I started with Photoshop 7 in 2010.

Sounds ancient, right? It was. Studying graphic design in Dhaka, learning the basics—colors, typography, hierarchy. The stuff nobody gets excited about but everyone needs.

Then I got obsessed with websites.

While classmates designed print posters, I was hacking HTML and CSS. Started doing clipping path work ($50/project) to fund coffee and courses. Learned templating. Built sites on Bootstrap. It felt like the future.

The Job That Broke Me

2014, Junior Web Designer at UY Systems Ltd. $300/month.

I was good at it. Built landing pages, newsletters, responsive websites. Won internal awards. Got promoted.

Then something happened that changed everything.

I built this booking website. Pixel-perfect. Beautiful typography. Intuitive navigation. I was proud of it.

It launched. Nobody used it.

Not "nobody"—2% conversion. I'd built something beautiful that didn't work.

So I did something crazy. I sat with actual users and watched them try to book.

Every. Single. One. Got stuck at the same place.

They didn't understand the funnel. The steps weren't clear. The information was there, but the flow was broken.

That night, I stopped designing websites. Started redesigning workflows.

Spent weeks studying: Where do users hesitate? What confuses them? What's the actual problem?

Redesigned the funnel based on watching real behavior.

Conversion went from 2% to 11%.

That 9% difference wasn't prettier buttons. It was understanding how people actually think.

The Realization

By 2016, I knew web design wasn't enough.

Everyone could build websites now. Wix, Webflow, templates. The skill wasn't rare anymore.

But understanding why users fail? Understanding workflows? Understanding that design is strategy, not decoration?

That was rare.

I left UY Systems and jumped into product design.

What Actually Changed

2016 onward at Bit Mascot:

EventBookings: Redesigned the entire booking flow. Users were abandoning at signup.

• Watched 10 users try to sign up

• Found the problem: too many fields, unclear value prop

• Redesigned: fewer fields, clear steps, one goal per screen

• Result: 15% conversion increase. Users stopped bouncing.

WebCommander: Built the design system from scratch.

• Team was shipping different designs every week

• Engineers were wasting time guessing interactions

• Built: component library, interaction patterns, clear rules

• Result: 35% faster task completion. Designers and engineers finally spoke same language.

Datalogz (2022-23): Helped secure $2.3M funding.

• Investor feedback: "Product feels amateur"

• Wasn't about features. Was about credibility

• Redesigned: system thinking, professional interactions, consistency

• Result: Same product, new design, investor confidence → $2.3M raised

Each project taught me: Design isn't decoration. Design is leverage.

The Evolution

2010: Learned fundamentals. Photoshop, composition, color theory.

2014: Built websites. Learned that beauty ≠ function.

2016: Shifted to strategy. Learned that understanding users > understanding design trends.

2024: Teaching founders. Learned that the best designers are researchers first, artists second.

What I Actually Learned

The diploma gave me fundamentals. Web design taught me to build. Product work taught me to think.

But the real lessons came from failures:

• The booking site that nobody used until I watched users fail

• The design system that nobody followed until I understood why

• The funding pitch that succeeded because design communicated credibility

Every "boring" project taught me something. Every failed design showed me what users actually need.

The Real Lesson

I didn't start as a product strategist. I started as a 17-year-old kid learning Photoshop in Dhaka.

Took wrong turns. Built ugly things. Designed websites nobody used. Got frustrated with web design. Pivoted.

And that's the actual journey: Evolution beats perfect planning.

You don't know where it goes. You just show up, ask questions, and stay curious.

The best designers aren't the ones with the prettiest portfolios. They're the ones who watch users fail and ask why instead of blaming the user.

Want to talk about product strategy, design systems, or designing for founders? Let's work together.