Cy van der Spuy | Senior Product Designer

Hey I'm Cy,

a Senior Product Designer that cares more about impact than pixels.

I’m based in sunny Cape Town,
South Africa.

I use
human-centred design to untangle complex problems.

Systems thinker

Adaptive problem-solver

Cross-functional collaborator

Designing for joy

7 years in product design

Experience in:

Telcos, B2B, B2C, and SaaS

Using ML and AI to streamline and innovate

I currently work at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. I help build platforms that give young South Africans a fair chance at employment. It’s not just design work—it’s creating systems that change lives.

Case study 1

★ Shipped

Tackling unemployment with better data

Problem

South Africa’s youth unemployment is at crisis levels; 37% of 18-34 year olds can’t find work. SA Youth Partner Network lets employers advertise jobs on sayouth.mobi and shortlist applicants for free.

But there was a gap: Employers weren’t reporting hires back to the organisation, making it hard to prove impact to funders.

2000+ employers

use SA Youth Partner Network to advertise jobs to entry-level talent.

5 million+
work-seekers

see jobs on sayouth.mobi—where you don’t need cellphone data to apply for jobs or get work-readiness skills.

Design value

In working with leadership and business, I optimised how employers provided hiring feedback in order to prove the platform’s value to funders and secure future support.

600% increase in employers providing hiring feedback in the first month after launch.

Before

The critical feature was buried under table rows and tab filters. Internal jargon like “placement outcome” described the function to external users. Providing feedback was confusing and laborious.

Role

Lead end-to-end design: workshops, Figma flows, design to developer handovers, and to support QA.

Key learning

Prototypes helped people across different teams understand the vision.

Helping product leaders & developers see the vision before launch made our goals tangible.

After

A focused space to report who was hired for a job with three ways to provide feedback allowing single and bulk entries.

Systems thinker

How I problem-solve and lead the end to end design process

Take a look →

Design is powerful. It helps us spot and solve for complex problems giving us more time to be human ⎯ Having fun, growing, and spending time with loved ones.

If I'm not designing I'm out in the ocean, my local art gallery, or walking my cat Ramona around my street.

Thanks for spending time here, let's keep in touch.

Hey I'm Cy,

a Senior Product Designer that cares more about impact than pixels.

I’m based in sunny Cape Town,
South Africa.

I use
human-centred design to untangle complex problems.

7 years in product design

Experience in:

Telcos, B2B, B2C, and SaaS

Using ML and AI to streamline and innovate

I currently work at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. I help build platforms that give young South Africans a fair chance at employment. It’s not just design work—it’s creating systems that change lives.

Highlights from 2024 to present

Tackling youth unemployment through better data

Building a design system for scale & web accessibility

Spotlighting what resumes don’t show

Tackling unemployment with better data

Problem

2000+ employers

use SA Youth Partner Network to advertise jobs to entry-level talent.

5 million+
work-seekers

see jobs on sayouth.mobi—where you don’t need cellphone data to apply for jobs or get work-readiness skills.

Design value

In working with leadership and business, I optimised how employers provided hiring feedback in order to prove the platform’s value to funders and secure future support.

600% increase in employers providing hiring feedback in the first month after launch.

Before

The critical feature was buried under table rows and tab filters. Internal jargon like “placement outcome” described the function to external users. Providing feedback was confusing and laborious.

Role

Lead end-to-end design: workshops, Figma flows, design to developer handovers, and to support QA.

Key learning

Prototypes helped people across different teams understand the vision.

Helping product leaders & developers see the vision before launch made our goals tangible.

After

A focused space to report who was hired for a job with three ways to provide feedback allowing single and bulk entries.

How I problem-solve and lead the end to end design process

Tackling youth unemployment with better data

Building a design system for scale & web accessibility

Spotlighting what resumes don’t show

Hey I'm Cy,

a Senior Product Designer that cares more about impact than pixels.

I’m based in sunny Cape Town, South Africa.

I use human-centred design to untangle complex problems.

7 years in product design

Experience in:

Telcos, B2B, B2C, and SaaS

Using ML and AI to streamline and innovate

I currently work at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. I help build platforms that give young South Africans a fair chance at employment. It’s not just design work—it’s creating systems that change lives.

Highlights from 2024 to present

Tackling youth unemployment through better data

Building a design system for scale & web accessibility

Spotlighting what resumes don’t show

Tackling unemployment with better data

Problem

2000+ employers

use SA Youth Partner Network to advertise jobs to entry-level talent.

5 million+ work-seekers

see jobs on sayouth.mobi—where you don’t need cellphone data to apply for jobs or get work-readiness skills.

Design value

In working with leadership and business, I optimised how employers provided hiring feedback in order to prove the platform’s value to funders and secure future support.

600% increase in employers providing hiring feedback in the first month after launch.

Before

The critical feature was buried under table rows and tab filters. Internal jargon like “placement outcome” described the function to external users. Providing feedback was confusing and laborious.

Role

Lead end-to-end design: workshops, Figma flows, design to developer handovers, and to support QA.

Key learning

Prototypes helped people across different teams understand the vision.

Helping product leaders & developers see the vision before launch made our goals tangible.

After

A focused space to report who was hired for a job with three ways to provide feedback allowing single and bulk entries.

How I problem-solve and lead the end to end design process

Tackling youth unemployment with better data

Building a design system for scale & web accessibility

Spotlighting what resumes don’t show

I’m based in sunny Cape Town,
South Africa.

I use
human-centred design to untangle complex problems.

5 million+
work-seekers