Life of a Designer
Bonding Over Design—A Tale of Druids, of Blood, and of Love
29 June 2022
12 Mins Read
Oyinlola Akindele
For designers,
by designers.
At DearDesigner, we are telling the stories of designers across Africa.
With a well-curated content experience, hands-on mentorship, partnerships, educational programmes; we aim to give design the status it deserves in value, practice, and influence in everyday decisions—in Africa.
At DearDesigner, we are telling the untold stories of designers across Africa. Through valuable content, tailored mentorship and innovative partnerships, we elevate the status of designers while helping design maintain its position as a skill of the future—in Africa.
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Bridging the experience gap in the African design industry.
Amplifying change, one mentorship at a time.
We want to connect budding talents with more experienced hands, while creating a safe space for young designers to express their fears and learnings as they navigate the industry.
We are bridging the knowlege and experience gap in the design industy, while creating a safe space for young designers to express their fears and learnings as they navigate the industry.
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My mentor’s kindness, willingness to share her own experiences and wisdom while listening closely, are all qualities that I’ve learned from. She always tries to help me become a better version of myself rather than trying to mold me to her perspective. Our regular conversations helped me grow immensely both personally and professionally.
The DearDesigner mentorship program was a redefining experience. Being able to learn from and access an experienced mentor really helped with skills to upgrade my career.
The mentorship was a practical experience. My mentor used a number of methods, all effective for me as she often carried me along and got my opinion when making decisions about learning and teaching methods. Her feedback was always very specific. I came out with observable improvement, and I still apply many of the things I learnt.
My mentor was nothing short of amazing — a friend and support system. The utmost thanks to the Dear Designer team for enabling my growth and that of many others like me. Those three months were very remarkable.
The mentorship was a life-changing season for me. My mentor and I still connect till today and he still refers some gigs to me. During the mentorship, he had time for me to teach me and help me grow, especially in changing my mindset to be a better person of value and how to get rewarded for the great Value I deliver.
Every bit of the mentorship programme was worth it. It came at the right time for me and was very insightful. My mentor was actually very resourceful and gave me answers to some questions that have lingered in my head for quite some time and pointed me to great resources to help answer the questions he couldn’t do justice to.