude and Cursor, and staying with a feature until the numbers move.

Outside work I'm designing Furrsible, a pet care platform for Nigeria, and I host Just Being Adultish, a podcast of honest stories about adult life.

( 02 )Experience

( 03 )Principles

01.

Simplify the flow

Complex problems deserve simple journeys. I cut steps, remove friction and make the next action obvious.

02.

Evidence over opinion

Real users settle debates faster than any presentation. I test early and let what people do shape the design.

03.

Prototype in the real thing

Static mockups hide problems. I prototype in code early, so we test real behaviour and engineers see exactly what we mean.

04.

Systems, not screens

Good products are consistent products. I design patterns and systems the whole team can build on.