Shows
Kiasu Design Life41: Behind the Firewall: Design in Singapore’s Defence TechWhat’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.___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___Timestamp:(00:00) Hello...2025-06-1241 min
Kiasu Design Life40: Inside UX bootcamps: What it’s really like in SingaporeEver 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.___🙋🏻♀️ Our guest for today is Alicia Chong! (Linkedin)___Timestamp:(00:00) Happy 2025... again!(01:50) Why...2025-02-031h 02
Kiasu Design Life39: The power of starting something (a talk at The Good Circle)📹 🔴 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. ♥️___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...2025-01-0821 min
Kiasu Design Life38: Rock hard truths 🪨 about UX designOne 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!___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"2024-11-0439 min
Kiasu Design Life37: Small kids, big thinkers - Design thinking in primary schools!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!___Our guests are Mrs. Tan Qili (Teacher), and Team GummyCare consists of Amelia, Karyn, Luke, Ying Xuan and Rui Jie f...2024-09-0640 min
Kiasu Design Life36: Radical thinking: Lion dance for seniors?!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!___Our guests are Hao Jie and Edmund. This episode is in support of the People of Design Campaign by DesignSingapore...2024-08-0758 min
Kiasu Design Life35: Kopi ☕️ Chat Pt.2: Interviewing, rejections, salary cut & fake listings?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. ☕✨___Timestamp:(00:00) Hello!(02:55...2024-07-2238 min
Kiasu Design Life34: Kopi ☕️ Chat Pt.1: Challenges & superpowers as a designer & parentOh 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)___Timestamp:(00:00) Hello!(04:40) Becoming a parent..once again(06...2024-07-0834 min
Kiasu Design Life33: Chat with Carla Diana - The sweet intersection of products and humans🎥 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!___Our guest: Carla DianaPersonal WebsiteMy Robot Gets Me book___Timestamp:(00:00) Meet Carla and how she got into "Robotics"(06:05) How did Carla came out with t...2024-05-0247 min
Kiasu Design Life32: Chat with Fiona - Personal Branding as a UX Designer🎥 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.___Our guest: Fiona LimFind her on InstagramRead her articles on MediumOnce again, thank you Alistair and Brief for sponsoring the space! ♥️♥️___Timestamp:(00:00) Meet Fiona and how she got into UX design(06:05) Our first time doing video podcasting!(08:05) F...2024-04-151h 02
Kiasu Design Life31: My Robot Gets Me 📚 Ch.7-9 "Robotics crowdsourcing and design ethics!""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...2024-04-1135 min
Kiasu Design Life30: Chilli Padi 🌶️ - 6 UX portfolios we love!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 PortfoliosAng Yi Xin 🇸🇬 [Link]Yuan Jie 🇸🇬 [Link]Billy Tseng [Link]Strategy/ManagerJoel Califa [Link]Tarryn Lambert [Link]Jonny Czar [Link]
♥️ 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@gma...2024-03-2520 min
Kiasu Design Life29: My Robot Gets Me 📚 Ch.5-6 "Why do we find products..dumb?"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) p...2024-03-1138 min
Kiasu Design Life28: Chat with Sangeetha - Hiring insights from a design recruiterA design recruiter has joined the chat! Join us with Sangeetha as she shared insights of design job market, hiring and staying competitive in Singapore.___Our guest: Sangeetha SelvarajaReach out to her on LinkedInDynamics of Singapore's Product Design Job MarketThank you Alistair and Brief for sponsoring the space! ♥️___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(3...2024-02-261h 09
Kiasu Design Life27: My Robot Gets Me 📚 Ch.3-4 "How do products present and express themselves"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 WebsiteGet 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...2024-02-2131 min
Kiasu Design Life26: SimplyGo or No? We review the app!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
♥️ We're self-funding this podcast, so if you’re enjoying the episodes and want to support us, we'd b...2024-02-1343 min
Kiasu Design Life25: My Robot Gets Me 📚 Ch.1-2 "We have social interactions with products too?!"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 WebsiteGet 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...2024-02-0125 min
Kiasu Design Life24: How to embrace layoffsThis 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!MUSICSurvivor - Destiny's ChildTimestamp:(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
2024-01-2438 min
Kiasu Design Life23: Introducing a new concept! 📚🤓Help us decide our club name by polling in Spotify and Instagram!Our first book: My Robot Gets Me - Carla DianaOfficial WebsiteCheck 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
♥️ 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 dona...2024-01-1611 min
Kiasu Design Life22: Going through a layoffHappy 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 layoff2024-01-0851 min
Kiasu Design Life21: Chilli Padi 🌶️ - Inspiring designers on 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 BusinessRuby PryorJohn Cutler "Hire more designers, ok?"Life as a designerBen GeorgeSigit A.Product design skillsDan WinerTommy GeocoJeff WhiteSelf improvementShiao-Yin Kuik
♥️ 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—t...2023-12-1117 min
Kiasu Design Life20: The clever user experience of scamsScams. 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.____Behind the voices:Adilah - Website | LinkedInHsuan - Website | LinkedIn
♥️ We're self-funding this podcast, so if you’re enjoying the episodes and want to sup...2023-11-1448 min
Kiasu Design Life19: Chilli Padi 🌶️ - Podcasts to level up as a designerWe'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.___What we mentioned:UIUX focusedDesign DetailsAwkward SilencesWorking in UX DesignDesign in GeneralPaper and PainDesign LifeCreative ConfidenceProduct & Entrepreneurship One Knight in ProductHow I Built ThisCrucible MomentsFeel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with our supportive listeners ♥️ or email us at kiasudesignlife@gmail.com.___Behind the voices:Adilah - Website | LinkedIn...2023-10-2421 min
Kiasu Design Life18: Chat with Alistair - Designing migrant workers' home 🏡 away from homeWe 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. 😌____Timestamp:(00:00) Intro(01:20) About Alistair & Brief (not underwear)(05:49) How the project started and problem space(10:33) Reductive ter...2023-10-051h 16
Kiasu Design Life17: Chat with Emily - Designing, advocating, and living with dementiaThis 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 wit...2023-09-211h 00
Kiasu Design Life16: How Singapore’s public transports design for dementiaDid 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.____Notes/references we made in this episode:Hsuan's GTMS: ground.newsAdilah's GTMS: Scary Interesting Resources on dementia:Towards a dementia-inclusive SingaporeDementia-friendly neighbourhoodDem...2023-08-3040 min
Kiasu Design Life15: Chat with Grace Ling - Breaking into UX the Unconventional WayIf 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-get...2023-07-2544 min
Kiasu Design Life14: IT'S BEEN A YEAR!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...2023-06-2735 minKiasu Design Life13: Chilli Padi 🌶️ - Finding design mentorshipsMentorship 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! ___W...2023-05-3014 minKiasu Design Life12: What's unique about Singaporean designers? (Part 2)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...2023-04-2333 minKiasu Design Life11: What's unique about Singaporean designers? (Part 1)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 the...2023-04-1222 minKiasu Design Life10: Chilli Padi 🌶️ - Salary and negotiation"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! :) ___What we mentioned:Design Pay AsiaLevels.fyiNegotiation with Chris VossFeel free reach us @K...2023-03-2608 minKiasu Design Life09: That $445.50 UX errorEarly 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 pa...2023-03-1235 minKiasu Design Life08: Chilli Padi 🌶️ - Finding design jobs in SingaporeThis 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:LinkedInJobsDBJobsCentralIndeedFriends of Figma #job-boardDesignSG Telegram GroupCultJobsNetworking for designers, or by industries via Meetup.comVolunteering via Better.sgFeel free reach us @KiasuDesignLife over at Instagram, where we hold post-release discussions with o...2023-02-2611 min
Kiasu Design Life07: What has UX got to do with MRT?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 s...2023-02-0636 minKiasu Design Life06: Joy and sorrow of a new-joinerHappy 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.____2023-01-1539 minKiasu Design Life05: When do we call it quits?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...2022-11-1420 min
Kiasu Design Life04: Kiat Su Design LifeHey 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...2022-09-1653 minKiasu Design Life03: Fresh into UX - Letters to our younger selvesIf 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...2022-08-1230 minKiasu Design Life02: Are we still into meet ups?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...2022-07-1929 minKiasu Design Life01: Just listen laAyeeeee! 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...2022-06-2731 min