Team Spotlight: Wendy
A nurturing and empathetic leader driven to solve problems
To close out the year, we sat down with Wendy, the mastermind behind 55 Minutes, who keeps it running smoothly day in and day out.
Q: Hi Wendy! Tell me, who is Wendy in a nutshell?
A: I am happy to declare I am an ambivert — I find pleasure in my solitude, but I also need frequent contact with others. During the early days of Covid, I appreciated the permission to be with myself more, but when I could not meet people I adore in person, I felt I was shriveling up. Ambiversion causes me to innately strive for balance. The idealist in me wants to change the world and save everyone, but I am also extremely pragmatic. A bit more pessimism swims in my blood but as a company founder and a mother to two girls, I know the value of leading with optimism. I can be immensely stubborn, yet open enough to change my mind where needed.
Q: Talk to me a bit about your journey to leading 55 Minutes.
A: For more than 10 years, I worked as a designer and a creative director in both the print and digital design industries. I enjoyed the journey, but I felt something was missing.
There was a certain sense of dissatisfaction with coming up with design solutions driven by business goals or based on the assumptions of a few individuals. When I learned user experience is really about empathy for the problem and the people, something clicked in my head — I wanted to become a better problem-solver! (Told you I wanted to change the world and save everyone, haha.) So I dove deeper into the human-centered design and also got myself certified as a usability analyst.
With the director of Potato Productions, I co-founded 55 Minutes, a user experience design company. Our vision was to bring empathy into our design journey. We achieve this by bringing the users back into the decision-making process. Only with an understanding of what people need emotionally, functionally, and socially, then we can better meet those needs. We want the solutions we create to be useful to people and bring them joy while using them.
Q: And what led you to this career of design in the first place?
A: I suppose the path of my life presented itself to me and I just took one step at a time? At five years old, I wanted to work in a bank. Between 10 and 18, a teacher; at 21, a 3D animator. There was no point in my life where I was 100% decided “I am going to do this!”
My parents never wanted me to be a designer, but since I was a small girl, I have always gravitated towards visually appealing things. The way illustrations, color, textures, and typography come together to form something meaningful intrigues me. I’d say my true love and instinct for design were given more opportunities to shine during my days in Nanyang Polytechnic, where I took a digital media design course.
Q: What do you enjoy most about leading 55 Minutes?
A: I suspect I am secretly addicted to building something from scratch and nurturing it, seeing it grow. In the beginning, shaping everything from the company name, our values and mission, and even how the logo would look was hard work, but exciting. The process of putting together a team was a roller coaster ride, but it energizes me. Now that I have a team (and am still growing it), there is a lot of joy working with them because they are so creative and passionate about their craft. They make me want to build a positive workplace culture for them, so they can continuously shine and thrive.
Q: Ahh, I love that last part so much. What is perhaps the most challenging part of leading a team?
A: Making every single decision! I am talking about running an entire company, not just leading a team. The amount of administrative work taking place on a daily basis, behind the scenes, is surprisingly massive. It tends to take me away from the actual work I’d rather be doing more of, which is the research and coming up with designs alongside the team.
When it comes to leading them, it is a constant challenge to engage effectively with every member, and be on top of all the projects. It gets harder when the group gets bigger but Julie Zhuo from Facebook has some interesting insights on this.
Q: Are there any interesting projects you’re working on right now that you’d like to highlight?
A: We appreciate being involved in EdTech to add value by improving the learners’ experiences. We relished our current opportunity to redesign a student’s learning platform for one of our clients, SmartJen. We’re increasing engagement for upper primary school students through gamification elements and creating a fun experience.
Other than clients’ work, we also create our own products since we are so big on solving problems. We have been developing Capy, an app that seeks to help parents to facilitate both academic excellence and mental wellbeing for their children. The whole team’s recent findings from the Beta Test we conducted provided valuable insights, so the team’s focusing on refining the features and conducting research on how to encourage children in the areas of self-determination.
We are also excited about a series of podcasts that everyone on the team has had a hand in producing! It is in collaboration with ArtWave, a local audio content house. Every episode explores a particular experience that involves voice technology or sound. Look out for the launch of this series titled Can You Hear Us in January 2022!
Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a career in design?
A: 1. Read. 2. Read widely. 3. Write down reflections.
Reading with critical thinking helps us ponder deeper about the problem we are trying to solve, and the value of the design we are putting out. Reading widely gives us knowledge in other areas of discipline which comes in super handy as a form of analogous inspiration. Lastly, reflections internalize the learning. The act of writing sharpens the way we express ourselves and improves the way we communicate our designs to others.
Q: What advice would you give to a young professional in general who is looking to grow and learn?
A: Seek to become a T-shaped person. This was coined by Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO Design Consultancy, or by McKinsey & Company in the ’80s. Basically, adopt a generalist mindset while developing expertise for which people would go for that domain knowledge. This is something I try very hard to facilitate for my team when I am looking into their growth and development.
Another thing I’d like to highlight is, don’t just focus on the technical — or what we call hard skills. The willingness to learn how to be empathetic, actively listen to others, be clear and concise in your communications, and give and receive effective feedback are the various keys someone would need for both personal and professional development.
Finally, the best way to learn is by doing it! Don’t be afraid to put yourself in situations where you’d be unfamiliar with something at first.
Q: Apart from design, what other interests do you have? How do you keep yourself occupied outside of work?
A: I am that kind of person who has interests in many different things but never for too long a period. I have done watercolor and acrylic painting, stamp carving, hand lettering, pottery, and I love everything! I am now trying to be more consistent in one thing — exercise. I also have a corner of house plants that I should water less enthusiastically. Work and family demands a lot from me so taking long walks at the Rail Corridor is something I try to carve out time for once a week. Being among nature helps restore my body and mind.
Q: I know you and your team bond a lot over food. What are some of your favorite foods and go-to restaurants in Singapore?
A: Too many favorites! I am a typical Singaporean so my soft spot goes to whatever falls under the category of our local hawker fare. Recently I just had a (light-hearted, not those somber morbid ones) conversation with my two daughters on what they should eat on my death anniversary, in remembrance of me — I opted for Teochew porridge. But the cuisine that gives me tremendous amounts of happy vibes has got to be Japanese food. And earl grey lavender soft serve with waffles from The Sunday Folks. The place is always super crowded. That’s not fun, so no, you don’t wanna go there (then I don’t have to queue for so long!).
It was fun to chat with Wendy to close out the year! Outside of work, you can find Wendy struggling to progress from knee-to-ground push-ups to a proper push-up, and then seeking comfort by watering her house plants because push-ups are hard. Her journey towards achieving her first “legit” push-up, and fitness in general, is to be continued.
