Ahmed Cofe — Product Designer & Project Manager at HUMAIN · Riyadh

I design products.Then I ship them.

For seven years I’ve turned ideas into brands, banking apps and AI products, and at HUMAIN I also manage the projects behind them. Now I go one step further: I design, code and ship my own iPhone apps. MoodSpark and StoneUp are both live on the App Store.

Hi, I’m Ahmed Ahmed Gamal El Kahwagy Seven years ago I was an electronics-engineering student in Alexandria who couldn’t stop designing. Since then I’ve built 50+ brands, worked on a Saudi bank’s apps, and designed and managed AI products at HUMAIN. Along the way I picked up one stubborn rule: if it isn’t in people’s hands, it isn’t done.

(02) Brand & type, 2019 — 2022

Before products,there were letters.

50+ brands, Arabic titles for Shahid VIP and my first UX case studies. The craft I still use every day.

(03) By the numbers

Small numbers, honestly earned

  • 7+years designing, since 2019
  • 50+brands built as a freelancer
  • 49days from first commit to the App Store
  • 10languages in MoodSpark, Arabic included
  • 0servers: the AI in my apps runs on the iPhone
  • 9Kpeople follow my work on LinkedIn

(04) Release notes

The story so far

Every career has versions. Here are mine, from engineering student to designer who ships.

  1. v0.12017 — Alexandria

    An engineer who kept designing

    A B.E. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering at Alexandria University. Outside the lab I ran design for student teams: the Microsoft Student Partners Tech Club, Wamda, and the design department of Enactus Alexandria University.

  2. v1.02019 — Freelance

    Fifty brands, one letterform at a time

    I went independent as a brand and Arabic-type designer and helped 50+ businesses find their identity, for clients in Egypt, the Gulf and Canada. That included work for MBC and Shahid, like the title logo of the Shahid VIP drama “Sit Al-Hosn”.

  3. v2.02022 — Pimula, ITI

    From brands to products

    Senior Graphic Designer at Pimula, a digital agency: 15+ identities, 30+ pitch decks, and two junior designers to mentor. Then an intensive UI/UX track at ITI, where I moved from designing brands to designing products.

  4. v3.02024 — Riyadh

    Banking, in two languages

    Senior UX/UI Designer at The Saudi Investment Bank. I worked on the redesign of the SAIB mobile banking app and on the Arabic experience of the SAIB Travel app. The bank later honoured me for my contribution to SAIB Innovate.

  5. v4.02025 — HUMAIN

    Designing AI products at national scale

    I joined HUMAIN, Saudi Arabia’s full-stack AI company, on the team behind HUMAIN Create, an AI-native marketing operating system unveiled at LEAP 2026. Beyond design, I run projects: PRDs, roadmaps, and client briefs turned into working demos. In 2026 HUMAIN’s CEO, Tareq Amin, recognised my work.

  6. v4.12026 — Independent

    Shipping my own apps

    I started designing and coding my own iPhone apps in SwiftUI. MoodSpark went from first commit to the App Store in 49 days, and StoneUp followed, built for iPhone and iPhone Duo.

(05) How I work

Five rules, each with a receipt

  1. 01

    Benchmark before pixels

    I start with the best of what already exists, then decide what should be different.

    87 reference screens studied before MoodSpark’s redesign.

  2. 02

    Design for the real moment

    Not the happy path in Figma. The person with sweaty hands, a phone on a bench, ten seconds between sets.

    StoneUp: one-tap logging, 44-pt targets, a hands-free voice coach.

  3. 03

    Arabic is a first language

    Right-to-left is a layout, a voice and a culture, not a translation pass at the end.

    Full RTL in MoodSpark, down to Arabic App Store keywords.

  4. 04

    Private by default

    The most trustworthy AI is the one that never leaves your phone.

    On-device Apple Foundation Models. No account, no server.

  5. 05

    Ship, measure, fix the weakest

    A launch is not the finish line. It is the first honest feedback you get.

    A weekly loop: four numbers, then one fix.

(06) What I bring

Design. Lead. Build. Ship. One person, no handoff gaps.

◐Design

  • Product & UX design
  • Design systems
  • Interaction & motion
  • Research & benchmarking
  • Arabic typography & RTL
  • Brand identity, packaging & print

◒Lead

  • Project & product management
  • PRDs, specs & roadmaps
  • Client briefs to working demos
  • Release & launch planning
  • Directing AI agents & rapid prototyping
  • Cross-functional delivery

◑Build

  • SwiftUI, SwiftData, Swift 6
  • Widgets, Live Activities, App Intents
  • On-device AI (Foundation Models)
  • HealthKit, Speech, RealityKit
  • HTML, CSS, React
  • AI-assisted engineering

●Ship

  • App Store Connect & review
  • App Store optimisation in 10 languages
  • Featuring nominations & In-App Events
  • Launch kits & social campaigns
  • Metrics loops & iteration
  • Figma
  • Xcode
  • SwiftUI
  • Illustrator
  • Photoshop
  • After Effects
  • Premiere
  • Claude Code
  • Replit
  • Notion
  • Miro

(07) Recognition

Recognised by HUMAIN’s CEO,Tareq Amin.

Ahmed Cofe receiving a Certificate of Recognition from HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin

Certificate of RecognitionFor outstanding dedication, exemplary performance and meaningful contributions to HUMAIN, 2026.

“Work as entrepreneurs, as if it’s your product or your startup, and you’ll find the support.”

— Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN
  • No hierarchy
  • No blockers
  • Just support

It’s exactly how I like to work: I treat every product like my own startup, from the first idea to launch.

(08) Kind words

What people say after working with me

“He brings a rare combination of creativity, precision, and strong design judgment, and his work consistently raises the quality of every product he touches.”

Ibraheem AlsaabSAIB Innovate Bootcamp & Demo Day

“Ahmed has an amazing eye for design. I love how you can start with a simple idea and turn it into something truly unique from scratch.”

Talgat KussainovRecommendation on LinkedIn

“A talented logo designer with unique taste.”

Nader NessimClient, Kuwait

“Great talent with a bright future, committed to professional delivery.”

Anas ErabiClient, UAE

“We found him creative and committed to the timelines.”

Bassem El KashlanClient, Canada

Contact

Let’s make somethingpeople actually use.

Open to senior product design roles and to collaborations on AI products and apps, in Riyadh or remote.