Kiasu Design Life: Recent Episodes
Hsuan, Adilah Anuar
For kiasu designers by kiasu designers. A podcast on all things UX & Product Design with a touch of local flavour. Hosted by Hsuan & Adilah from sunny Singapore!
What’s it really like designing digital tools you can’t talk about in Singapore’s defence tech space? Sharon and Dionne take us inside their work at CSIT, the leading cybersecurity agency in MINDEF, where they build mission-critical systems that government users rely on every day. This episode dives into the creative, complex, and surprisingly human side of designing for national security.
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Our guest for today are 🙋🏻♀️ Dionne (LinkedIn) and 🙋🏻♀️ Sharon (LinkedIn) from CSIT (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook)
CSIT's post on Odyssey (LinkedIn) - first-ever defence tech design meet-up
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello, hello!
(01:36) Introducing Dionne and Sharon!
(08:43) Embracing unexpected career paths
(11:06) So... what do they actually design?
(16:29) Deep dive into a brag-worthy project
(23:28) Tooling and tech with high security
(30:19) Who's cut out for CSIT + Interview tips
(33:05) Your mala dala IG questions — answered!
(40:09) Closing thoughts & shoutouts!
♥️ We're self-funding this podcast, so if you’re enjoying the episodes and want to support us, we'd be so grateful for any donations. Every little bit helps—thank you so much!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Ever wondered what it’s really like to make the leap from a UX bootcamp to a product design career in Singapore? Well, we’re about to find out!
Join us for a candid, no-holds-barred chat featuring both Alicia, a recent bootcamp grad and currently a Product Designer at Open Gov Products, plus our very own Adilah! Through an unfiltered conversation, Alicia and Adilah share their honest experiences, challenges, and lessons they've learned along the way.
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🙋🏻♀️ Our guest for today is Alicia Chong! (Linkedin)
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Happy 2025... again!
(01:50) Why This Episode?
(05:30) Meet Alicia!
(09:33) Alicia’s Big Career Switch
(13:38) Choosing the Bootcamp Life
(18:17) Bootcamp Breakdown: How It Works
(21:36) More Theory, Less Practice?
(26:54) Bootcamp Struggles
(31:24) Aha Moment: Biggest Bootcamp Lesson
(33:25) The End of Bootcamp & Job Hunt Struggles
(45:55) Culture Shock as a Bootcamp Grad
(52:02) Advice for Future UX Bootcampers
(56:05) Our New Year's EVOLUTION!
♥️ We're self-funding this podcast, so if you’re enjoying the episodes and want to support us, we'd be so grateful for any donations. Every little bit helps—thank you so much!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
📹 🔴 This is a recording of a talk we did for the pilot meetup of "The Good Circle" back in November 2024 where we shared how simply being open thrusts ourselves towards starting something we both believe in. Hailing from different backgrounds and upbringings, hear how we embrace and turn our identities into self-empowerment.
The Good Circle hopes to drive greater visibility for women, with the intention to close the gap, particularly in leadership. ♥️
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Happy 2025!
(02:01) When was the last time you thought of starting something?
(04:27) #1: Recognising a need
(07:48) #2: Opening up
(10:58) #3: Coming together
(19:17) #4: Owning our identity
♥️ We're self-funding this podcast, so if you’re enjoying the episodes and want to support us, we'd be so grateful for any donations. Every little bit helps—thank you so much!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
One undeniable and hard truth we all know about UX is that "the design process never linear".
But what other truths exist in this realm? Today, with insights from the internet and our listeners, we're diving into that very question!
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello!
(03:25) Topic intro
(06:02) "No respect for UX"
(10:00) "Advocating for UX"
(15:00) "Not investing in UX"
(17:46) "Design leader = QOL"
(20:00) "Overruled with gut feeling"
(28:02) "Low hanging fruits"
(30:30) "Teamwork takes time"
(32:52) "UX is not creative"
(37:52) Closing thoughts
♥️ We're self-funding this podcast, so if you’re enjoying the episodes and want to support us, we'd be so grateful for any donations. Every little bit helps—thank you so much!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Heard of design thinking for kids? That's right - kids as young as 10 years old are learning coding, researching, brainstorming and even pitching in primary schools!
Get ready to meet Team GummyCare, the young innovators on a mission to advocate for healthy eating! 🥕🥦 How did they come up with their awesome idea and will they take over our jobs? 😱
Let’s get inspired by the next generation of big thinkers!
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Our guests are Mrs. Tan Qili (Teacher), and Team GummyCare consists of Amelia, Karyn, Luke, Ying Xuan and Rui Jie from Ai Tong Primary School.
This episode is in support of the People of Design Campaign by DesignSingapore Council.
Image courtesy of the DesignSingapore Council.
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Welcome Team GummyCare!
(06:25) How Ai Tong Pri. Sch. brings design thinking to kids
(13:00) How did Team GummyCare came out with their great idea?
(16:54) Ingenious ways to quickly validate their ideas
(18:54) Final showcase, prototype & meeting the minister!
(29:05) How Ai Tong Pri. Sch. students are encouraged to "design-think"
(33:50) Students' learnings, memorable stories, and teacher's takeaway
(36:40) Students very realistic dream when they grow up
♥️ We're funding this podcast ourselves, so if you enjoy our episodes and want to support us, we’d really appreciate any donations here. Any amount is greatly appreciated!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Imagine this: lion dance meets active ageing!
Singapore is one of the fastest ageing nations in the world, and staying active is key. But what if we take that a step further? That's what Hao Jie and Edmund from NextOfKin Creatives did by combining the vibrant rhythms of lion dance with the concept of active ageing. Listen in and get ready to redefine what staying fit and fabulous means in your golden years!
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Our guests are Hao Jie and Edmund. This episode is in support of the People of Design Campaign by Design Singapore Council.
Check out NextofKin Creatives, and their latest initiative Public Design School.
Do you know there's a cafe in Singapore run by senior citizens called SASCO@Khatib?
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello!
(03:54) About Silver Pride Lion Troupe
(06:46) How did this project start?
(10:06) Immersing and brainstorming at a senior-ran cafe
(14:45) Edmund & Hao Jie's role: Micro vs Macro
(20:51) What's their design process and challenges?
(34:05) A day in a life of a senior in Silver Pride Lion Troupe
(40:10) Advice to designing for senior-care
(43:40) Memorable moments
(48:36) Learnings from designing this programme
(51:26) What's next for the Silver Pride Lion Troupe programme?
(55:12) What's next for NextOfKin Creatives?
♥️ We're funding this podcast ourselves, so if you enjoy our episodes and want to support us, we’d really appreciate any donations here. Any amount is greatly appreciated!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Remember back in 2021 when we used to ask each other, “Have you been vaccinated?” Fast forward to 2024, and now the greeting is, “Have you found a job yet?”
This year might feel like a rollercoaster of hope and rejection for many of us.In Part 2 of Kopi Chat, we dive into the real talk about job hunting after a layoff and tackle some tough topics like salary cuts!
Grab your coffee and join us for a candid conversation about the highs and lows of the job search journey. ☕✨
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello!
(02:55) Shitty job market + more layoffs...
(03:20) Observation of Singapore's design job market
(08:15) Desperation energy
(10:20) More contracts vs perm roles?
(11:34) Getting rejected :")
(17:15) Framework for your "dream job"
(18:10) Lower salary and taking a cut
(25:40) Embracing "failures" than "wins"
(28:50) How to accurately suss out a company culture?
(31:50) Mind-shift as a renewed employee after a layoff
♥️ We're funding this podcast ourselves, so if you enjoy our episodes and want to support us, we’d really appreciate any donations here. Any amount is greatly appreciated!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Oh parenthood! It’s a whole new world that no manual can truly capture the essence and make you feel prepared. You will only experience the reality of it when you are in it. 😅
Heyo - we're back from a short break with a kopi chat. Come sit down with us in your singlets and FBTs, and your favourite kopi/teh. This episode is part 1 of 2 of our casual design life update focusing on being a parent AND a designer! (stress)
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello!
(04:40) Becoming a parent..once again
(06:50) Thoughts around employment and pregnant
(09:36) Experiencing life in seasons
(11:40) When should I take a break in the midst of trying?
(13:30) Being more than your job as a Designer
(18:02) Reality of being a working designer parent
(21:19) Managing design work and parent work
(23:40) Anti-parents co-workers? :(
(24:32) Stop over-explaining to colleagues
(27:33) Being tactful in sharing your design process
(28:37) Green & red flags of a family-friendly workplace
(32:00) Competitive advantage of a "designer x parent"
♥️ We're funding this podcast ourselves, so if you enjoy our episodes and want to support us, we’d really appreciate any donations here. Any amount is greatly appreciated!
♥️ Reach out to us on Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
🎥 The video version is available on YouTube! 🎥
Now that we've wrapped up "My Robot Gets Me" in our book club, let's hear it straight from the author herself! Other than her journey into writing the book, we dived into her life as a educator of 4D Design at Cranbrook and how it's so closely parallel to our work as UX Designers!
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Our guest: Carla Diana
- Personal Website
- My Robot Gets Me book
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Meet Carla and how she got into "Robotics"
(06:05) How did Carla came out with the framework
(09:42) Carla and her experiences with digital products
(14:26) Are robotic products better now?
(18:50) How Covid affected her experience writing the book
(23:22) Her provocative Ted Talk and Twitter reactions
(26:31) Peek into her 4D Design program at Cranbrook
(32:47) The magic of design-dev collaboration in schools
(38:28) Carla's son interactions with social products
(42:28) Carla's message to those who haven't read her book!
(43:20) What's next for Carla!
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
🎥 The video version is available on YouTube! 🎥
Here's another chat with a local designer and content creator - Fiona Lim! With 18.5k followers and 6 years of experience under her belt, she's here to share what it takes to build and grow your personal branding.
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Our guest: Fiona Lim
- Find her on Instagram
- Read her articles on Medium
Once again, thank you Alistair and Brief for sponsoring the space! ♥️♥️
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Meet Fiona and how she got into UX design
(06:05) Our first time doing video podcasting!
(08:05) Fiona's career
(10:17) Fiona x Adilah: Meeting fellow UX content creator
(14:08) Becoming a UX content creator
(19:55) How being a content creator impacts her day job?
(28:28) Interactions with other UX content creators
(32:47) Journey as a content creator (+ downsides!)
(42:10) Fiona's plan to grow her audience
(40:05) Additional income streams!
(55:05) Advice for aspiring UX content creators
(59:27) Closing thoughts
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
YEEEHAWWWW! We've reached the final stretch of this book! We wrap this journey up by talking about ecosystems - how products work together to enhance your life, the difference between AI and AGI, and our responsibility as designers for social products"
📣 Also, look forward to our exclusive interview with Carla Diana, the author herself!
Timestamp:
(00:00) Time flies!
(01:05) Ch7: Ecosystems!
(04:23) Benefit of a robot in an ecosystem
(07:13) How ecosystem relate to UX?
(12:26) Ch8: AI & Social Savviness
(17:12) What is AGI and is it possible?
(18:30) Wise approach to designing socially intelligent product
(20:34) Ch9: Takeaways and now what?
(23:32) Is there a SG version of Moxi?!
(24:49) Hsuan's horror story of Neato and Dusty
(28:23) Potential & danger for designers
(30:30) WE DID IT & our genuine thoughts!!
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Chilli padi is back! We scoured the internet to find 6 UX portfolios worth mentioning and explained why we like it!
Portfolios we mentioned:
- IC Portfolios
- Ang Yi Xin 🇸🇬 [Link]
- Yuan Jie 🇸🇬 [Link]
- Billy Tseng [Link]
- Strategy/Manager
- Joel Califa [Link]
- Tarryn Lambert [Link]
- Jonny Czar [Link]
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Have you ever find yourself saying "Why is this person so weird?", or "Gosh this product is dumb". This 2 chapters help us to peel the layers and explain in a structured manner. And in turn, teach us how to engineer a socially smart product!
🗓️ Final chapters 7-9 discussion will release on 3 Apr 2024
📣 Also, look forward to our exclusive interview with Carla Diana, the author herself!
Timestamp:
(00:00) Welcome!
(02:29) Ch5: Interactions
(06:50) Interactions in UX
(07:35) Sensing & inferring = interaction
(10:40) Sensors & actuators making interactions possible
(11:36) psst~ A mini announcement ;)
(12:35) How products sense, hear & see us
(21:19) Ch6: How robots are contextually aware
(24:34) Robots in SG restaurants
(26:20) When, where, for whom is key to context
(34:28) Enactment & storyboarding to gain context
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
A design recruiter has joined the chat! Join us with Sangeetha as she shared insights of design job market, hiring and staying competitive in Singapore.
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Our guest: Sangeetha Selvaraja
- Reach out to her on LinkedIn
- Dynamics of Singapore's Product Design Job Market
Thank you Alistair and Brief for sponsoring the space! ♥️
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Intro
(09:02) Sangeetha's day as a recruiter
(14:50) Stereotypes of a recruiter
(17:41) Design job market in SG
(26:29) How recruiters classify designers
(30:24) Career paths for UX in SG
(36:40) Hiring process for UX in SG
(42:20) How effective is the current process?
(47:32) Salary & hiring
(51:16) Red/green flags for candidates & interviewers
(54:29) Recruitment for large & small companies
(56:34) View on pregnant candidates
(58:08) How career history affects hiring
(01:01:41) Staying competitive as designers and AI
(01:04:19) Sangeetha's 3 takeaways
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
We're covering how products have "Presence" and "Expression". We had such fun recording this episode as we draw examples from our daily lives to illustrate the design concepts.
📚 My Robot Gets Me:
- Official Website
- Get it for free from NLB (Physical/ audiobook/ eBook)
🗓️ Chapters 5-6 discussion will release on 11 Mar 2024!
Timestamp:
(00:00) Welcome & name reveal!
(02:24) Ch3: Product presence & embodiment
(05:49) Product semantics
(12:17) Product's social roles
(15:11) Ch4: Product expression
(18:37) Lighting as expression
(20:24) Moving on to movement (keke)
(23:18) Sound as expression
(29:48) Ch3-4 thoughts
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Riding on (🤓) the SimplyGo drama, we put on our commuter & designer hat and review the SimplyGo app!
Is this the standard of our local apps? 🫠🫠🫠
Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello!
(01:29) SimplyGo drama recap
(05:01) Our take on this topic
(10:42) SimplyGo's main workflows
(16:02) Sign up & onboarding review
(23:47) Dashboard review
(27:37) Adding card review
(30:40) Travel txn review (Hsuan's pissed)
(35:32) Top-up review (pun galore!)
(36:45) Our conclusion
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
In this light-hearted episode, we're discussing chapters 1 & 2 of My Robot Gets Me!
We introduced 'social interactions', how that relates to product design, and how automatic doors gotta do with all these?! We also got a lil nerdy about 'affordances' & 'interactions' with the help of a framework 🤓
📚 My Robot Gets Me:
- Official Website
- Get it for free from NLB (Physical/ audiobook/ eBook)
🗓️ Chapters 3-4 discussion will release on 21 Feb 2024!
Timestamp:
(00:00) Welcome!
(01:52) Ch1: Social interactions w/ products
(05:25) Good and bad social exp.
(11:53) Social design framework
(13:14) Ch2: Affordances & Interactions
(15:06) Intuitive & intimacy
(18:01) Social affordances
(21:13) Interactants
(23:19) Our thoughts
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
This is a follow-up to our previous episode "22: Going through a layoff". We've already shared a personal story of how one of us got laid off, but today we're covering what you can do knowing you're leaving a company, some lessons learnt after a layoff andddd, how to layoff-proof yourself!
MUSIC
Survivor - Destiny's Child
Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello!
(00:40) Your reactions from ep.22
(03:04) 4 reasons behind a layoff
(07:07) What to do if you are leaving
(15:27) Lessons from a layoff
(31:13) How to lay-off proof yourself
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Help us decide our club name by polling in Spotify and Instagram!
Our first book: My Robot Gets Me - Carla Diana
- Official Website
- Check availability in NLB (Physical book/ audiobook/ eBook)
🗓️ Chapters 1-2 discussion will release on 1 Feb 2024!
Timestamp:
(00:00) New concept reveal!
(01:03) Current club name
(02:25) How it works
(05:47) How this will benefit you
(06:39) Our first book!
(10:48) Wrapping up
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Happy 2024! We did it, we've tide through another year! Let's give a gentle pat on our backs.
Since it's the new year, we decided to share a personal story about ____'s layoff experience (guess who). Yes we're putting the AI in "laid off" 🥁
Disclaimer: This episode is by no means disparaging or harming the reputation of any companies.
Timestamp:
(00:00) Hello!
(03:26) Who got laid off?
(06:32) Our motivation behind this episode
(08:32) How the layoff happened
(22:27) Feelings towards the layoff
(38:12) Truth behind a layoff
(43:01) Getting laid off in Singapore
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
"It's not about what you know, but also who you know." LinkedIn is the perfect place to make connections, exchange ideas and even fish for career opportunities! Today, we're recommending some inspiring people who actively share golden nuggets of wisdom on LinkedIn.
Who we mentioned:
- Design X Business
- Ruby Pryor
- John Cutler
- "Hire more designers, ok?"
- Life as a designer
- Ben George
- Sigit A.
- Product design skills
- Dan Winer
- Tommy Geoco
- Jeff White
- Self improvement
- Shiao-Yin Kuik
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Scams. Scams everywhere. -insert buzz lightyear meme-
Do you feel like there are a lot more stories of scams nowadays? We do! Hence, we dived into the world of scams in light of the rising media coverage. Listen on to discover the uncanny similarities between the works of scammers and designers as we tried to dissect the customer journey of a scam.
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
We're recommending design podcasts in our podcast (how meta...). Here are some of our favourites for which we tune in regularly, and is evident in helping us elevate ourselves as designers.
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What we mentioned:
- UIUX focused
- Design Details
- Awkward Silences
- Working in UX Design
- Design in General
- Paper and Pain
- Design Life
- Creative Confidence
- Product & Entrepreneurship
- One Knight in Product
- How I Built This
- Crucible Moments
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
We sat down with Alistair who gave us a glimpse of a story less told in Singapore - designing the living spaces of migrant workers. If they tirelessly help us build our homes, then someone ought to help them build theirs, even if it's temporal. That's where Alistair and Agency came in. It was such an eye-opening chat that we're super excited to share this with everyone else! Hope you enjoy this. 😌
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Intro
(01:20) About Alistair & Brief (not underwear)
(05:49) How the project started and problem space
(10:33) Reductive terms: "Dorms" and "Migrant Workers"
(13:15) Running through the design process
(15:17) Ali's observation of dormitories and eye-openers
(24:49) Post-research: How the team synthesizes problems and observations
(29:46) 3 big guiding design principles to harmonize solutions
(36:54) More solutions that was prototyped
(46:48) Post-project checkpoints
(47:55) Dormitory managers, owners, and Google ratings?!
(53:28) Summary & what's next
(56:37) What's keeping Ali excited these days
(59:20) Ali's GTMS
(01:03:45) Adilah's GTMS
(01:08:20) Hsuan's GTMS
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
Alistair's GTMS: Oasis@Outram
Adilah's GTMS: Behavioural Sink Theory
Hsuan's GTMS: 12 Favourite Problems
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Behind the voices:
Alistair - Brief | LinkedIn
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
This is a follow-up to Episode 16: How Singapore’s public transports design for dementia" where we caught up with Emily Ong who was heavily involved in the designing of Find Your Way initiative. Emily, who is living with onset dementia, responded to our critics (+ knocked some sense into us), shared with us behind the scenes and how she and the team arrived at their designs, what's next in the initiative, plus how it's like living with dementia in Singapore.
We truly learnt so much in a mere 1 hour chat with her and can't wait to share this with you! Highly recommend you to listen through Episode 16 first :)
psst. Emily recently launched a new book "Voices of Asia", a collection of stories from those living with dementia in Southeast Asia.
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Timestamp:
(00:00) Intro
(01:45) About Emily
(05:28) How Emily got involved in the initiative
(11:04) Behind the scene and design process
(22:36) About mild dementia and Emily's struggles living in Singapore
(25:56) Where else in Singapore could be more dementia inclusive
(29:46) How the public transports system can be (even) better designed for dementia
(34:22) How Singapore fares in being dementia inclusive compared to other countries
(43:23) Emily's favourite sticker and reception since the launch
(46:10) What's next and Emily's struggle on sustaining the initiative
(51:34) Emily's message to our listeners
(56:53) Our post-interview thoughts
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Behind the voices:
Emily Ong - LinkedIn | Twitter
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind Kiasu Design Life:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Did you spot some illustrative stickers on the floors and walls of MRT stations or bus interchanges? These are initiatives to design for dementia and we want to talk more about it! In this episode, we unpacked what dementia’s REALLY like, what’s the current solution to help them in way-finding and our take on this solution.
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
Hsuan's GTMS: ground.news
Adilah's GTMS: Scary Interesting
Resources on dementia:
Towards a dementia-inclusive Singapore
Dementia-friendly neighbourhood
Dementia-friendly community
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
If you ever heard of Design Buddies or is active in Linkedin, you may have heard of Grace Ling based in US. We managed to grab her during her trip to Singapore (fun fact: Grace is part Singaporean too) and spend a fruitful hour together getting to know her better, how she grew a huge community, and unconventional + rising ways to land yourself a job as a UX designer. Grace is extremely bubbly and energetic, and we hope you'll feel this energy as you listen too.
⚠️⚠️ Warning: This episode may pump you up and turn you into a go-getter.
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
Design Buddies Discord
TikTok Resumes
Grace's GTMS: Tech Roast Show, Steven He YouTube
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Behind the voices:
Grace - Website | LinkedIn
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
WAIT WHAT?! It's been a year since KSDL's first episode! We can't believe it ourselves..time really flies.
We decided to dedicate this episode for us to just sit down together with our teh/kopi, walk down memory lane and reminisce our first year of running this podcast. Join us in this light-hearted episode, where we unveil some interesting statistics of KSDL (also, hola amigas/amigos 👀), crowd's + our own favourite episode, and how we feel towards this year long and counting passion project.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so so much for your support in this humble little project of ours, from listening to our episode to reacting to our Instagram stories. Here's to more years to come! 🥳
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Mentorship is such a beautiful thing - getting guidance from someone more experienced as you navigate your career as a designer. Finding a gem of a mentor, someone who is avuncular, who has the patience and passion can even transform the mentorship into a friendship you can keep! If there's one thing Hsuan regrets in her design career, is not actively seeking for a mentor early :") And that's something Adilah has done very well. Don't be a Hsuan; listen to this episode where we list down ways to find mentors easily in Singapore and internationally!
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What we mentioned:
ADPList
Superpeer
Friends of Figma Singapore
Design Buddies
GRIT (GRowing In Tech)
SG Women In Tech
Tech Ladies
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
In the second part of this episode, we're covering the Singaporean traits to...kick! 🦵🏼⚽️
What is it that makes us designers uniquely Singaporean? It’s not just designers who were born here, but also designers who have been based in Singapore for a long time. They certainly may have picked up some local traits along the way.
There's a lot of articles or videos in the web exploring what makes us uniquely Singaporean - be it queuing up for bubble tea, chope-ing tables with tissue, dropping lingos like "kena arrowed" then "bo bian" so just "lan lan suck thumb".
We decided to do the same by asking ourselves how these uniquely Singaporean traits crosses design and answer this question - what makes Singaporean designers unique?
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work
Default Mode Network (those shower thoughts)
High Context Communication
The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
Hsuan's GTMS: Zero Width Joiner emoji
Adilah's GTMS: MrBallen Youtube
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
What is it that makes us designers uniquely Singaporean? It’s not just designers who were born here, but also designers who have been based in Singapore for a long time. They certainly may have picked up some local traits along the way.
There's a lot of articles or videos in the web exploring what makes us uniquely Singaporean - be it queuing up for bubble tea, chope-ing tables with tissue, dropping lingos like "kena arrowed" then "bo bian" so just "lan lan suck thumb".
We decided to do the same by asking ourselves how these uniquely Singaporean traits crosses design and answer this question - what makes Singaporean designers unique? To start things off on a positive note, we're covering traits to keep in this first part of the episode. Enjoy!
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
"Open to Change" meet up by OGP
IRAS Course Fees Relief
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
"Hi.", "Still avail?", "Can nego?"
Whether we like it or not, negotiating for our salary is a step that's baked into the process of our careers. It's something that's not taught in school, yet we're expected to know our ways around it. Knowing your worth is such an important element in our careers, and we'd like to share 3 resources that may help you as a designer negotiate more strategically! :)
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What we mentioned:
Design Pay Asia
Levels.fyi
Negotiation with Chris Voss
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
Early this year, an article surfaced on Mothership about a Ban Mian stall owner who refunded $445.50 to a customer who overpaid (and that's 99x more, siao eh!) for his order. While the article mainly angled around the honesty and integrity of the owner, we thought there's a perspective around the design and usability to this story as well!
In this episode, we investigated what even cause this $445.50 error, and went down the rabbit hole of the UX of payment apps in Singapore. Strap on, because it's gonna be a geeky ride. -adjusts specs- 🤓
We recommend you pair this episode with a bowl of Ban Mian (your choice of dry or soup) for the utmost Singaporean x design experience.
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
Mapping Service Ecosystem Workshop by Cornelius Rachieru
Hsuan's GTMS: DOC
Adilah's GTMS: Atomic Habits by James Clear
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website | LinkedIn
This is our first Chilli Padi episode 🌶️, which you may have already guessed -- means short and punchy ones. Pew pew!
Amid the stormy scene in the job market now, we decided to share our ways to finding design jobs in Singapore! We hope this is helpful to anyone out there. Regardless, stay safe friends and drink more teh halia :)
What we mentioned:
- JobsDB
- JobsCentral
- Indeed
- Friends of Figma #job-board
- DesignSG Telegram Group
- CultJobs
- Networking for designers, or by industries via Meetup.com
- Volunteering viaBetter.sg
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website
Riding the MRT is such a quintessential part of us Singaporeans lives (at least for us 😅). Remember when the new line TEL first opened last year, did you know there were also efforts to improve the commuters’ user experience too? Well, we didn’t — until we stumbled upon this CNA article.
Today we are going to deep dive into this and we ensure you will see the MRT at a different light after. You may be equipped to drop extra nuggets of design facts no one asked for when a stranger asked you for directions to a MRT station. So come on in and ride along (hurhur) to this insightful episode! 🚇
Links mentioned in episode:
https://www.instagram.com/blindonthemove/
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram.
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website
Happy 2023!
Can't believe Kiasu Design Life has sustained through the year! 🙌🏼 🙌🏽
In Day 6, we recalled our times as new-joiners in our jobs and shared our wholesome and horror stories. You may realise that we sound a lot smoother this episode, that's because we finally tried recording together in person! It definitely delight us a lot and we hope you feel the same. Please enjoy this (hopefully) higher quality episode, along with Hsuan's very masculine, nasal voice as she tries to recover from the cold lol.
Feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram.
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website
Hellllo! We're back from a month break and feeling lemony fresh 🍋
Having a job is a sense of purpose to many of us, it helps us put rice on our table, finance us towards our biggest dreams. But have you caught yourself thinking "I'm done!" or even looking out for job openings?
In Day 5, we wanna touch on this thorny and juicy topic - "When do we call it quits?" What principles do we have when it comes to drawing the line with work. Is it the workplace? It is the people? Is it ourselves? Is it the money? Or all of the above? Listen in as we recall the last time we felt pump up for work and dive into what made us excited, and also what has all these got to do with hairdressers?!
We're glad to be back on the groove and hope you enjoy this discussion with us! If you like to join in this discourse, feel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Twitter or Instagram.
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website
Hey everyone! It's been some time!
If you're active in Singapore's design community space for a while, Kiat shouldn't be a foreign name to you. Following a recent heartfelt email on the closure of IxDA meet-ups, we sat down with the man himself for a casual chat! Kiat took the chance to look back at the past 11 years and shed his true feelings around organising IxDA meet-ups in Singapore. We also got a tiny peak into what's next for IxDA - exciting times ahead!
Apart from all the impressive contributions for IxDA, Kiat also share his experiences as a product designer. If you have ever used Hardware Zone, news flash - your experience may be shaped by him!
Seriously ah, day 4 of Kiasu Design Life is jam packed with golden nuggets of wisdom and we couldn't wait for you to join us on this truly enjoyable ride. (We recommend you pair this episode with your favourite version of kopi and some kaya toast).
Reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Twitter and Instagram.
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
IxDA - Official Website
World Interaction Day (IxDD) 2022 - Official Website
Designing Web Usability by Jacob Nielson - nngroup Website
Finding Common Ground Podcast - Apple Podcast
The McKinsey Podcast - Official Website
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Good Things Must Share:
Kiat's: School Circles Film
Adilah's: School of Chocolate
Hsuan's: Sigur Ros Live
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Behind the voices:
Kiat - Website
Adilah - Website
Hsuan - Website
If we could write a letter to our younger souls fresh into the UX industry, what would it be?
In Day 3, we're retrospecting and getting raw this time as we dive into our past experiences along with the lessons learnt. Adilah shared her revelation and ways she differentiates herself as she graduated from bootcamp and into working world, whereas Hsuan revealed her (cool?) ah lian identity and how it may or may not help in her career.
We have also introduced a new segment called "Good Things Must Share" where we exchange some sweet ol' lobangs (colloquial for good deal).
Reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Twitter and Instagram.
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Timestamp:
(00:14) - Day 3 of Kiasu Design Life
(01:31) - Sharing our inspiration behind this episode
(03:31) - Adilah's letter
(10:58) - Funny story on Hsuan's over-enthusiasm
(11:54) - Hsuan's letter
(24:50) - Our tapaus (takeaways, lol)
(26:50) - Good Thing Must Share
(29:30) - Show wrap
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
Known-unknown matrix - A medium article on this framework
Better.sg - Official Website
Copywork - smashingmagazine's explanation
Designing systems - A medium article on designing systems and practical ways of approach
Bus Factor - Wikipedia
Curb Cut - uxdesign.cc's explanation
Nielson Norman's article on PM and UX Responsibilities - NN/g article
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Good Things Must Share:
Adilah's: mymind - Official Website
Hsuan's: restofworld - Official Website
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website
What do we all think of meet ups and networking now? We pondered, we surveyed, and now we're ready for the big reveal!
In Day 2, we are sharing insights gathered from multidisciplinary folks in Singapore across 5 categories - agenda, speaker/content, venue/space, food and audience/crowd. This episode will be enlightening to you whether you are thinking of organising your own event, or joining one.
Listen to Hsuan's peanut butter on Gardenia bread analogy (she was probably just hungry), and did Adilah managed to say FoF correctly? Also, find out to how we whipped up a new and promising career in Singapore - think SDA but for meet ups. 🤭
Reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Twitter and Instagram.
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Timestamp:
(00:27) - Day 2 of Kiasu Design Life
(00:57) - A little retrospective on Day 1
(02:39) - Sharing our inspiration behind this episode
(04:22) - Sharing our memorable meet ups
(06:53) - High level survey result
(08:07) - Insights on agenda
(14:02) - Insights on speaker/content
(18:40) - Insights on FOOOD 🍱
(21:04) - Insights on venue/space
(23:50) - Insights on audience/crowd
(25:51) - 3 big takeaways
(26:50) - Show wrap
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Notes/references we made in this episode:
"Half-past six" - colloquial for shoddy
Our survey - we are keeping this survey open. Feel free to share your thoughts!
ADP List - Official Website
UXSG 2016 Conference - Highlights by Collab Folks
Urban Sketchers SG - Official Website
F&B Hygiene Grades - Singapore Food Management System
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website
Ayeeeee! Hsuan and Adilah here! We're so excited to finally launch our first episode.
Today in Day 1 of Kiasu Design Life, we talked about what this podcast is as we share our motivation, plans and dreams. (We already have plans for Day 100 already..?)
If this still doesn't excite you, listen to us try to build our credibility by sharing our design experiences, how we met (and what FoF actually meant to Adilah -cough-), how 2 podcast fans journeyed to starting a podcast, and otters in longkang?!
We hope you enjoy this as much as we did!
Reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Twitter and Instagram.
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Timestamp:
00:35 - Day 1 of Kiasu Design Life 🥳
01:19 - What to expect in this podcast
03:46 - Our backgrounds in design
06:40 - Things we're planning for this podcast
09:11 - A little bit of history: How did this podcast start
14:48 - Verbalising our designs and its benefits
17:15 - Our motivation behind starting this podcast
23:58 - Our selfish agenda 😈
31:00 - Show wrap
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Some references we made in this episode:
Otters spotted job-swimming from TraceTogether to SingPass [Reddit]
Friends of Figma Singapore
Design SG Telegram Group
Product SG Telegram Group
Radiolab Podcast
Najip Ali's podcast episode on his journey in Singapore's Malay entertainment scene
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Behind the voices:
Adilah - Website | LinkedIn
Hsuan - Website