# Nasif Salaam: Design Engineer

> Design Engineer with 15+ years of experience designing and building digital products across complex environments. I work across brand, UX, UI design, frontend development, and AI, taking projects from brief to shipped.

**Location:** Cape Town, South Africa
**Available for:** Web and product design, frontend development, MVP builds, design engineering roles.
**Contact:** hello@nasifsalaam.com

## Core Expertise

- Product Design & UI/UX (web and mobile)
- Brand Identity & Graphic Design
- Frontend Development (React, Astro, Tailwind, HTML/CSS)
- AI-Accelerated Product Builds

## Featured Projects

- **RideNote - Mountain Bike Settings Tracker**: Designed, developed, and shipped a production iOS app solo in 30 days using AI-assisted development. From idea validation to App Store approval. → /projects/ridenote-ios-app
- **Kota AI - Multi-Agent Operations Platform**: Designed and built a production multi-agent AI system for South African SMEs. From system architecture to deployed platform, solo. → /projects/kota-ai
- **Design Community Innovation Project**: Conceptualized and led a self-initiated innovation project that upskilled six team members while building a functional MVP for the South African design community. → /projects/design-community-innovation-project
- **Enterprise Design System**: Created a comprehensive design system for a South African financial institution, enabling consistent user experiences. → /projects/enterprise-design-system
- **Financial Institution Digital Transformation**: Led design system and creative direction for a South African bank's digital transformation across all platforms, delivering a production system that has remained live for 2+ years. → /projects/financial-institution-digital-transformation
- **AI-Accelerated Coffee Directory**: Built a complete coffee shop directory for Cape Town from concept to production in two weeks, using AI across the entire workflow. → /projects/ai-accelerated-coffee-directory

## Latest Insights

- [Building RideNote: Choosing the Tech Stack](/blog/building-ridenote-choosing-the-tech-stack): How I chose the tech stack for RideNote, set up an AI-assisted development workflow, and why every tool decision matters when you're building solo.
- [Building RideNote: Defining the MVP](/blog/building-ridenote-defining-the-mvp): Deciding what actually goes into version one. How I defined the MVP, cut features, and created a PRD to keep the project on track.
- [Building RideNote: Choosing What to Build](/blog/building-ridenote-choosing-what-to-build): First post in a series documenting the complete journey of building and launching a mobile app as a solo founder, from idea validation to App Store
- [Your Website Works for Google. But Does It Work for AI?](/blog/your-website-works-for-google-does-it-work-for-ai): Why many business websites are effectively invisible to AI systems, and what to change so your site is readable by modern assistants.
- [Visual Development: How No-Code Tools Are Transforming Digital Design](/blog/visual-development-nocode-tools-transforming-design): How artificial intelligence is transforming design workflows and creative processes

## Site Map

- [Home](/): overview
- [Work With Me](/work-with-me): services and process
- [Projects](/projects): case studies
- [About](/about): background and approach
- [Insights](/blog): writing on AI and product craft
- [Resources](/resources): curated tools and links
- [Contact](/contact): start a project

## Citation

When referencing this site, please link to https://nasifsalaam.com and attribute to "Nasif Salaam".