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AI summit Arvind

Rethinking AI: From “Human vs Machine” to “Human + Machine”

Rethinking AI: From “Human vs Machine” to “Human + Machine” 2560 1707 Design Business Chamber Singapore
  1. Tell us more about you — what inspired you to focus your business in AI?
    My professional background revolves around helping businesses use data, analytics and technology to gain a competitive advantage. The evolution of cloud technologies has helped lay the foundation for efficient data management in scores of engagements I have been involved in.
    Yet, I see that people are still working overtime to turn data into insights for action. Hence, I believe that AI has the potential to address this challenge by quickly turning ‘big data’ into ‘smart actionable data’ and shift the focus from ‘lag’ to ‘lead’ indicators of future-focused success.

  2. How did The AI Living Lab – TALL come about?
    Back in 2016, I had the opportunity to set up Dentsu’s first Global Data Innovation Centre to harness the potential of AI, where I got to experience first-hand the challenges of scaling AI solutions beyond the prototype. The human element is essential – both in the build and during the adoption phases. Personally, I believe that both these areas are not receiving sufficient attention.
    To address this gap, I set up TALL (The AI Living Lab) in 2020 as a Think Tank and Advisory to propagate the development of impactful and responsible AI solutions. TALL intends to shift the rhetoric from “human vs machine” to “human + machine”, with the belief that humans must stand tall in the face of powerful AI solutions. Such solutions are rapidly emerging, like ChatGPT and generative AI solutions such as DALL-E2, Stable Diffusion and Midjourney. I have been actively promoting this unique form of thinking in conferences and customer engagement sessions with start-ups, academia and businesses around the world.  

  3. What impact does AI bring to design & businesses?
    The impact that AI brings to design and business, in general, can be twofold. Firstly, efficiency is improved, in terms of time and cost savings. Secondly, growth in terms of new customer acquisition and retention.  The Mckinsey State of AI report for 2022 found that 50% of businesses globally have adopted AI in at least one business unit, a very encouraging sign that AI has positively impacted businesses worldwide. I see a significant opportunity to embed Design Thinking principles in AI solutions, as responsible AI is continually being architected to ensure that it does not go rogue through bias. 

  4. What’s the biggest learning experience you’ve had?
    Human centricity needs to be at the core of innovation efforts, intrinsic to the development and implementation of digital solutions. This is crucial to incorporate within AI solutions for it to have a direct impact on the human experience of both employees and customers. Digital technologies should augment human creativity and take it to new heights by creating a subconscious, always-on layer of intelligence capability. This I believe will ensure people have more time to do the things we love – spend time with family, sports, arts, writing etc.

  5. Are there any books or podcasts that impacted your life deeply that you would recommend?
    A few books which have fascinated me – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter, Addiction by Design by Natasha Dow Schull and AI Superpowers by Kai Fu Lee.

  6. How do you recharge after work? Do you prefer a social gathering or a quiet retreat?
    I am an outdoor person who enjoys long rides on my bike or a run to recharge. I also have a preference for a quiet retreat, listening to my vinyl records with a single malt!

  7. What made you join DBCS Circle?
    I found out about DBCS during one of my visits to the National Design Centre. The first event I attended gave me a view into the spectrum of multidisciplinary design bodies. I was attracted by the DBCS charter, ‘Better Business by Design’, and decided to become a member. 
Arvind, Founder of The AI Living Lab (TALL)

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Dreams in Motion: The path of a Motion Graphics Designer

Dreams in Motion: The path of a Motion Graphics Designer 1920 1080 Design Business Chamber Singapore
  1. Tell us more about you — what inspired you to focus on Motion Graphics and 3D Animation?
    Well, I initially delved into character animation, which is a super specialized role. Over time, I found myself yearning for a position that had a broader scope in projects. That’s when motion design caught my attention. Given its rising popularity, it seemed like a wise move to transition into that field and looking back, I still feel confident in that decision!

  2. Which design software or tool do you prefer the utmost?
    I wouldn’t say I have a favorite tool because I use whatever allows me to complete a project. However, Adobe After Effects holds a special place in my heart because I’ve been using it for the longest time.

  3. How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends?
    To be honest, I’m not someone who intentionally keeps up with trends. For example, I’m still not on TikTok. However, I find that I’m naturally updated on new design aesthetics and ideas because I consume art and design content daily. We’re in an awesome time where people are constantly creating mind-blowing and innovative things, and I love stumbling upon these works.

  4. What’s the biggest learning experience you’ve had?
    Freelancing, which is my current journey. Being self-taught, it has been a quite a struggle, and if I were to think of myself as a product, I’d currently be a failure. But I’m hopeful that with constant failure, I’ll keep iterating on myself until I become a great product. As James Dyson said, “Failure is the only way to progress.”

  5. What is your guilty pleasure?
    Anime and manga. But please don’t recommend any new ones because once I start, I can’t stop. My most recent anime was Ousama Ranking and it made me cry a lot. And if I were to recommend any, it would definitely be the Manga – Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.

  6. What is your favorite thing about motion graphics?
    I really appreciate that now, any form of a moving picture is considered motion design, and the doors are wide open for anyone to join in. With the accessibility of motion design tools, literally “anyone can cook.”

  7. What made you join our Portfolio & Career Advisory night?
    I’m in the midst of transitioning into a career in UX design, and the Portfolio & Career Advisory night was a great opportunity to join a design community and learn from industry veterans. It absolutely delivered! 
Deon Ng, Freelancer

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Kris+ by Singapore Airlines

Kris+ by Singapore Airlines 1560 699 Design Business Chamber Singapore

KrisPay has been rebranded to Kris+. The new Kris+ app has unveiled greater flexibility and options for both customers and partner merchants. Furthermore, the refreshed UI enhances the application’s visual attractiveness and usability, reducing complexity by enabling users to complete payment and miles accrual in a single step. This app is designed to be human-centric, giving a better experience to both seasoned and new users.

Top (from left to right): 
Arun Sabarirajan (Principal Technologist), Fiona Sng (Manager, Head of Product Integration for Kris+)

Bottom (from left to right):
Ku Ga Eun (Senior UX Strategist, Kris+ UIUX Lead), Jeanette Lee (Vice President of Kris+), Wenjin Leong (Manager, Head of Marketing for Kris+)

1. How has the SG Mark benefited you and your team?

Kris+ is Singapore Airlines’ lifestyle rewards app designed to engage customers during their daily lives, even when they do not fly. 

Kris+ combines miles, rewards, discount privileges and payments into a single app; allowing app users and KrisFlyer members to complete payment and earn miles instantly in a single step. 

With over 1,500 dining, retail, and activities partner outlets across Singapore, users are never lacking opportunities to utilise the app. 

Besides transacting at partner outlets, we offer users the highest miles earn rates across a range of lifestyle activities such as purchasing of dining e-vouchers, making dining reservations, and even taxi bookings. By integrating ‘KrisShop’, a premium omnichannel retailer platform by Singapore Airlines, this has brought more ways for our users to continue their inflight and on-the-ground shopping experience. 

Getting awarded the SG Mark is a testament of our team’s hard work and commitment in building such features while designing with users in mind. The award has inspired us to push ourselves further to enhance the Kris+ app experience to better serve our users. 

2. What was the most difficult moment when developing the idea?  

To build the Kris+ lifestyle ecosystem, time-to-market is critical yet challenging. Hence, we formed cross-functional teams to collaborate and innovate such that features are launched in a timely manner. In addition, offerings such as privileges and deals in Kris+ must satisfy our users’ ever-changing preferences. This requires us to source and select not only the right partners who are relevant to our users, but also like-minded ones to work closely with us. 

On the technical front, Kris+ has been an early adopter of blockchain technology. At the stage of idea development, blockchain as an enterprise solution was unheard of as it was typically associated with the crypto market. However, we saw the opportunity that tokenisation is well-suited for miles-based transactions, especially for security and efficiency. 

Hence without any reference, we had to pioneer our way to utilise this capability. Now, Kris+ operates on a private consortium blockchain using Proof of Authority (POA). This also consumes less energy and computing power compared to typical Proof of Work (POW) blockchain transactions which are usually power-hungry.

3. What are some new things your team learned about the users during the process of research and designing? 

When doing research or designing an idea, we try to gather as much user feedback as we can to gauge the usability and underlying pain points. Besides the user experience (UX) aspects, we do see the rise in user expectations towards a well-executed user interface (UI) to support the functionality of the app. 

During the COVID-19 times, digital means were the go-to for daily chores and activities. Now, people have become more digital savvy and are more willing to try out different platforms and technology. This means that we need to be always prepared to access and make changes according to our users’ needs and preferences.  

Furthermore, we have users who are seasoned travellers. As we run on agile, we prioritise feature requirements with different stakeholders and launch it as an MVP. This leads to the question of ‘what does an MVP looks like’ in our context, and how we can satisfy this group of users who are used to the full Singapore Airlines experience which is not the typical experience that MVP delivers. 

4. What are your team’s future plans?  

Besides Singapore, partner discounts and privileges across the world are being progressively added to the Kris+ app. We will continue the expansion of overseas markets where Singapore Airlines has strong user base and presence.  

Ultimately, we will always strive to make the Kris+ app ever relevant to our users, such that it caters to their daily lifestyle needs. 

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Urban design that enhance lives

Urban design that enhance lives 2400 1602 Design Business Chamber Singapore
  1. Tell us more about LOPELAB — what inspired you to start the company and what were your primary goals? 

    In 2013, my PR application was approved. I realised that I had gained the freedom to invest my time in a more purpose-driven way, and to make an impact on Singapore and the world.

    With this newfound sense of purpose, I left my corporate job and embarked on a transformative journey. After a year of exploring and learning, I founded LOPELAB – a design consultancy that blends urban design with social ideas to create a more enjoyable and sustainable city. My ultimate goal is to create a better world for everyone, and to make a positive impact on the planet. With LOPELAB, I am able to pursue my passion for design and social responsibility, and inspire others to join me on this incredible journey.

  2. Share with us a project that you’re particularly proud of. 

    It’s difficult to choose just one project as I’ve had the privilege of working on so many amazing initiatives. From developing innovative plans for the future of the Youth area in Singapore (Somerset Belt), to transforming the Central Business District (Raffles Place) into the vibrant Central Buzz District, I had many opportunities to be a part of transformative work. However, if I had to pick just one project that stands out in my mind, it would be the Urban Design Festival in 2019 – a truly inspiring initiative that embodies our vision of reclaiming underutilised urban spaces and giving them back to the people and communities they serve.

    After more than two years of hard work and dedication, we were able to transform the top two floors of an underutilised carpark into a thriving hub of activity. The festival featured talks, exhibitions, concerts, workshops, and a whole host of other activities, including a roller disco skate rink and a pop-up rooftop restaurant.

    It was a true celebration of community, creativity, and the power of design to transform spaces and bring people together. Looking back on that project, I feel a deep sense of pride and inspiration, knowing that we were able to create something truly special and impactful for the people of Singapore.

  3. In your view, what are the key trends or shifts in urban design in the coming years? How has LOPELAB adapted to these changes? 

    There will be a continued emphasis on technology and its integration into urban design in the coming years. LOPELAB has adapted by exploring the potential of new technologies such as Blockchain, NFT, and AI, and has even developed a new methodology that leverages people’s needs and technology.

    It’s important for urban designers to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in order to create innovative and effective solutions for the future.

  4. What advice would you give to a young designer or entrepreneur who just starting out in the industry? 

    My advice would be to stay hungry, humble, and to keep an open mind to new opportunities and ideas. The world of design and entrepreneurship is constantly evolving, and it’s important to stay alert and be willing to adapt to changing circumstances.

    One of the best ways to learn and grow as a designer or entrepreneur is to seek out mentors and role models who can offer guidance and inspiration. Learn from the masters, but don’t be afraid to develop your own unique perspective and vision.

    Another key piece of advice is to focus on gaining a broad range of experiences. Try new things, test new ideas, and don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is an important part of the learning process, which teaches you valuable lessons that will help you grow and evolve as a designer or entrepreneur.

    Remember that success is a journey, not a destination. Embrace the challenges and setbacks along the way, and stay true to your passion and purpose. With hard work, determination, and willingness to learn and grow, you can achieve great things in the world of design and entrepreneurship.

  5. Looking ahead, what are some of the biggest challenges or opportunities that you see for LOPELAB in the next 3-5 years? How do you plan to address them? 

    The next few years are sure to bring both challenges and opportunities for LOPELAB. With the world changing at an unprecedented pace, we must be ready to adapt and evolve our approach to meet the needs of our clients and our community.

    Despite the challenges, I see a world of possibility ahead. In every crisis, there are opportunities to innovate, to find new solutions, and create a better world for all of us. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Out of adversity comes opportunity.” (who was probably inspired by ancient Chinese philosophy “opportunities often arise from crisis.”!)

    At LOPELAB, we will be embracing these challenges head-on, by staying curious, connected to our community, and open to new ideas and approaches.

    The future may be uncertain, but we are excited to meet the challenges ahead and to create a brighter, more sustainable future for us all.

  6. Do you have any role models that you look up to?  

    There’s one figure in particular who stands out to me as a true pioneer in the field of human-centered design and placemaking – Professor Jan Gehl. Professor Gehl’s approach to urban design is about putting people first. He recognises that our cities and public spaces should be designed to meet the needs and desires of the people who inhabit them, rather than simply serving the needs of cars and commerce.

    Like Professor Gehl, I’m passionate about observing how people move and interact in urban spaces, and how design can be used to create more livable and vibrant communities. His work has been my constant source of inspiration, and strive to incorporate his principles into my own design process. Ultimately, my goal as a designer is to create not only beautiful and functional spaces, but that truly enhance the lives of the people who use them.

  7. What is a perfect weekend for you? 

    For me, a perfect weekend is all about balance – balancing time with friends, time for myself, and time with my family. It’s a chance to recharge my batteries, reconnect with the people I love, and experience new adventures.

    Friday nights are all about winding down from the week and catching up with friends. Whether it’s having dinner at a new restaurant or just relaxing with a few drinks, it’s a chance to decompress and enjoy some good company.

    On Saturdays, I enjoy activities that nurture my body and soul. It might be going for a long bike ride, catching some waves while surfing, or going for a jog with my dog -Maxwell. Whatever the activity, it’s a chance to push myself physically and clear my mind.

    Sundays, on the other hand, are all for my family. I love exploring the great outdoors with my wife and daughter, discovering new hiking trails, and experiencing new adventures together. Whether it’s a day trip to the beach or a visit to a local nature reserve, it’s a chance to create memories that will last a lifetime.

  8. How do you overcome creative blocks? 

    Creative blocks can be frustrating, but I’ve found that the best way to overcome them.

    I disconnect from my work and reconnect with nature. There’s something magical about being outside, surrounded by the beauty of the world around us. It can get the creative juices flowing.

    One of my favorite ways is through exercising – swimming, jogging, or cycling are great ways to get the blood pumping. Reading can often lead to unexpected insights and creative solutions.
Lorenzo Petrillo, Founder of LOPELAB

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The Power Couple at Work

The Power Couple at Work 800 606 Design Business Chamber Singapore

1) Tell us more about GramVideos – What is your firm’s focus within video production and what led your firm to have such a focus?

Gram is in the persuasion business. We lead corporate communication solutions by integrating proven business frameworks with our creative minds. While many companies in this industry focus on creating over the top visuals, we believe in developing communication solutions through the use of videos.  

Educators at heart, our mission is to make complex, “boring” topics more interesting and accessible to everyone!

Among your firm’s achievements, which one(s) are you the most proud of?

The Gram fam culture, where everyone is a Gram champ!

We have a pretty strong mentorship culture within Gram, which permeates into every facet of the corporate DNA – everyone learns constantly from one another, and grows together as a Gram Family.

Fill in the blank: The future of animation is _________.? 

M: …Limitless.

JY: …Awesome!

Animation continues to be one of the most versatile, multi-faceted and nuanced disciplines out there, with the potential to enrich every area of the media industry. Emerging fields like AI, blockchain, NFTs, and metaverse have a natural synergy with the field of animation, and will continue to be shaped by the advancements of technology and creativity in this field. 

For instance, when my design team is busy, I can use AI-enabled technology to generate content for my pitches, and even beautify this otherwise wordy document, literally within seconds! Unlike naysayers who worry that creatives will one day become obsolete – I feel AI will just become another tool that good creatives can use at their disposal. If you look into the technology driving generative AI-art, they are aggregating artworks that were created by humans, which will not make sense without the human element.

Junyi (left), Meredith (Right), Singapore-based top animation and video production studio, also the Singapore Good Design Video Animation Partner.

What are the advantages of working in the animation field as well as the flip side of it?

M: Freedom and flexibility has gotta be the greatest advantage of being in this field, but it also comes with
great responsibilities and a pretty high level of stress (especially when we expect ourselves to thrive and excel).

JY: Animation is pretty powerful, and allows for near-infinite forms of expression – every single aspect of an
animated video can be customised to the artist/director’s imagination. The flip side is the decision paralysis
that many young creatives face when offered infinite possibilities.

Keep on learning and enjoy what you learn. 

What advice would you give to aspiring producers/animators?

Stay focused, and always remember why you’re here.  Producing and Animation are time-consuming endeavors –
The former requires multi-hatting and completing innumerable small yet important tasks throughout the day,
like flipping the various buttons and knobs in a pilot’s cockpit in sequence, before a project can take off and succeed. 

The latter requires deep focus and an engineering mindset to solve complex design/technical problems that may not
always have a “plug-and-play” solution. Both disciplines require great humility and mental fortitude to succeed in the long run.

The learning curve is steep – embrace it!

Do you have any role models that you look up to? 

The legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki who continues to show the world that animation can be cool! Despite his various successes on the big screen, he continues to be humbled and sometimes despaired by creative challenges, which makes him fallible and ultimately relatable.

On the other end of the spectrum, Simon Sinek is a great inspiration as well, particularly in his book “The Infinity Game” where he debunked the “us vs them” competitiveness that our modern capitalistic society is characterised by. In life and in work, it is only via win-win approaches that any long-term success was ever forged, and that is our M.O when facing clients, “competitors” and collaborators alike!

 What is a perfect weekend for you? 

The DINK answer: Has gotta be a weekend getaway – think sitting by the poolside with a drink in one hand and my laptop in the other, or replying to emails/preparing some proposals while waiting to board a flight somewhere. Traveling fuels my creativity!

The family man answer: Playing chapteh with my daughter at the park!

I’m a competitive chapteh player who fell in love with the sport as a teenager. I was an oddball in an elite school, and chapteh was a surprisingly egalitarian activity where jocks, nerds, and misfits can put aside their differences and play together.

Today, I still enjoy mentoring people in corporate events centered around chapteh mentorship/coaching. In our digital world, it’s increasingly rare to find traditional pursuits that our younger generation can relate to, which is something I find precious and worth evangelising about.

8) How do you overcome creative blocks?

M: Go on an aimless drive, or play a match of Dota 2. 

JY: One of my favourite activities is called “Exquisite Corpse”.

Popularised by Surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali, it is a doodling game that involves 2 or more people collaborating on an art sketch without seeing what the big picture is. The paper is folded in such a way that you only see the “start points” left behind by the previous artist’s drawing, create an image based on that, and pass on your “end points” to the next artist to continue the drawing. The end result is often bizarre and very interesting.

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Smart Ocean Park: Redefining Seamless Park Experience

Smart Ocean Park: Redefining Seamless Park Experience 2560 1811 Design Business Chamber Singapore

Planning for trips can be a pain – with cancellations, long queues, etc. To enhance the experience, tools such as real-time park information, e-ticket distribution, and trip planning suggestions within the app allow users to conduct better planning and make informed decisions. Redefining Seamless Park Experience uses a user-centric design to enable visitors to have a more personalised and carefree park experience.

Amy Ip Co-founder,
Managing Director,
CaaS

1. How has the SG Mark benefited you?

SG Mark is organised by Design Business Chamber Singapore (DBCS), and it delivers a strong message on how design make impact on business growth. 

Receiving SG Mark has helped endorsed CaaS brand as design service quality, and design is not just a beautiful face on top of the service, but deeply integrated with service quality.

2. How do you think your design has impacted users?

  • Understand park info / plan / buy / app wallet
  • Recommended itineraries are designed to helped organisers of the trip to plan ahead for various needs of friends and family (e.g. family with young kid, teenagers, elders)
  • For certain rides or entertainment, age, height and physical fitness might be required. We have prompted those information ahead of time to avoid disappoint to the attraction
  • Users with time constraints need to get around efficiently for more attractions

Parents need to plan and re-plan spontaneously base on nap time or any other children’s need. Dealing with surprises, e.g. queue is 2-hours long upon arrival

3.  What was the most difficult moment when developing your idea?

The most difficult moment was understand the park guest needs (Empathy for guest / customers ) and translate into design is always challenging.  We have carefully crafted the project plan to ensure the goal can be accomplished:

– Interviewed Ocean Park guests on their trip planning and in-park and
after trip experience ( Before, during and after experience)

– Shadowed various groups of guest to understand their needs, queries
and inconvenient moment when they are visiting the park. Our
researchers spent 2 – 4 hours under sun or rain with each group of the
guest in order to get the essence of their experience.

– We have invited Ocean Park staff members (clients from various
department and level) to come work as one team to participate in
some of the guest interviews , to ensure cross team participate in
the Empathy process.

– A core team is formed to help manage and facilitate the whole design
process to keep cross department in the loop in the digital
transformation of Smart Park experience.

4. What are some new things you learned about yourself and the users as you were designing?

  • Ourselves: Empathy Research and service design as part is one of the key elements that helps drive the success of the Digital Design for this project with cross team.  When we first approaching the client with full Design Thinking approach, we were not sure if we can get the senior Directors buy in.  We are happy with the collaboration with Ocean Park in the process.
  • Guests:  Enjoying good times with friends and family at Ocean Park is the prime of the experience. We carefully design the digital experience to assist the guest to navigate around and provide assistance and it is not the prime itself

4. What are your future plans?

CaaS continues to believe user research and service design are fundamental elements that helps drive the success of the Digital Design.  We will continue to focus on supporting clients in building digital strategies, and provide learning programs to help our clients training their team to deliver exemplify digital experience.

5.  What was the inspiration behind your product/design/idea?

Users need is always the key for design. We cannot stop advocating the importance of looking into both qualitative and quantitative data for digital design. At early stage, we have identified the design should not be measured purely digital about download right, but how well it assist the guests to understand the park experience, plan and assist them to navigate for the best experience as our goal.

6. Did you experience designer’s block during your work process?

Truly integrating the digital experience with Park traveling experience is indeed more complicates than a merely digital business.  Technical challenges with other technical partners occurs and some of the original ideas may not be able to be triaged to future versions.

7. How do you unwind after the grind?

Although we love theme parks, our researcher may want to take a short break before going back to visit again after touring with guest every day for a month. 

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Telkomsel Brand Rejuvenation

Telkomsel Brand Rejuvenation 2560 1440 Design Business Chamber Singapore

With a new content strategy, visual design direction, and interaction models, Telkomsel rejuvenates its digital presence in the modern world. Grounded in a user-centric approach, the brand has been rejuvenated with a discovery-led website and an action-driven app that helps users make informed decisions with respect to telecommunications.

Grace Gandi Goesantoso, Service and Interaction Designer

1. How has the SG Mark benefited you?

Attaining the SG Mark has been a great encouragement for the team. It acknowledges and validates the rigorous attention and hours we’ve put in and spurs us to continue expanding the possibilities of what design can do. On a personal note, it’s been rewarding to be recognized for a public piece of work — as what we do is sometimes behind the scenes!

2. How do you think your design has impacted users?

One of our goals in revamping the two digital channels was to enable users to make better-informed decisions with ease, as well as provide a more delightful experience. I believe we were able to accomplish that through a combination of visual design and interaction design, resulting in a fresh look on top of recalibrated structures and simpler flows through the platforms. Users should now have less mental load when performing essential account actions, and content prioritizes their needs in context of where they are.

3. What was the most difficult moment when developing your idea?

Creating a new experience for a complex service that has been serving millions while ensuring that it is intuitive and familiar was the biggest challenge for our team. We definitely didn’t nail it on our first try and had many iterations before landing on our final design. It didn’t help that we were doing this project during the peak of the pandemic across multiple time zones and languages!

4. What are some new things you learned about yourself and the users as you were designing?

I became increasingly aware of my biases as a designer. At times, I would apply my own understanding and experience as a telco user to arrive at design decisions. I’ve learnt to constantly check my biases with my teammates and through testing with users to ensure that the final output is universal and accessible.

The process of testing our designs has also made me realise how unpredictable users can be! Some things that seem intuitive to one group might appear inaccessible to others. It’s so important to understand users’ mental models in context.

5. What are your future plans?

I hope to continue deepening my skills and practicing design to serve the needs of people, on projects both big and small!

6. What was the inspiration behind your product/design/idea?

For the website, the team took inspiration from direct competitors as well as indirect competitors (i.e. platforms where people spend the most time every day, such as social media platforms, banking platforms, e-commerce platforms, etc).

For the app, one inspiration was Apple’s Fitness visualizations in the form of rings. Telco packages in Indonesia can get very complex with many granular data categories. The use of the rings helps to elegantly fit more importantinformation about their data usage in one place using a familiar visual concept that can be understood at a glance.

7. Did you experience designer’s block during your work process?

Of course! Balancing user needs, technical feasibility and value for business can be rather challenging and even frustrating at times. Nonetheless, these “boundaries” have pushed our team and myself personally to design more interesting ideas.

8. How do you unwind after the grind?

Drinks after work, working out, and going down many rabbit holes on YouTube.

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HappyUrns: Celebration Kits

HappyUrns: Celebration Kits 732 750 Design Business Chamber Singapore

The Celebration Kit encourages discussions about death by celebrating life. Prompts in the kit are designed to plan loving gestures, events, and keepsakes to be passed down to their loved ones after they have passed. Death may be scary, which is all the more why it’s important to have moments of remembrance and celebration after one’s passing to bridge the irreparable rift created by death.

1.   How has the SG Mark benefited you?

It has allowed HappyUrns (HU), the design team behind HU – Design Innovation at SUTD, and our partners, both Lien Foundation and Ang Chin Moh, to gain additional media exposure. This positive outcome has created greater exposure for our community project and has allowed the public to better understand the importance of having open conversations about life and death.

2.   How do you think your design has impacted users?

Our design, both the Life-in-a-Year Book and Celebration Kit, has had a profound impact on users, providing an easy and creative platform to initiate a conversation between a user and a close friend, family member, or loved one. It has been distributed, physically and digitally, to thousands of individuals worldwide, sparking open and meaningful conversations about life and death.

This has been especially helpful for those with an elderly or terminally ill family member and friends, helping them to broach the topic of end of life while celebrating life and capturing memories that may be cherished forever. Additionally, it has helped and inspired journalers to restart and continue a journaling practice, especially in the important area of one’s life’s passions that may be passed and shared with loved ones.

Furthermore, it has brought family members and other loved ones closer together with meaningfully designed prompts to ask questions and capture the memories that we all desire. Ultimately, our design has been incredibly successful at inspiring these conversations, with users remarking on the profound impact it has had on their relationships with those around them.

3.   What was the most difficult moment when developing your idea?

Some of the difficulties that the team faced were managing constraints on the project in terms of time, the number of design sprints, length, format, etc. and choosing which ideas to discard and not move forward with.

4.   What are some new things you learned about yourself and the users as you were designing?

Through our user studies and interviews, we discovered that end-of-life conversations are universally difficult, and there is a strong need for tools to help people broach the subject. Constraints that we set while designing, such as budget, timeline, and creative boundaries based on user studies, allowed us to be creative while also remaining focused on our goal. We were surprised to discover that many people wanted a tool or approach to help them discuss end-of-life with someone close to them, as there were few opportunities to explore the subject before.

From our user studies, we learnt that the difficulty of end-of-life conversations is a common issue that crosses all types of user demographics and cultural backgrounds. We also saw that there is a need for contributions, such as the Life-in-a-Year Book and the Celebration Kit, which can help all people with mortality and celebrate the lives of their loved ones. With this knowledge, we can continue to design and iterate on proposed solutions in order to create a meaningful and impactful product.

5.   What are your future plans?

We are looking to expand the reach of our innovations by partnering with elderly community initiatives, healthcare outlets, and hospice care facilities in Singapore.  We are likewise considering evolving more innovation products and experiences for the topic of mortality and avenues that inspire individuals to reach out and celebrate life with loved ones. As this important area grows, we hope that start-ups will emerge, partnering with communities and healthcare groups.

6.   What was the inspiration behind your product/design/idea?

The inspiration behind the Life in a Year book and the Celebration Kit was the Resident’s Urn project, which started in 2019, was developed with seven residents of St’s Joseph’s Home in Singapore. Through iterative user studies and design innovation applications, we wanted to create an artefact or experience that would resonate with a larger number of people and make a profound impact on their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

During our user studies, we encountered two powerful quotes: “My journals speak louder than my ashes” and “A memory box keeps me in touch with my loved ones every moment”. These quotes inspired us to create the Life in a Year book and the Celebration Kit, which are designed to help people capture and celebrate their most precious memories.

7.       Did you experience designer’s block during your work process?

Most definitely, we believe it is a natural process to encounter designer’s block whilst designing, and something to be embraced. Coming up with simple prompts that can be applied by users for their daily journal was one of the designer’s block that we faced during our work process as we had to ideate and develop prompts that were simple to understand yet allowed users to dig deep into themselves and allowing their loved ones to understand them too.  We overcame such blocks by applying and living the foundations of Design Innovation: people, process, methods, principals, and mindsets, executed with a diverse design team and with iterative and quick design sprints.

8.   How do you unwind after the grind?

Design is a journey, a journey with partners and colleagues.  We unwind during and after the design grind through a family environment in which we play, we share food, we encourage and support each other, and we cherish each other’s traits, personalities, and differences.



We are so grateful to our amazing team of designers who worked together to create our Life in a Year book and Celebration Kit: Prof. Kris, Xin Yan, Adya, Amanda, Sabrina, Justin, Jeanette, Siska, Angelina, Joyce, Lorraine. A special thanks to our partners, Lien Foundation and Ang Chin Moh Foundation, for their support and contribution to this project.


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REX

REX 1080 1080 Design Business Chamber Singapore

A new cleaning king. An autonomous cleaning robot designed for large commercial places, the Rex has proven itself to be a cleaning powerhouse. With a class-leading brush size, cutting-edge autonomous navigation technology, and an auto-docking system that automatically refills fluids, drains waste, and charges the robot – Rex embodies what a cleaning machine should aspire to be.

Tan Wei Hua, Lead Designer,
Lionsbot International


1.      What was the most difficult moment when developing your idea?

Defining the initial concept and direction is critical in getting the rest of the design process to flow. It’s arguably the most challenging moment when facing a blank sheet of paper and the immense responsibility of creating the concept.

When designing robots, it’s often easiest to apply an anthropomorphic, zoomorphic or machine-like form.

I believe that robots should not be caricatures of living things but possess a form representative of their purpose while still truly coming alive.

It was definitely a huge challenge to develop a design concept that is purposeful and representative of the product function while being interactive with an emotional appeal.

2.      What are some new things you learned about yourself and the users as you were designing?

As with every challenging project and experience, I definitely discovered new capabilities and stretched limits within myself.

New challenges always elicit new thought processes or problem-solving methods that come up intuitively as response. I find that these are actually revisited time and again in future as additional tools in my designer’s toolbox.

With this design, I also saw first-hand just how impactful the aesthetic of a product can be to users, especially for the first impression.

In order to establish it as a function with higher business value, designers have been encouraged to prioritise capabilities in problem-solving, strategy and user-centricity. Sometimes we forget to design for beauty.

Seeing the reactions of wonder, delight, and amazement in users who saw the robot for the first time, enabling a highly positive starting engagement with the product, was truly rewarding.

3.      What are your future plans?

I believe that robots in human environments are going to become more capable, integrated and relevant in the near future, due to the recent technology becoming more readily available (e.g., 5G, machine learning, computer vision)

More and more robots are going to be deployed in the spaces we live in, and they will be more intelligent and sensitive to their environments.

Design is going to have a very vital role to play in this. While sensors inform the robot and AI powers its decision making, design needs to be there to bridge the interaction between human and robot – as it has for decades in the form of HMI.

While UI/UX design is already established as the most widespread and recent form of designing human-machine interfaces, human-robot interaction will take it one step further.

Design enables robots to communicate beyond words and graphics on a screen; through form, motion, audio-visual expression and more, facilitating intuitive deployment, trust, companionship, and collaborative work.

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MPillow – Modular Pillow

MPillow – Modular Pillow 2560 1675 Design Business Chamber Singapore

Mpillow is a fully modular and adjustable pillow that can be customised to suit your needs. Beyond firmness, it is designed based on your body structure to ensure a best fit and can help improve your sleeping habits and sleeping posture.

Darren Yeo, Founder of MPillow
  1. What was the most difficult moment when developing your idea?

One of the issues about conventional pillows is the inability to wash them. We spent an average of 8 hours sleeping on our pillow. Overtime, dirt and oil start to build up. Even though the pillow case is washable, the dirts can cause bacteria in the pillow.

As I am hygiene conscious, I was adamant to design my pillow to be able to clean easily. It took many years of research, redesigning, and users testing to come up with a fully-machine washable pillow that protects the filling cushions from sweat, dust and germs. 

2. What are some new things you learned about yourself and the users as you were designing?

I realised that a one-size pillow cannot fit everyone. Each individual has a unique body shape, size and preferred sleeping position. I see the need for the pillow to fit an individual and not the other way round.

To better understand how to get a good night’s sleep, I was mentored by a Taiwanese chirporactor, Mr Zheng Yunlong to identify the right pillow to use to correct sleep posture. Through these five year of learnings and experiences, the Mpillow was finally made. 

3. What are your future plans?

We are looking to increase our online presence to create awareness and education about the importance of sleep and how our customisable Mpillow can help others to achieve that. We noticed younger people are also facing sleeping problems and being on social media and e-commerce platforms give us the opportunity to reach out to them.

Being online also extend our presence beyond Singapore as we are looking to take the expanding our business to other countries such as Malaysia. 

4. What was the inspiration behind your product/design/idea?

Our journey began in 2016, when Darren suffered from chronic neck pain due to ill-fitting pillows. Despite trying every pillow that promised good neck and head support, nothing worked.

Feeling frustrated and eager for a restful sleep, Darren tapped on his experience and training as an engineer to design, sculpt and stitch together a pillow to give the right support. After many months of trial and error, he finally had his first good night’s sleep. Importantly, his self-crafted pillow with its unique “M” shape eliminated his neck and shoulder pain.

Delighted with his creation, Darren shared Mpillow with family and friends. After receiving good reviews from them, he realised that his pillow can help others who were suffering from neck and shoulder pain. Determined to help fellow pain sufferers, Darren decided to make the Mpillow available to everyone who needs it.

5. How has the SG Mark benefited you?

As the winner of the SG Mark, it has helped to boost the brand credibility of Mpillow to our customers and made our team very proud. The award also reflects us as a proud Singapore company that leverages on design and innovation to increase value in our product offerings. 

6. How do you think your design has impacted users?

Most of our customers who come to us experienced difficulty in sleeping due to neck pain, headaches and other problems. This is due to the lack of pillow options to fit their unique body build and their sleeping preferences. The Mpillow is designed to solve these problems with our patented “M” design. Our customised pillows help our customers sleep comfortably by providing them the right support to fulfill a better night’s sleep. 

7. Did you experience designer’s block during your work process?

I believe most designers can agree with me. Sometimes, I would find myself revisiting the same issue and that’s when I know I have to take a proactive approach. I would take a step back, before revisiting it to see if I can spot any solutions with a fresher perspective. It also helps for me to discuss it with my team and get some ideas from them. 

8. How do you unwind after the grind?

I enjoy taking long walks and surround myself with nature. I unwind by playing the guitar and sometimes I get some inspiration from it. I also like hanging out with my friends to explore my surroundings for inspiration.


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