The DearDesigner Mentorship Program wants to Help Young Designers Master the Basics

The design space is one rife with untold stories. Some are lost because they were undocumented, while others have been forgotten and are one article, podcast or video away.

It is not uncommon to see designers and other professionals consume information from experts from around the world, and for a still-developing space, designers are left to work with or learn from international authors. While this is not a problem, it is important that the design space in Nigeria ignites a candle lighting moment, to ensure sustainable growth and provide those coming with experiences that they can relate with.

There are experiences relevant to our local context, and the community in Nigeria is old enough, mature enough to feed itself—the younger professionals who are just navigating their way into the field should have enough information to consume from those that have gone ahead.

This, among many more reasons, is why DearDesigner started—to document the Nigerian Design and Designer story and maximize the resource, knowledge, and insight within the community to ensure sustainable growth of everyone in it.

With conversations, articles, profiles, case studies and physical events, they have worked over the past 13 months to bridge the information gap in the space and beam the spotlight on the experiences of other designers in the country with raving reviews from the community and other stakeholders.

As part of efforts to bridge the knowledge and experience gap, they have launched a mentorship program to connect budding talents with more experienced hands in the space. They say:

We want to engender a hands-on experience that will help more people master the basics that will help them along in their career journey. “This is something you have read… but would it be nicer to have someone available to answer your questions when you are trying to execute what you saw on the tutorials?” This is what the mentorship programme we want to achieve with the mentorship programme—take people beyond the normal tutorial knowledge to answer relevant questions around career, business growth, challenges, etc.

Beyond the fact that this could be a “pass the torch moment”, we want to create a safe space for young designers to express their fears and learnings as they navigate the industry. Our mentors enlisted for this first cohort are leading professionals with years of practise and portfolios of amazing impact.

They’re receiving applications from designers (in any of Branding, Product, Digital Arts & Illustration, Graphic Design & Art Direction, Motion, Industrial Design fields) in Nigeria with less than 2 years professional experience with a relatively compelling portfolio and interest to be mentored.

It is a virtual mentorship programme, and mentees will have one-on-one access to their respective mentors weekly for 3 months (August – October).

Application closes by July 20. You can apply HERE.

For inquiries, contact via [email protected]

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