How Kayode Olowu, Nigerian Design Maven Got His Wildcard Into Marketing’s Big Leagues
Growing up in Somolu, Lagos as a curious, energetic kid watching the world of printing and graphic art unravel around him, it comes at almost no surprise that Founder and Creative Director of OneWildCard, Kayode Olowu will end up being the genius designer that he is now.
Kayode left Lagos for Ibadan in the early 2000’s to go study Microbiology at the University of Ibadan (UI). This was where his ideas and identity as a designer will finally take form. Unconsciously, he had developed an eye for design and a natural ability to do it better than the Somolu creatives and UI, Nigeria’s oldest University provided the perfect landing page for his expressions.
His experiences in the University of Ibadan will inspire him, just as Somolu had. Safe to say that the designer has a knack for drawing inspiration from his environment, consciously or subconsciously.
‘I grew up in Somolu, the unofficial capital of graphic design and printing in Nigeria.
Growing up, I enjoyed watching from my balcony as printers arrange those metal pieces in preparation for letter-pressing, the way they lay plain clothes on the floor, roll up foam pieces and start to dab in different colours. It felt like a magic show, the way the materials morph into beautiful pieces. I guess that was the subconscious initiation into the design world’, he explains.
While at UI, Kayode and his friends were already experimenting with printing, handling design projects for the organizations they belonged to, sometimes traveling to Lagos to handle a few of these projects.
In his words, “I got on the path while at the University. After several poorly designed event posters, I found myself in Lagos, critiquing a design job for our next event and I said to myself, if I have better judgement as to how these things should be arranged, I think I’ll love to be in the driver’s seat.”
After leaving UI with a B.Sc. in Microbiology, Kayode and his friends were ready to start up their own business with the launch of B-10 Eclectics ltd, which would become the parent company for Printsmith and OGQ2 Clothings.
Being the creative director at B-10 Eclectics and OGQ2, a popular graphics design and urban clothing line, Kayode built and successfully managed the creative units of both. B-10 Eclectics was known for its strategic visual designs, which consequently gained the company a strong reputation amongst clients.
‘The design thing started back in school, I had some friends who were part of a society in school, we organized, raised funds and did publicity. Coincidentally, after one of those programs, four of us that really connected organized a particular edition that led to a discovery around the print process, and some other businesses and then we were like why can’t we just start this thing. The room we stayed together at school back then was Mellanby hall, B-10. And that was it.’
OGQ2 was one of the top 5 urban clothing labels in Nigeria during Kayode’s tenure as head of design.“OGQ2” was not just chosen randomly as the name of the clothing brand. It was coined out of the name of one of the brand’s partners – Yemi Ojikutu, who died tragically.
‘One of the key partners from UI was Yemi Ojikutu… we lost him in 2006. He had travelled to Abuja for a project and he needed to be back in Lagos for another project. For some reason he had to return by bus and the bus was attacked. It was a huge loss. We were all very close. And then we thought, this man had always been in charge of the clothing, it only made sense to use it to honour him.’
In 2010, Kayode enrolled as a student of Orange Academy, Africa’s leading branding and communications training facility and when he left in 2011, he had become a facilitator and still remains one today.
After several years of aspiring, in 2013, Kayode got into the Miami Ad School, Hamburg, Germany, one of the most successful, creative and innovative schools in the world.
‘I first found Miami Ad School while we were still running B-10. The fees were about $24,000, I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull it off at the time, but it was on my mind. Miami Ad School was one of the leading art schools in the world, and I thought if I’m going to do this at all, I’m going to do it at the highest level. I’ll visit their website regularly, and while doing this I kept collecting works from across the world. Communications and advertising works from across the world..’
The process of steadfast monitoring of top designers in the world and keeping abreast of international standards in advertising and communications will prove useful for Kayode in settling in Hamburg.
‘My experience in Miami Ad School was great. It was easy for me to settle in. Most of the people that eventually became facilitators and teachers in the school were people that I had followed their work, it wasn’t strange to me. The work experience I had in Nigeria also helped….’
As part of his programme at the Ad school, Kayode interned at some of the leading agencies across Europe including THEY – Amsterdam, Geometry Global – Hamburg, Y&R – Prague, and Jung von Matt – Hamburg, which is arguably Germany’s biggest and most successful advertising agency.
The designer’s exceptional talent has been recognized time and time again. In 2015, he won the Graphis New Talent Award for Advertising in New York. Graphis competitions are the most respected juried awards that present the best Print and Video work from Designers, Art Directors, Photographers, and Art/Illustrators worldwide.
He also won D&AD New Blood Award. D&AD usually receives about 2,500 entries and only 16 pieces of work are selected to receive the D&AD Yellow Pencil.
His other awards also include the Jung von Matt Troy Awards, Australian Young Guns Award, Luerzer’s Archive Student of the Year, Miami Ad School Europe’s Jury Prize, amongst several.
Shedding some light on the journey to winning one of his most significant awards – the Troy awards, he says, ‘Troy Awards was an internal award in the agency I worked for then. Two of my works were selected for the award. I just joined Jung von Matt, this is an agency I have always looked from afar. Jung von Matt is arguably the best and biggest agency in Germany and across Europe. That self doubt came in at some point, I thought to myself you need to prove yourself. Within six months, my work was already making rounds. I won the award. And then I started thinking this is not a fluke. It was validation that I really needed at the time….’
His works have also been featured in various design publications including Luerzer’s Archive, one of the foremost advertising magazines in the world, based in Vienna and Applied Arts Magazine a Canadian magazine that celebrates innovative creativity in visual arts.
In 2017, after about five years outside the country, Kayode returned home to Nigeria. It was time to set out on his own, and OneWildCard, the designer’s creative agency was soon established in Lagos.
Through his numerous projects in the course of his career, Kayode says OneWildCard is still the project he’s most excited about. ‘The thought of it as an idea, the naming, the identity design, the whole process. It’s a WIP.’
With a combination of creativity, hardwork and discipline, Kayode has made his mark and earned his title as one of the most creative designers in Nigeria. His cool exterior belies a mind that’s always curious and always learning.
How does he describe his process?
‘Observation. I observe and connect unrelated dots. I observe my environment for clues, for patterns, for order, for disorder. I use all these when I create.’
Kayode’s creative agency OneWildCard, since inception has worked with UBA, Sterling Bank Plc, Kilimanjaro Restaurant, BHM, Bavent Street Live for TheBurna Boy show and Adekunle Gold ONSWAG, and several other milestone projects.
In describing OneWildCard’s unique philosophy and proposition in marketing communication the creative director says, ‘We choose to look the other way. We draw our inspiration from what people want, what is technologically possible, and what is viable from a business standpoint.’
And what makes OWC standout in the creative industry? ‘The culture. The people, the process, the results, all these are a reflection of our culture.’
Kayode’s career has been boundless, he’s always learning, daring and growing. Asked what keeps him driven? He says, ‘Knowing that there’s always a way better than the present.’
