The l+d club

How do I say this?

Hmmm.

Evening by the way, my sweet Praise. Today, I write with bias. I always write with bias, but today's a special one. It's about a club, call it a tribe if you will.

The genius, the talented, the goofy, the calm, the quiet, the unsure, the sexy one, the IDGAF and the expressive. One with two or more, others with at least one, the members are absolutely a hilarious bunch.

How did it start? I don't know, or maybe I don't want to tell you that just yet, but it was a mass zone. Atarah & Her Daddies was where it started from. I must say that I was quite relieved the first time I saw the name—I wasn't there yet. I was still Praise.

Then, "you have been added" happened. I am now a Daddy, alongside four poor souls. Such a harmless Twitter DM had made them fathers before their time, one they didn't have a choice in—even if they were pro-choice. So, we were cramped together in one space: a weird position of misandry if you'd call it.

6 daddies, 1 daughter.

It didn't seem right. It didn't take too long until I realised what a blessing it was, but it did take some time. Time spent watching them talk about product design when I had zero interest in it. Time spent receiving image documents of screens with the caption "A or B".

"Bruh, get your shit out my face".

That was my reaction to one particular bearded Daddy at the beginning. He always had screens to ask feedback about. It was only few months later that I'd see that Beardie has one of the fastest upward learning trajectory for any senior designer in the country.

"Carpet", one of the words with potential to become legendary in the Nigerian Design Space was created in that group. The 64-px merchant always pandering his large thumbs like that pastor in Ojota park. "Your buttons too small", he'll say with cadence not too different from those roadside book sellers.

If you've ever seen Spy Kids, the group was the miniature island of what the Nigerian Design Culture could be.

Then there's the only one who actually fit the word, Daddy. I don't know how but he always oozed the Daddy feel. Even the other Daddies called him Daddy, despite being able to give birth to him—if coitus wasn't restricted to 13+.

You didn't think I'd say 18+, did you? Be realistic, it is 2021.

He's always the middle man. No matter how opinionated you are, he has a word for you—like the Holy Spirit of the group.

"Do you want to ..." is not something you want to hear after King-Kong-ing your chest as best in the world. It's always a Godzilla of a feedback.

"Alaye, no I don't want to".

I started UI/UX Design in 2020 fully. UI Design actually. But, they pulled me into UX design gradually with their talks of research, user testing, yada yada yada. It is important to note here that everyone was a learner and the teacher, mentee and mentor. We were all daddies and sons, well, except for the daughter.

She never wavered. Although, she cheated tho. She's got other daddies until we revolted.

The club, a name to properly describe an extra addition. In retrospect, I'd say daughter was actually careful not to project on the new member.

6 daddies. 1 daughter. 1 sister?

There was a genius. It's natural for you to think I was the one. That's so touching, Praise. Awww.

You're right, but no.

This level of genius was immense. It was one that still reflects in everyone's work today, consciously or not. Quiet, calm and subtle, he was the beacon of excellent product design work.

His attention to detail was second to none—compared to the merchant who'd misspell login at the slightest opportunity. With poise and precision, he communicates his thoughts in layers that leaves you immersed with ideas that you never thought of.

Reviews are less of an answer and more of possibilities. Drop one screen, take 3 back home. Two lines of message or 12 paragraphs of text. 13s voice note of banter or 7 min EP of intelligent critique. He was the shit—everyone's inspiration.

5 daddies. 1 daughter. 1 mum.

The goofy one comes to the limelight here, displaying random acts of madness unprovoked. He's the comical one—not that he's funny. He literally creates the comics.

Too much content to go to waste.

Despite wishing that was all he had to contribute, because I don't like him. Take that literally at your own risk. He's an incredible genius—a visionary even. Incredibly indecisive with his hair, the complete opposite with his life—he's managed to find some sort of balance with the irony.

And the mum? A beauty.

Some of the best case studies I have read are owned by her. With an incredible sense of humour, she's ironically the most quiet. Randomly dropping screens and leaving until the next time screens are ready to be dropped.

Now, now! Don't judge.

That happens only 85% of the time. The remaining 15? "Mark as read" robs me of the experience.

Then there's me—the only brand designer, and recently, product designer combined in the space.

When a sheep walks with dogs, he'll eat shit. Yep! I am eating shit—Product Design shit. I am loving every moment of it because the passion for Product Design is driven by something else.

I have worked on over 5 products since joining the group across government and private owned ideas. Everyone is making money and working with companies they love, in roles they enjoy.

The D+L club is a bond that's indescribable.

And this is for them,

We should do "always and forever" one of these days—$10,000 buy-in.

wink

Good night!

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