Syasya Nur Nasriyah — Elevating UX through motion design
The electric piano. An acoustic guitar. A dainty ukulele. Sizzling electric bass. Not impressed? Throw in a keyboard and a violin, and you’ve got a melodic arsenal of musical instruments fit for a maestra.
That maestra is none other than Senior UI/UX Designer Syasya Nur Nasriyah, and she’s got that ultra-kind of love for music that is sure to cause earthquakes. And that kind of love? It runs in the family.
She has two brothers, both of whom are heavily involved in music, and are also part of a band themselves. Which leads Syasya to wildly explore her love of kinetic tunes and pursue the more adventurous side of her creative wonders in music. And when she starts picking up new instruments that she’s interested in, it’s only a matter of time before she adds it into her euphonious catalogue.
However, we’re barely scratching the surface of who Syasya actually is. Is she a bottled star that’s eager to be popped open, or is she about to go Tonya Harding on the whole world’s knee?
Either way, we’ll uncover her introduction to video editing and visual effects, her illustrious UI/UX journey thus far, and her animated spirit when it comes to sports and the learning of languages.
Taking a leap of faith into visual effects
Passions and interests can often begin in a myriad of ways that might seem confusing or befuddling. However, most of them are anchored by inspirations, love of the craft, or even an influence they may have followed growing up. But for Syasya, her love for visual effects was born out of something completely different.
When she was younger, Syasya believed that scoring well for her academics was the way forward for her. She had envisioned her life as such: complete her secondary school studies, enter into a good university, and then off to a life well-planned ahead.
But as her heavy metal ship left the harbour and headed downstream to the next port, her compass shifted, and the tides turned quicker under dark skies.
“At first, I thought that was what I wanted,” she recalled, “but I realised that it wasn’t something that I wanted to do, or that I wasn’t an ‘academic person’, and I decided early on that I wanted to do something else.”
And so when her ship finally settled across the raging seas, she rejigged her sails, charted a new course, and began on her newfound expedition. When it finally came time for her to choose her calling for her diploma, she came across the three words that would forever alter the shape of her ambitions: ‘Digital visual effects’.
Those three words were all it took for her to unleash her sails and go full steam ahead.
“I felt digital visual effects were pretty niche,” Syasya said when thinking about her choice. “No one I knew was doing that, so I thought maybe I’d be the first in my circle of friends to do it. Maybe it was the prospect of something new. And so I did, and I realised that I actually loved it.”
While the waters may seem calm from the outside looking in, Syasya discovered early on that being alone in her clique meant that she didn’t have the support beams she needed to help her. But that was merely a roadblock, and something that she overcame.
“After a while, the love for the craft took over. The worry started to evaporate, and the more that I did, the more that I realised it was something you go through, you find out, and you learn. Always make a note of something so that you can come back to it in the future.”
With her love for visual effects blooming, there was still a problem. Syasya found that she was stuck in the jet wash when it came time for her to kick-start her career as a visual effects artist. But as one proverbial door closed, another one rocked open.
“I met a friend of my lecturer’s who was looking for a video editor at the time,” she said during her final year in school. “So I went into that company, and she was very open with my background with visual effects.”
Syasya got more hands-on experience to dabble into visual effects on the side as a video editor as the company picked up more projects for her team to work on. She also made a promise to her seniors that her daily work wouldn’t be disrupted, and thus, got the support and belief she needed to go further and meet what she wanted to do.
This wouldn’t be possible without her creative expression of always wanting to explore and to create something tangible, be it in sculptures or creating videos with a blistering soul. “I really love crafting and DIY-ing, so I would spend hours making gifts. I love seeing things come to life,” Syasya said.
In the world of visual effects, much has already been said about how costly and detrimental deadlines can be to a team and individuals on that team. And she was no stranger to that as well.
“I was young and inexperienced at the time, and I didn’t really hold my ground, which was normal for anyone in my position at that stage in their careers,” she said.
“If I were to do things differently, I would take a pause, breathe, and assess the situation. The moment you start to panic, everyone panics, and it’s on you to take that first step to breathe and get a control of things.”
After 2 fulfilling and enriching years in her role as a video editor, Syasya found that the passion that she had for visual effects had waned, and she felt that her skills had carried her as far as she could go. She had a good run, even she had to admit.
While she kept her hopes of one day returning to the realms of video editing and visual effects, she embarked on a new journey, a hackathon organised by General Assembly. She was there to watch participants present their work and what they’ve accomplished, and that was when it opened her eyes to the world of UI/UX.
“I just thought it was so cool,” she said. “In my line of work, I don’t know how people are going to receive it. I made it, and that’s it. I won’t know what people think until much later, and we won’t do anything about it. However, UX was making sure that the things we do are useful to the user when we put it out there.”
“I thought ‘maybe I should try this’ as it has a sense of fulfilment that I don’t get with video making. I went and researched a couple of courses, picked one, and the rest is history.”
Trial by UX fire
Syasya can take any user problem away with a nod and a wave of her hand ’cause that’s just the kind of visual designer she is, but her road to getting here was a rocky one.
She had enrolled into a 3 months User Experience Design Immersive (UXDI) course through General Assembly that taught her everything she needed to know as a UX designer. But a short time span, a swamp of projects, and an apply-as-you-learn process meant that Syasya had to pick things up and move — fast.
“It was so intense!” Syasya said as she remembered her times in the course. “It’s a bootcamp, and they’re teaching everything you need to know to get started into UX. And when you learn it, you immediately have to apply it in your project.”
In those 3 challenging months, Syasya and her group mates worked across varyingly different UX projects, all while leveraging each other’s knowledge, skills, and understanding to create good user experiences. After all, the only payoff for having any faith is when it’s tested again and again everyday.
In addition to her UX course, she has also dipped her toes into the pool of knowledge, seeking any UX or design-related events that could help her and her team to elevate their learnings even further.
“I was just very excited about all these new things and I wanted to try everything!”
Syasya was also making sure that her learning also evolved in the way she used her applications too. On social media, she would frequently catch up on learning tools shared by fellow design leaders in the field, following Instagram accounts to read up on them and learn something new everyday.
With her experiences in visual effects, Syasya saw a new perspective and lens into UX: interaction design. She scoured the internet for inspirations on how other designers were working in their field to elevate interactions on apps, and came across product designer Johny Vino who she actively followed to see how he was constantly ideating and trying new things.
One idea in particular, a music player redesign that Syasya still remembered, saw Johny replace the floating skip button with a vinyl swivel that users could drag in a circle to change to the next tune. Though that idea didn’t take off, and doesn’t have to, she still saw it as an opportunity in how she could explore ideas and freely experiment through interactions.
“The ideas don’t always have to work. It’s just thinking about what it would look like if it was different,” she said.
At the end of her course, Syasya and her batch mates had a final showcase to display all of their completed projects, walk through what they’ve done, and what type of designer they identified themselves as.
For Syasya, her branding came close to her heart, crafted out from her previous experiences as a visual effects artist and video editor.
“I branded myself as a motion designer. I wanted something that captured both VFX and animation, and the best word to describe everything I did was motion.”
To stand out from the rest of the other graduates, Syasya went the old school route. While her work was undoubtedly digital, she created and printed 2 booklets of her projects that she was most proud of. Not only did these two projects capture the essence and strengths of her as a motion designer, but it also showcased her talents on bright, full display.
And shortly after graduating, Syasya contacted agencies and companies to find her next nest, and finally did. She made her way down to the Singapore Aleph studio one sunny afternoon, and flipped open the next chapter of her career and a full-blown deep dive into UX.
Motion, meet user-centric design
When she got to work on her first UX project, Syasya was ready to implement all of her learnings she had picked up from her course. That meant user research, identifying pain points, and solving real user problems, only to realise that the opportunity she was expecting had already been done.
“In my first project, there was someone who already collected all of the information and had repackaged it into requirements for us to fulfil as designers,” she said. “It was quite challenging for me as I realised that I wanted to know everything!”
Her first project helped her to learn her ropes in a short span of time, all while making sure that she was designing for real users. Still, nothing she had learnt thus far could properly prepare her for what was about to happen.
“I realised that UX was a really big process. So in some projects, you may need to break it down and assign specific people for specific parts of the process,” she said.
In her next project, she finally got to see the full spectrum of UX roles converge, from research to content to designing for an actual, tangible output for real users.
With that second project, Syasya also had to pick up skills that weren’t necessarily involved in UX. That meant solving problems beyond its requirements, or even managing stakeholders and expectations.
“When I started working, my plan was to always do right by the users and service the users, but they aren’t the only people involved in the process,” she said, naming stakeholders who have placed their finances on the line to ensure that the project sees it to completion.
However, Syasya believes that we shouldn’t lose sight of the most important aspect of why we design, and that is to be user-first — always.
“If you are a stakeholder, or someone who wants a product to be done, your focus should be on the users who will be using it. If it doesn’t satisfy the users who will be using that product, then why are you even designing it?”
Syasya was also quick to point out that just like designers themselves, stakeholders have a vision of how the product should be, look, and feel. They believe in the product just as much as anyone else.
“They have this dream of putting out a product, one that fills a gap in the market or solves a need for users, and they see themselves as the driving force in helping other people,” she said. “And when they see designers come in and challenge their ideas, or give new solutions, they might be reluctant to change.”
Syasya also mentions that every individual working on the project is just as committed in ensuring that the product that goes out to market is, definitively, a good product in the end.
That has carried over even until now, where she’s had to hold forts as a solo act in projects and pick up core essential skills, such as managing her own team, people, and how she presents herself and her work to clients and stakeholders.
With another skill added into her already diverse arsenal, Syasya still considers herself a motion designer at heart, and one that continues to speak in that language too. But when asked if there was anything that she’d pursue if given the chance, she said that it would be 3D modelling.
“It’s creating CGI characters or objects in the machine. For example, I modelled a tank for an assignment in school and made it move,” she said. “So I want to bring that aspect into motion, such as making a character in 3D and animating that character, rather than doing it in 2D. I’d like to try and go back into the 3D space.”
A cover story now in stores
As she continues to elevate her craft, Syasya’s also making sure that she’s spending enough time on her own personal interests and passions, such as her love for language.
While she’s only able to speak fluently in Malay and English, she’s made attempts to pick up French, Dutch, Finnish and more in recent years. It was a hobby that she’s slowly picked up over time, and one she’s still making sure she gets enough time to learn everyday.
“When my grandmother passed in 2017, I realised we used less and less Malay in the household.” she said. “While trying to actively inject Malay in my daily conversations, I started to notice nuances about how I converse in English versus how I converse in Malay, from elements like tone and word choice, down to the thought process and attitude in delivery.”
However, she realised that the most difficult hurdle of learning a new language was making mistakes. She immersed herself in media such as shows, films, and music, but without someone to practise with, her learning slowed. Fortunately, when she started picking up languages through meet-ups with others and even learning from others who were native speakers of that language, she was able to learn progressively.
“One thing I’ve yet to do, is to record myself telling stories in a target language once every week. I’ve heard it’s one of the best ways to get acquainted with a language and learn new phrases,” she said.
Of course, language isn’t the only highlight in her starry history. When she was just 12, Syasya entered into the competitive bowling scene. She had ambitious goals, and one of them was to reach the ceilings of competing on the national stage. Alas, life got in the way, and even if she still feels that rush in her veins, she believes that the opportunity has passed for her.
Though Syasya couldn’t bring herself to call except to call it quits with bowling, she’ll still take with her all of the highs that she’s accomplished. This includes placing silver in the POL-ITE Competition, one that she’ll never forget.
Syasya translated that competitive energy into other sports too, such as the Thailand combat sport, Muay Thai and touch rugby. What does this mean? Well, she’ll land on you like a sucker punch.
“My brother had signed up for a gym and he was telling me that you’ll get all the equipment you need and classes that taught Muay Thai. I always wanted to learn martial arts, and since my brother’s already there, at least I have someone to go with,” she said on how her roots with Muay Thai.
And so she did. She tried it, fell in love, and always looks forward to her sessions every week. “I like that in Muay Thai, it’s very calculated,” she explained. “Every move has a purpose and a strategy behind it. A punch is not just a punch, it could be a setup for a different kind of hit.”
Today, the Syasya we know and love isn’t just a radiating beam of strength and solidity. She’s also a champion in adapting to her situations, in rising to overcome odds, and balancing work and play, all while elevating her skills through an ever-evolving mindset. The only thing that’s stopping her is her.
And as her story reaches a wider audience, she’d also like to take the opportunity to share the love that she has for motion to those around her a little bit more. “Our work, our project, and our craft can benefit from having that extra level of interaction or visuals,” she said. “And it should already be common practice given how long it’s been introduced to the world.”
“In short, I would like motion design to be involved in a lot more projects earlier on, and I can start by sharing that thinking first.”
Special thanks to Syasya Nur Nasriyah for sharing her story, to Evangelyn Stephen for interviewing, and to Don Ng for proofreading the feature.
