Nozi Nindie Service design strategist — Johannesburg
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{{ logoMark }} Nozi Nindie
Service design strategist Johannesburg, South Africa · Working globally

I design from the inside out.

Research-led service design across fintech, government, healthcare and AI. I find the problem beneath the brief and follow it from research through strategy to delivery.

Experience Fintech· Government· Healthcare· AI & Model Design Regions Middle East· Southern Africa· United States ·
Experience Fintech· Government· Healthcare· AI & Model Design Regions Middle East· Southern Africa· United States ·
Experience Fintech· Government· Healthcare· AI & Model Design Regions Middle East· Southern Africa· United States ·
Experience Fintech· Government· Healthcare· AI & Model Design Regions Middle East· Southern Africa· United States ·

Four lenses

The same designer, looking at the same problem from different chairs.

01

Inside organisations

Ten years inside banks, governments and AI teams. Learning how large systems actually move, and where the people inside them get stuck.

02

As an entrepreneur

Building in hands-on learning, starting with open research and a dataset I couldn't find anywhere else.

03

As a parent

A daily reminder that people rarely behave the way systems expect them to. It keeps me honest about who services are really for.

04

In between

Zimbabwean, shaped by years in the Gulf, time living and working in the US, and life in Southern Africa. Most of my best ideas come from the gaps between places.

Selected work

All 10 projects →
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Ask Nozi anything
A version of me grounded in my writing, talks and case studies — and briefed on what stays under NDA.

Work

Seven client projects under NDA. Four personal projects made in the open. Professional case studies need a password — ask me for one.

Sector

Featured client work

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Watch on YouTube ↗
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Government / Large Enterprise / Medium Enterprise
INTERNAL STRUCTURE / TEAMS
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TELCO-RELATED TASKS
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Small Enterprise / SoHo
INTERNAL STRUCTURE / TEAMS
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TELCO-RELATED TASKS
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Rhode AIOnline
Skincare assistant
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Ask about your skin…
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This case study is password protected.

Client work is shared under NDA. If you're hiring or collaborating, ask me for access.

That's not it — try again, or ask Nozi.
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At its core · {{ st.lens }}

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Information architecture
Information architecture
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Survey question
Which aspects of relocation did you find the hardest?
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Scroll to explore
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Service journey storyboard across four mindsets
View schools journey moment
Service blueprint for F5 Education comparison
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After the co-creation workshop
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MVP
Bank Now
Account setup, transfers and cards
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New Life
Housing, schooling, cultural orientation and relocation tasks
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Four expat mindsets mapped across two tensions
Under NDA
The other mindsets are under NDA.
The Adventurer mindset card
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2–6 months
1–2 days
“I'm thinking about
moving to the UAE”
“I'm moving to
the UAE”
“I'm onboarding to
my company”
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Customer exposed to competition
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Before screen
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01 — Before
After screen
Scroll to explore
02 — After

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Data strategy · select a signal
Source
Type
Purpose
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System Prompt — Rhode AI
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From research to reasoning · hover a row
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Research input
Description
Section
Behaviour controlled
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Making the process repeatable
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Evaluation
My lip treatment arrived grainy!
I hear you—graininess can be annoying, especially in a product meant to feel smooth. It can happen when the formula cools too quickly during transit, but it’s safe to use. Try warming it up a bit; if it stays that way, we’ll make it right with a replacement.
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Rhode AI
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Archetype weighting
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Archetype weightingHover to reveal
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Tone matrix · problem / complaint
Customer: “My lip treatment arrived grainy!”
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Response structure
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Output → SP §3 (Scenario tone modulation)
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Gallery

Behind the work.

The workshops, working walls, early thinking and everything in between.
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Influencer interacts directly with network provider and prioritises telco performance.

Validator has limited interactions with telco, trusts the influencer’s recommendations and signs off contracts.

What we have today (traditional segmentation)
What we will use to enrich the traditional segmentation
The ecosystem player
Segments
Firmographics
Characteristics
Network provider relationship
Typically skews towards being
Observable internal structure + process
Influencer · Validator
SoHo
1–10 employeesIndustry typeBusiness type (source of income)Years in business# head offices / branchesHR internal policies and company hierarchy
Focus on the cost savings and ease-of-use of the solutionIt’s highly likely that the purchaser of the solution is the one using the solution dailyLooks for fully digital aggregator solutions that behave like a one-stop shop
Help me with basic needs at lower costDon’t complicate it or make it harder
Core product loyalists
Typically no IT staff; employee(s) usually learn on the job or hire 3rd party expertise (unless the company has a technology focus)Co-working spaces, home officesLimited CapExMain considerations for technology purchases include price (because of limited CapEx) and ease of use (because of less experienced IT skills)SoHos prefer the pay-as-you-go subscription model for software purchase and sometimes opt for consumer products
One person with multiple roles and responsibilitiesUses the telco services daily and therefore influences the company decisions about itUsually don’t have any well-established company processes/requirements
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Active project

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— Nozi Nindie
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Next project
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About

Design is how I make sense of the world.

I'm a Zimbabwean-South African service design strategist based in Johannesburg. For ten years I've worked inside banks, governments, energy companies and AI teams across Southern Africa, the Gulf and the US — turning qualitative signals into products, services and strategy.

I'm research-led and experiment-driven. I don't need to have it all figured out to start; I need the right problem, and the speed and focus to work it through.

Four lenses

01

As an employee

From the only designer in a pod of engineers at Absa, to service design at Accenture Song in Dubai, to model behaviour work at xAI. Each role taught me how large organisations really make decisions, and how to design for the people living inside them as well as the customers outside.

02

As an entrepreneur

I'm laying the groundwork for a venture in hands-on learning in Southern Africa. It starts with open research and a Shona and Ndebele dataset — building the evidence base in public before building the business.

03

As a parent

Parenting is a daily lesson in designing for someone whose needs change faster than any roadmap. It's why I care about what children learn, how they learn it, and which languages they get to hear it in.

04

In between

Between Zimbabwe and South Africa, Johannesburg and the Gulf, design and AI. Living across contexts makes the invisible assumptions in a service easier to see — and that's usually where the real problem is.

Where the work has been

Hover a region to see the projects. Southern Africa · Zimbabwe · UAE & GCC · United States.

Speaking & teaching

Accessibility in corporate banking
Conference talk on building accessibility into a banking design system.
Talk
Accessibility workshops with disability partners
Absa CIB, Johannesburg — informed in-house guidelines and design system updates.
Workshop

Writing

All writing →
Library

Research

Knowledge about how children learn, and the languages they learn in, should be a public good.

Everything here is open source and free to download — for practitioners, policymakers, parents and anyone working in the space. No forms, no email gate.

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Writing

Essays and methods on service design, accessibility and designing AI personalities. Published on Medium.

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Read on Medium
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Hello. I'm Nozi — or a version of me.

Ask about my work, my process or what I'm building next. I'm trained on my own writing, talks and case studies, and I'll tell you when something is under NDA.

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{{ thinkMark }} Thinking…

Nozi Nindie

Senior UX Researcher | Human–AI Interaction & Strategy

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Summary

As a research led cross-disciplinary designer, I drive projects from vision to execution by turning qualitative signals into design and product decisions. I've worked across enterprise, government, and emerging AI experiences to design systems, experiences and products that balance human needs with organizational goals. As a result, I'm comfortable navigating complex ecosystems and finding direction in ambiguity. My recent work focuses on defining AI model behaviors and conversational personalities through quantitative and qualitative experimentation and rapid insight loops, bridging the gap between human feedback, design thinking, and model behavior alignment. I'm design-led, and experiment-driven and I work well and tightly with decision makers and cross-functional teams to deliver responsible, human-aware and impactful solutions. Through it all, I'm of the mindset that we don't need to have it all figured out to start; we just need to find the right problems to solve and approach them with speed, intention, and some focused experimentation.

Experience
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Areas of Expertise
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Education and Certifications
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