Joint interview with artist Kitololo and Opera Product Lead for Hype Hamel
Kindly tell us more about yourself as an artist and what inspires you?
Lulu Kitololo: I have been drawing since I can remember. I was constantly creating things as a child. I took art as a subject in high school and then went to an art school for my undergraduate studies. I did very well in all subjects in school and many people expected me to pursue the sciences (I especially loved mathematics) but I chose the arts.
My love for problem-solving is at the root of enjoying the arts and what inspires me in my career is that I get to use creativity as my tool for coming up with solutions for all kinds of communications challenges.
What is Hype and the inspiration behind its development?
Charles Hamel: Hype is a new chat service which is integrated into the Opera Mini browser to help people share more easily and chat with their friends in a seamless way. It includes elements of African culture, but at the same time becomes the personal chat service of the next generation of smartphone users in Kenya.
When Opera started working on Hype in 2020, we aimed to provide users with a smooth experience of browsing and sharing content with their friends from one app with a small download app.
Hype has therefore been designed to be a fun chat app where people can create their own stickers, capture and personalise their WebSnaps, and communicate more accurately using everyday life expressions which they can find on the Kenya sticker packs designed by Kenyan artists.
Tell us more about the unique stickers that you developed for Hype messaging app?
Lulu Kitololo: I was asked to design the pan-African set of stickers. It was fun to explore the similarities and differences across the continent, and how much is borrowed and shared. Most of the inspiration came from conversations with my team. We’re a relatively young team so we’re the demographic. Hype has been designed for. We enjoyed reflecting on our experiences of African youth culture.
What was the process of working with Opera and collaborating with another Kenyan artist on this project?
Lulu Kitololo: I was really excited about Hype because it’s a messaging platform designed for young Africans. It was refreshing to see Opera recognise this unique, vibrant, creative and dynamic demographic of young Africans and see that they deserve an investment in something custom-made. 
The whole creative experience was such a pleasure. I loved the brief, especially as African culture – in all its diversity – is one of my biggest inspirations. I also really enjoyed working with the Opera team with support from its creative and production partner FORT based in Johannesburg. It was such a smooth and seamless process.
How do you think Kenyans using Hype will react to the localized sticker packs in Hype?
Lulu Kitololo: My hope is that the stickers will make them smile and feel well represented. That they will be happy to express themselves using them.
How is the design and user experience of Hype and could you explain Hype’s development in terms of security features?
Charles Hamel: Hype leverages our existing scalable Opera Mini infrastructure. Privacy is important, even more so for browsers and messengers. We have made sure chats are private and secure using end-to-end encryption by default. We are also currently working on expanding encryption capabilities of Hype
How can one access Hype?
Charles Hamel: Hype can be accessed from the Opera Mini browser. If users are already using Opera Mini in Kenya, they will notice the Hype logo located in the bottom bar of the browser. Users who want to use Hype can download the Opera Mini browser for free from the Google Play Store to start using Hype.
What unique features does Hype have that beats any of the other competitors in the market?
Charles Hamel: Hype is all about having fun. To make that possible, we introduced WebSnap, a unique feature that allows users to capture snaps from the web and edit them with a set of tools and emojis original from Opera. Web-Snap also allows users to link their web-snaps to the original source where they capture them. This comes in handy as users no longer need to copy links and switch between apps to share the content that they want with others. Users can also create their own Stickers right from the browser and share them directly with others.
We would like Hype to complement such services, offering people the ability to benefit from a smoother browsing and chatting experience, something such apps do not provide.
How would you rate online competition in terms of the development of messaging apps?
Charles Hamel: For sure messengers are a hot category. We see an increase in the number of chat apps launching can't help but notice the growth in their respective communities. Our view is that There is space for several plays to coexist and thrive within their own segment/niche. We are confident Hype will find its place inside and outside the Opera Mini user base, giving users an integrated and fun way to communicate, with their friends and web acquaintances that share similar interests.
Why is Hype being termed as a dedicated chat service?
Charles Hamel: Because Hype allows users to send messages to other peers allowing for one on one or group text conversations.
Hype has been first piloted in Kenya. What is the next market where it will be launched in Africa?
Charles Hamel: We have plans to expand later this year. What we can tell you right now is that we are looking into expansion across other countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. We suggest you keep an eye on our news and updates to get more information about it.
