Hello, My name is Arogundade-D. Qasim Olawale, Creative Director of Hyp Creatives. I’m a
final year student of the Department of Architecture, University of Lagos. I’m here to share
my entrepreneurial experience from running Hyp creatives.
Hyp Creatives is a creative agency that was brought about from the rising need for highly
creative graphical contents. Currently still focused on mainly designs ranging from logos and
corporate branding to banners, fliers, brochures, magazines, product designs and product
packaging ideas.
The ultimate goal is to branch out into various aspects of graphics designing - branding,
2d and 3d animation, character development and advertising.
HOW I STARTED
Hyp creatives all started when I was in my second year in the university and I always want to
be part of something big and one of our lecturers pitched a student organization to us in class
and without second thoughts I signed up for it.
I have some background knowledge of web designing (just basic HTML, CSS and a little bit of Java script) but alongside that I also learnt web images design then with macromedia fireworks.
So when it came to the point where we were divided into departments I was placed in web and graphics designing team, at that point I have no idea how to use photoshop, illustrator, indesign or any other major software.
Anyways I started learning them myself both by trial and error and videos and eventually I got
better at them and joined more teams as their graphics designer and from there, I met more
people and it then became a commercial thing.
MOTIVATION TO START
Well from above my main motivation came from wanting to be part of something big and I
just know to be part I would have to be able to contribute tangibly to the team. So in one way
it motivated me to learn to use those softwares because I’ve always been the creative type
and all I just needed to master is the tools to make me put those creativity out there.
I also got motivated by some people in the field already both in graphics designing and branding
some people like Chris Do who talks about the economics of Graphics Designing, Yo Santosa
whose portfolio and interviews on branding have always been a driving force for me, Jessica
Walsh whose creativity always interests me and always drives me to keep designing, Aaron
James Draplin whose struggles from being a freelance graphics designer to designing for the
Obama administration motivates me that I can always be more than what I am.
I also get motivated by some Nigerian talents Ayanfe and Osaze Omadasun just to mention a few and
also the social media also motivates and inspires me because there are so many amazing
talents out there. Another motivation is the fact that I can always make some extra cash while
doing what I love doing.
CHALLENGES WHEN I STARTED AND DURING MY ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
I have faced a lot of challenges through this journey.
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Client challenges
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Getting the right clients
When people discover you are good at something, they will always want to exploit that
probably because you are close to them or you are classmates, I help people when it doesn’t
affect me and one thing I always did then was work with people who have a very large audience so if I’m not even getting paid I can trust my work to get me the right clients, but at times it just doesn’t work.
Thinking for and convincing the client:
Another challenge is getting what the client is thinking of because at times they know what
they want but they cant describe it so it’s up to you to try getting into their heads and asking
questions that would help know what they want and at times trial and error just works, and at
times when none of that works, I just try convincing them with the options I’ve prepared and
when you are sure what you designed is a workable design, you shouldn’t have a problem
convincing them because at times what they want is usually the wrong thing to do so I also
have to give them professional advice on what would work for them and what wouldn’t.
But at times clients can be adamant and on a few occasions I’ve had to cut the deal off because I
just can’t get myself to design what I wouldn’t be proud to call my work.
Quantifying and Payment:
Getting clients to stick to their end of the deal i.e paying up has been one of my most
re-occuring challenge and I think the mistake I made from the onset was not always getting a
deposit before starting works, also trying to charge a client for something I am doing for the
first time.
There’s usually no way around this when you know no one that’s done it before and
at times I end up short changing myself.
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Work-flow challenges
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Lack of quality contents from clients
At times when I have to design brochures, magazines, fliers banners and so on, some clients
don’t vet their content and at times that always make me do the job of a content provider at
times which is quite stressful, at times some don’t even have the correct format of their logos
and this is as a result of either the designer failing to give the client all necessary files after
the job is done like sending all needed formats of the logo (PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF: in all variations
if any) or as a result of the client negligence to things like that.
So, at times you have to work with very low-quality images or poorly designed logos and other things that could affect the
excellent output of your own work.
Lack of necessary gadgets:
Graphics designing softwares can take a toll on your system and even currently I am using a
software that limits how many softwares I can open at times, so at times I have to close
illustrator so I can open photoshop just because I want to make a picture black and white. or
at times when I want to draw things with freehand, I have to use the pen tool when it would
have been easier using a wacom pad or not being able to learn new softwares because they
just won’t work well on your own PC.
This is no one’s fault, just lack of funds to get them.
Printing:
Printing have always been a major issue for me because at times I design this amazing work
and it gets ruined by the printing and that’s what a lot of people would see and that at times
brings negative feedback and I have to start explaining it’s the printing that messed it up. This
is usually caused by lack of supervision which I always try to offer when I can.
HOW HYP HAS SUPPORTED ME IN SCHOOL
Hyp creatives has been a huge blessing for me because luckily I’m studying architecture and
its usually the same process with graphics designing-trying to solve problems in very creative
and beautiful ways. When I was looking for a placement for my IT, even though my
architectural portfolio wasn’t that bulky I had my graphics designing portfolio to back it up to
still display my creativity which in turn got me the placement without having to stress infact I
ended up having 2 options to choose from.
Hyp has also helped me strongly financially, I can proudly say I’ve not been dependent on my
parents for almost a year now and I’ve been doing great, I mean I’ve had really bad times
along the way but its all part of the experience.
It has also helped me in my design process architecturally because at times I incorporate some
graphical concept into architecture and it works for me for example how to use colors, the
complementary ones, contrast, and so on, so when doing my color combination during school
works, it helps.
Running Hyp as a business has also gave me this sense of scheduling and time management.
I’m not saying I’m a master at it, but I can say I’ve significantly improved from my former self
in that area.
HYP IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
I have always been a perfectionist and its helped me at times and at times I hate the fact that
I am one. And so whenever I see poorly designed graphical content, I get pissed off, but when
I design, I mostly always add this conceptual bit into it that makes people inquisitive about it
and ask questions about it, so I think that way, I try to wake our inner creativity when you see
some of those works. Also apart from that some of my works like banners helped beautify
some places and its something I am always proud of when it happens.
Also I’ve worked for some non-profit organizations like the Unilag for Humanities campaign last
year, and am also on a team that fights sickle cell, and some other volunteer works like
TEDxUnilag and I help with what I’m good at without getting paid and I feel it’s my own way of
giving back to the environment.
You can always find my portfolio on www.about.me/qasimolawale
Thank you.