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By Kareem Islamiyat
Oyinloluwa Adedoyin has spent over four years dedicating his life to his design craft. During this time, he has worked across product, motion, and user interface animations.
As a result of his skill, agency, and learned ability to turn in impressive design works over the course of his career, he has mastered how to deliver results for multiple companies, global brands, and freelance clients that make them come back to request his services.
Yet, never did he imagine that a project could stomp him. In this interview, Oyinloluwa, currently the product designer at VerifyMe, opens the lid on how a freelance project almost went wrong; due to the multiple successes he’s had over the course of his career, we like to call this particular project, “the one that got away.”
We know what you do as a designer, but one of your near-fails is not something we’ve read anywhere on the internet. Tell us about this project that got away.
I renewed my contract with a client for a freelance project. They were people I was already familiar with because we’d worked together before. I had worked on product, UI, and motion designs for these guys, with some of my works heavily featured on their web apps on the internet.
But the scope of this new project was not something I’d done before. And I underestimated what I needed to know and learn to pull this off.
What did they want you to do this time?
The project was to design Telegram assets like animated stickers and emojis that the client used to create its brand identity assets for its communities.
This was a first for me because I’d never done illustrations before. So I was out in this spot where I needed to learn how to draw as a designer, shape characters that closely match the briefs I was handed, and just figure how to get it done somehow.
It took a lot of tries to finally get it right (spoiler: I did), but it took a while. I’m thankful I managed to pull that off while maintaining trust and having my client’s confidence during that time.
What was building these animation assets like?
Aside from the fact I had to practically become a UI illustrator for this project, there were other design specifications Telegram animated stickers, for example, required. As it was the first time, I didn’t know this. Imagine my horror when I learned, the hard way, that assets you create must not be larger than 64 kilobytes. It’s tough to balance. You’ll have to pixelate your design to the smallest bits to fit that size. It was a little frustrating.
No matter how I nailed those designs, by the time I got to the part where I was supposed to export them, it was always larger than what the system required. So, I had to go back, start again, and figure out the illustration pixels somehow.
Although I look back and laugh at myself at this, I still vividly remember how frustrated this whole thing got me.
So, did you figure out this blocker?
Yes, I did. Things got a little easier after I figured out the first design. The subsequent illustrations became easier to power through. I was doing 15 of these assets and was trying to meet a deadline, so thankfully this was timely.
The amount of iterations and guesswork I had to do reduced with those subsequent designs.
Sounds like you had your fun after that first design. Can you walk me through how you solved this problem?
OA: It was ridiculously simple. I simply had to reduce the file size. First, I had to pixelate and remake the illustration in a vector format. I reduced complex effects and colours from it. I recreated it as a basic illustration with only simple, solid colours. No gradients, no radial colours, no radial gradients.
I stripped it down to just solid colours and lines. I removed all fancy effects and this allowed me to reduce the file size to export as Telegram animated assets.
And this was not easy because it seemed like I was learning to be a minimalist designer again. Yet, there are times like this when, as a designer, simplicity just works. I made it into a flat illustration. Once I got a grip on that first design, the rest followed.
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What tools helped you achieve this?
Bodymovin was crucial for this project.
What does that do?
I used it to export design files from Adobe After Effects and compressed the animations to TGS (Telegram Animated Stickers) formats, used for Telegram only.
This process also helped me realise I could do other stuff. I could create unlimited assets for social media like Instagram, or a filter for Snapchat. I instantly understood I could create brand-related designs and animations that get integrated into social media for marketing purposes. That added an extra layer to my skill and versatility as a multi-disciplinary designer.
Like you just added an infinity stone to your gauntlet. What did you do with this knowledge?
OA: I put the skill on my Fiverr profile, I design social media animated assets. And this is not a joke, among all the services I’ve listed on that account, this is the only service I sell.
Are you saying more people want this social media assets service?
I’ve been offering this service to heavily print cash on the side while I work on my 9–5 job. Now, with my advanced understanding of what these projects usually require, I don’t spend as much time on them. So, it’s a great way to make money on the side if you dabble in creating illustrations.
So, what are all your tools for creating these social media assets from scratch?
I use Figma for the UI design. Adobe Illustrator for character and asset design that needed to be animated into stickers. After Effects for producing the animation. Bodymovin for exporting it to Telegram. And finally, Lottiefile Editor for exporting it to Lottie for website usage.
Exported it for website usage?
To be used on my clients’ project websites.
Okay, got it. Back to your clients, how did that story happen?
I met the client on Twitter.
Did you send a pitch to work with them?
Well, not initially. When I found these guys and saw what they were trying to do, I knew I could help as it was something I could do. So I started following and engaging them. It was a strategic move. When I lock in a client on Twitter, I don’t just enter their DMs asking for a job. I try to learn more about their project through the posts, spaces, articles, and resources they share publicly.
One day, one of the clients I’d been following closely tweeted something, and I saw it as my opportunity. I sent him a message and convinced him I was the guy for the job. We agreed on a contract for website design projects. And we got to work.
Down the line, he requested the Telegram animated stickers service I talked about earlier. I hadn’t done this before, but assumed I knew how to do it, I needed the money he offered. It doesn’t matter; I did it anyway, and now that’s a skill I use on the side.
Interviewer: Got it. Can you share what projects you worked on?
The first client I worked for was this design I did for Pre-Round Club. There was also Assetize and TMWR.
What tips work magic for you when landing clients?
There are no tips here. When you pitch to clients, some will agree, and others will say no. I don’t think you can do anything about it.
My only advice is to be prepared; have your projects ready and lead strongly with them. And I’ll say you should show genuine care about what your clients’ pain points are, and what they want to achieve. Provide lasting solutions.
Oyinloluwa Adedoyin is a product designer with 4+ years of experience. He works as a product and motion designer at Verifyme, a Nigerian reg-tech company offering fraud monitoring and compliance solutions.
He has contributed to products such as Gova, Pluto, and QoreID, applying design thinking to lead and shape the company’s design principles.
