Introduction: Design Beyond the Screen
When people talk about great products, they often focus on the final interface—the screen you swipe, the button you tap, the colors that feel right. But design is not neutral, and it rarely begins with pixels. In this interview, Ahmad-Tijani Bashorun, a Senior Product designer, sheds light on how successful products are shaped long before any screen comes into view. The conversation reveals that thoughtful design is about systems, relationships, and choices made far upstream, where strategy, culture, and craft converge.
Systems Thinking: Design as a Whole, Not a Surface
Bashorun argues that great products emerge from a system perspective. This means mapping user needs to workflows, data flows, and operational constraints across an organization. It’s about understanding how a product sits within a network of teams, tools, and processes—how decisions in one area ripple through others. By treating design as a system, teams can align goals, reduce friction, and ensure consistency as the product evolves. The screen is just the last mile of a chain built upstream through research, hypotheses, and collaborative prioritization.
From Discovery to Definition
The early phase of product work involves exploring problems with people, not just interfaces. Interviews, contextual inquiries, and observational research reveal real needs and constraints. Bashorun emphasizes that discovery is not a one-off sprint; it’s an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders across product, engineering, marketing, and support. The outcome is a shared definition of success that guides design decisions long before any mockups exist.
The Craft That Shapes the Screen
While the screen is a focal point for users, the craft that informs it is rooted in the tangible world: the way teams collaborate, how information is organized, and the rituals that govern product development. The craft includes setting guiding principles, defining interaction patterns, and establishing a vocabulary that teams can use across time. When craft is strong, the final interface feels inevitable because it reflects deliberate choices from a well-informed design process. In this view, designers aren’t creating visuals in isolation; they’re codifying how a product behaves, learns, and adapts in the real world.
Constraints as Creative Fuel
Constraints—time, data, regulatory requirements, and platform realities—are not roadblocks but catalysts. They force teams to consider what matters most, prioritize meaningful experiences, and design for edge cases without clutter. Bashorun notes that embracing constraints at the outset helps prevent later retrofit work and leads to more robust, scalable products. In practice, this means documenting decisions, preserving alternative paths, and revisiting them as context shifts.
Why Early Design Decisions Matter
Decisions made before a single wireframe is drawn can determine product viability. Early alignment on user personas, success metrics, and service design reduces rework and speeds delivery. Bashorun highlights several benefits of this early work:
– Clear governance: a shared compass for every team member.
– Consistent experience: a cohesive product that feels built, not bolted together.
– Improved collaboration: cross-disciplinary teams that trust the process and communicate openly.
Practical Takeaways for Teams
- Integrate design with product strategy from day zero. Ensure design leadership participates in roadmap decisions and prioritization sessions.
- Document the system: user journeys, data relationships, and operational constraints should be visible to all stakeholders.
- Use craft-driven rituals: regular critiques, design reviews, and co-creation workshops help maintain alignment and empathy for users.
- Design for evolution: build modular interfaces and scalable patterns so the product can grow without losing coherence.
Conclusion: Design as a Strategic Practice
Design is not a icing on the cake but a strategic force that shapes what a product is and how it behaves. By thinking in systems, embracing craft, and solving problems upstream, teams can deliver experiences that feel inevitable—and that remain resilient as markets and technologies shift. The interview with Ahmad-Tijani Bashorun invites designers, product leaders, and engineers to reimagine design as an ongoing discipline that extends far beyond the screen.
