My Interview with Insight.Design
Bady, Design Team Lead at DBS Bank Singapore
Currently, Bady leads one of the design teams at DBS Singapore. In this interview session, Bady will share about his experience working as a designer in neighbouring countries (Singapore), the story of his life and how he ended up working at DBS. Thank you Bady!
Hi Bady, what are you busy with?
Right now, I am focusing on hiring and leading one of the design teams. Some projects that my team and I are working on include chat-banking and public website, and we are also helping another design team in CBG UX Design to work on a key initiative project for 1 to 2 years.
Can you tell me how you moved and ended up working at DBS Singapore?
When I worked in Wego, I met some PayPal designers while attending a design conference in Singapore. Since then, we often talked about design until one of my friends offered me the opportunity to join the team that he would eventually form from scratch in a bank in Singapore.
I was a bit hesitant when I first found out that he would create a team at DBS Bank because I am more familiar with startup culture. I felt challenged because I think the banking industry is classified as a sector that has a wide impact.
The team is part of the Consumer Banking Group (CBG) and designs bank products such as mobile banking, internet banking, public websites, investment, remittances, digital payments, chatbots and other products related to consumers. As a leader, he has a personality as well as visions and missions that are interesting, which was why I was interested to take on the job as a Senior Product Designer. After some time through the interview process, I was finally accepted.
Ads: If any colleagues are interested in taking on the challenge of being a senior product designer in the banking world and want to work overseas, you can contact me at hello@bady.co
How does it feel to work overseas with people of different languages and cultures?
Since I have been freelancing for years and have many clients from the U.S., there has not been any significant obstacles as far as language is concerned. With culture however, I had to initally adapt to other divisions that can sometimes be more individualistic and too business-minded.
The diversity of backgrounds and countries within the design team makes me more open and flexible. We share new things and respect each other’s differences. To increase teamwork between the team members, we usually hold a creative day event once a month. The activities are different every month. Examples include dragon boating, hosting a charity day, partaking in archery, drama class, calligraphy class, and even a cooking class.
What are the biggest challenges of working as a designer in the banking industry?
The banking industry is one of the most conservative and bureaucratic businesses. As a designer, we are challenged not only to design the products desired by consumers but also to provide value to the company in terms of business. In my opinion, the biggest challenge is making financial products easy to use and understand while also having a sustainable business model.
During the early days when I joined DBS, design was merely complementary to the company, and innovation and design detail was not a priority. When the company’s CEO visualised the importance of a digital transformation, design began to be considered as a priority in supporting the development of the company’s business. Since DBS is the largest bank in Singapore, the bank’s customers became one of the biggest challenges because we were required to be able to accommodate the needs of different consumers.
Your role is AVP in User Experience & Design. What does this role look like?
Actually, AVP (Assistant Vice President) is a level/ranking based on the hierarchy in DBS. In the banking industry, a management rank is adjusted based on the level of responsibility and experience someone has (Analyst, Associate, AVP, VP, and more until the role of Managing Director). As for the role in DBS itself, I am the Team Lead/Manager in CBG Digital-UX Design.
Outside of design, what is the greatest lesson that you got while working in DBS?
Many parties involved in the making of every product has trained me to think not only as a designer but from the point of view of a consumer as well as a business (holistic view).
I learned to be more positive and creative in addressing the challenges that come with designing either from a technical point of view, following a timeline or through a stakeholder’s perspective. In the end, it trained me and the team to be better at articulating the ideas as well as make better design decisions.
Besides having the opportunity to develop other design skills, working in a company as big as DBS has given me new knowledge in the form of soft skills, especially communication, managing and leadership which I did not get much in the past.
What activities/hobbies do you partake in outside of work?
Currently, photography is my main hobby in spare time. It inspires me and helps me to relieve the stress. Also, I usually spend time playing with my son or sharing with my wife about any matter. Maintaining a work-life balance is important to maintaining productivity and work efficiency so that we will not get easily stressed out.
What book did you last read and would like to recommend to the Insight’s readers?
Radical Candor. This book is about how to be a good manager/leader/ boss. It’s recommended for designers or anyone who wants to be a team lead and/or manager. There are many examples of Dos and Don’ts as case studies that we can learn and make references from. Last but not least is Designing Interface Animation. For designers who like the interaction and motion and want to know more details about designing animation effectively without going overkill, this book could make good reference material.
This is a translation of the interview article written in Bahasa from the fellow designers at Insight.Design. (Checkout the original Interview here )
