In the competitive landscape of Nigerian tech, where fintech and SaaS products are rapidly evolving, a paradigm shift is occurring in how designers approach their craft. Precious Ogar, a Senior Product Designer with extensive experience shaping fintech, AI, and SaaS products, argues that the secret to building truly great products lies not in aesthetic appeal alone, but in mastering systems thinking.
From Pixel-Perfect to System-Aware Design
Ogar, who works closely with Nigerian tech startups and has led design teams in local fintechs, posits that design is the unseen system connecting user behavior, technology, and commercial outcomes. He challenges designers to stop thinking like decorators and start thinking like system architects. While pixels, colors, and typography are the visible layer, the true value of design emerges when we consider how every button, screen, and user flow interconnects with corporate objectives, technical constraints, and user psychology. An interface that looks beautiful but damages the underlying operational system is ultimately worthless.
Every digital product exists within a complex ecosystem, comprising the visible user experience and the invisible operational, financial, and technical layers. Ogar illustrates that changing the color of a 'Pay Now' button is not merely a cosmetic adjustment; it's a strategic decision that can influence click-through rates, transaction volumes, support ticket numbers, and revenue flow. This systems-thinking approach forces designers to ask a critical question: 'How does this single decision create ripples across the entire product?'
The Domino Effect and Feedback Loops
This perspective reveals the second-order effects of design choices. A slightly confusing form field can inadvertently increase the load on customer support teams. An unclear Call-to-Action (CTA) can reduce conversion rates and accelerate user churn. Even the tone of voice in product copy can affect its perceived credibility. By adopting a systems mindset, designers stop applying band-aid solutions to surface problems and begin addressing the root causes.
Crucially, systems thinking focuses on feedback loops, not linear processes. It involves observing user behavior, creating an intervention, measuring the results, making adjustments, and repeating the cycle. This continuous loop is what keeps products responsive and alive. Ogar notes that too many designers disengage after the handoff to developers. However, by deeply understanding product metrics, analytics, and user feedback systems, a designer can build with foresight and anticipate outcomes.
Frameworks for Visualizing the Invisible
To operationalize this mindset, designers need practical frameworks. Ogar recommends several tools that make invisible systems visible:
- Service Blueprints: These maps reveal how every frontstage user interaction connects to the backstage operations that support it, making design decisions feel less isolated and more strategic.
- Information Architecture (IA) Maps: From the user's perspective, IA maps help visualize how people navigate a product, identify friction points, and understand how different flows interconnect, transforming chaos into clarity.
- Design Systems in Figma: Beyond being libraries of buttons and colors, a robust design system acts as a framework that enforces logic, hierarchy, and scalability, ensuring predictable component behavior and alignment between designers and engineers.
- Metrics Dashboards: These tools complete the circle by linking design choices to quantifiable results, proving whether a solution genuinely improves usability, performance, or retention.
When used in combination, these frameworks transform intuition into insight, allowing designers to see their work as a network of cause and effect that shapes the entire product ecosystem.
Shifting to an Outcome Mindset
The ultimate result of systems thinking is a fundamental shift in how success is measured. It moves the focus away from the number of screens delivered or the visual polish of components. Instead, the first indicators of success become the speed at which users complete tasks, the reduction in support requests, the frequency of user return, and the alignment of the design work with overarching business objectives.
According to Precious Ogar, true design leadership is defined by this transition from visual accomplishment to quantifiable impact. It's not about pixel perfection, but systems clarity. Designers who think in systems enhance business operations, not just aesthetics. They become the strategic partners that every forward-thinking Nigerian tech company needs, capable of navigating the hidden connections between users, code, and business results.
