Meet the Phaidra Design team

Hey there, we’re the design team at Phaidra. We’re an AI company that’s bringing self-learning control systems to data centers. We’re helping improve energy efficiency, safety, and reliability in huge waves as the industrial field needs to keep up with the world’s dependency on large scale data centers — and everything it takes to run them.

As for the team itself, we’re a group of curious individuals with a desire to create a seamless experience across our products and brand. We love simplifying the complex, are big fans of data visualization, design systems, and dashboard designs, among other things.

The purpose of this blog is to share designy stuff, like optimizing our process, deep dives into things we worked on, and so on. We’re hoping it’ll drive interest into Phaidra when it comes time for our team to grow.

As of fall 2023, the team consists of three product designers and one brand designer:

Art by Ily (Eye-Lee) Phelps

Mandi Fong

• Title: Design Lead
• Location: San Mateo, CA
• How did you get into design? I drew a lot as a kid and spent most of my days in the art room at school so it was a natural next step for me. I primarily focused on print design but loved the iterative nature in digital design. From there, I’ve transitioned from interactive advertising design, to branding and visual design, to UI design, and now to product design.
• What’s your favorite part of the design process? Learning and research. It’s why I’ve dabbled in so many different forms of design. I want to keep growing and expanding my skillsets.
• What’s the best part of working remotely? Honestly, it’s the time saved from having to commute. Instead of spending an hour train ride each way to an office, I have time for breakfast with my baby and can take my dog on a walk at lunch. It’s lovely.
• What do you enjoy doing outside of work? Anything not on a screen. Reading, I’m learning water color painting, stand up paddle board, hiking, and eating out (this counts, right?)
• What’s your favorite food? Sushi and all Japanese food. Thankfully I live in a high density Japanese area that has a lot of great options.

Mélanie Yeche

• Title: Staff Product Designer
• Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
• How did you get into design? I stumbled into Product design after a lot of trial and error. Having a science communication diploma I tried my hand at being a journalist, a museum educator and even a french teacher for while. After a while I went back to school to study Graphic design but fell in love with UX design and I’ve been doing it ever since.
• What’s your favorite part of the design process? I like the really early beginning of the process were you are just generating ideas to find the best solution. There is something exciting about it like solving a mystery.
• What’s the best part of working remotely? I often struggle with keeping myself focused and having the opportunity to work at my own pace, taking break when I need or can’t stop being distracted, has been very helpful. The occasional opportunity to take a nap has also been great 😉
• What do you enjoy doing outside of work? I love everything that revolves around storytelling, I am an avid book and graphic novel reader, I love playing immersive boardgames, video games and I am obsessed with audio drama. I enjoy craft and do a lot of knitting, crochet, drawing and painting. Making the most out of living in California I also love hiking surrounded by redwoods
• What’s your favorite food? There is too many to choose from! My favorite cuisines are Vietnamese, French and Mexican. I also have a fondness for tater tots but never give me a root beer float!

Gabby Tran

• Title: Product Designer
• Location: Dallas, TX
• How did you get into design? My husband was watching a finance video on YouTube, and the person sharing their story said they were a UX Designer. My husband thought this would be something I would enjoy. I looked into it and found it to be interesting. I decided to sign up for a UX Design Bootcamp to learn the basic skills, and from then on, I knew this was something I wanted to do.
• What’s your favorite part of the design process? I enjoy the early wireframe process. From creating low-fidelity wireframes to sharing them with our cross-functional team is my favorite part. It allows me to explore concepts early on and share a potential solution to the problem. It puts into play what I’ve researched early on. And even if the designs are off, the feedback given to me gives me a sense of direction. It brings new energy to continue with my work.
• What’s the best part of working remotely? Not having to commute is a big perk. Instead, I utilize that time to go to the gym. I’ll come home, get ready for the day, and eat breakfast without having to rush out the door. I also get to be with my dog all day, which is a big plus!
• What do you enjoy doing outside of work? I enjoy taking evening walks with my husband and dog, Cooper. I also recently got back into reading, so relaxing on the couch with my Kindle is something I do at least twice a week.
• What’s your favorite food? I love a good burger and crinkled fries! Whenever I’m not feeling a burger, my next options are either tacos or sushi!

Ily Phelps

• Title: Brand Designer
• Location: Nashville, TN
• How did you get into design? In high school I had a friend who loved to screenprint so I learned a bit from him and he gave me my first Adobe (CS2?). After that I was encouraged to apply for a Design School by my art teacher and the rest is hist-ILY. (I’m also the reigning pun-master at Phaidra 😂)
• What’s your favorite part of the design process? I love concepting for a logo/brand and then creating all the cohesive elements that come together to bring that concept to life. There can be so many small nuance things that connect back to the main idea that the audience might not notice, but having the intention behind it is my happy place. I also really love when I work on something small but can make it creative or fun in some way and it makes my team smile.
• What’s the best part of working remotely? Getting to take breaks outside with my dogs when it’s nice outside, and really just being with them so they are not at home alone all day. It’s also great to be able to save money on food and coffee by making it at home.
• What do you enjoy doing outside of work? I rollerskate once a week, and make earrings and art in my free time. I learned how to use a laser cutter this year and work at a maker space to a few times a month to test out new designs.
• What’s your favorite food? Something I really love is a good Bahn Mi sandwich, but I do usually take off those long jalapeños. 🤭

If you want to learn more, subscribe or check us out at phaidra.ai. Also, connect with me (Mandi) on Linkedin as I’ll post when hiring opens.