Our Fynbos family - meet Justin

2022-11-23
Justin HowesHead of Product Design

Justin heads up our product design at Fynbos. As a multidisciplinary design lead and creative director with a wealth of experience, Justin’s passion lies in crafting lean and meaningful digital experiences.

"Make it simple, but significant."- Don Draper

Originally from Cape Town, Justin moved to London to study design and film making where he then spent 20 years honing his craft in both agency and corporate; working in tech startups as well as running his own design studio. Before being fully immersed in the world of product design and user experience, Justin worked on an array of exciting creative campaigns for some of the world’s top brands; Harley Davidson, Samsung, Sony Ericsson (to name drop just a few) and provided design services to Ogilvy London for over 10 years.

Equipped with an insatiable desire to collaborate and innovate, Justin also possesses a penchant for telling the odd dad joke (he asked me to make sure to tell you he’s very very funny). He enjoys spending time with his family, travelling and keeping fit training and competing in triathlons.

Justin’s focal point is on the design of our product and creating fabulous user experiences, as well as building on and implementing our Fynbos brand and marketing strategy.

“With the introduction of payment pointers and our digital wallet being programmable and interoperable, the problem we are solving at Fynbos is an absolute game changer for payments.“

What is your most used emoji?

I use the 🙌 emoji an obsessive amount! I love to celebrate everything, big wins, small wins, no wins. I simply love the positive vibes this little icon brings. Congratulations on the new baby, raised hands! Heading to the beach - raised hands. Working from home - raised hands. (as a note, I don’t do the raised hands thing quite as much IRL, you know, Covid and such)

Would you rather have more money or more time?

Without a doubt, more time. As the saying goes - “time flies when you’re having fun”, and it certainly does, living in this paradise city. As a father of 2 young and very active boys, a full time work commitment and somewhat of a busy training schedule - time is a precious commodity I would love more of, and I would use it to spend more time doing the things I love - which is more of all of the above 😀

What’s the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

When I first left South Africa for England at the tender age of 18, I decided to take up a job as a farm hand in the south. My job was to move alongside a slow moving rig and pick and pack lettuce… in the middle of winter! My day started at 5am, in the dark, and cold, and snow - and ended at 5pm, in the dark, and cold, and snow. I was determined to save up a little bit more cash for my travels, so I committed to a 4 week stint. I picked Iceberg lettuce (oh the irony). It took a good while for my fingers to thaw out completely, and even longer to stomach eating a salad again. I learnt that doing the shitty jobs is character building. I also learnt to do less shitty jobs.

Now you know Justin! Get on the waitlist and be one of the first to check out all the cool things he and the team are building.