Roots

Tisha Ibasco is the Experience Design Lead at Accenture, helping build the capability of UX in the Philippines. She leads a team of 20 designers based in Manila and Cebu. Before that, she was a Product Design Lead at Stratpoint. As an experience designer, she likes to dive deep into her projects and its uncertainties to help design thoughtful products. She puts considerable thought in understandin...

I caught up with Dan Matutina — a graphic designer and illustrator. He is a founding partner at Plus63 Design Co. and the Hydra Design Group. He has worked on projects for brands such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Pinterest, Airbnb, Samsung, WIRED Magazine, Fast Co., Wallpaper*, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Coca-Cola, Havaianas, Heineken, Uniqlo to name a few. At Plus63 Design Co., he dev...

I interviewed Tata Yap, she's a creative director for digital agency Code and Theory Manila — working with clients like Doctors Without Borders (MSF.org), the World Health Organisation, C40 Cities, and the International Crisis Group. She works to teach, and teaches to work, juggling her roles with 8 years of being a lecturer of type, web and graphic design at the Ateneo de Manila University where...

Denise Haak is the Chief Experience Officer at QUIDDITY, an end-to-end User Experience design and consultancy firm with clients like CebuPacific GetGo, Banco De Oro, and the Department of Trade and Industry. She was previously at Google as an Agency Business Lead and also worked as part of the inaugural team that launched the Google Philippines office. She was the Founder and Managing Director of...

I talked to Birdie Salva, the co-founder and general manager of Curiosity, a Manila-based design research agency. He currently leads user-centered research projects for companies like Globe, Sun Life Financial, and Ayala Corporation. He has been part of an industrial design startup, a brand manager for L'Oreal Philippines, and a lecturer in Ateneo de Manila University. As an avid gamer, he’s now t...

I interviewed JP de Guzman, the Chief Creative of Frost Design. He is an entrepreneur by heart, a full-time life student by day, and now a father of four. He led various creative projects from top local and global organizations like International Organization on Migration (IOM), Globe Telecoms, Asian Institute of Management, AboitizLand, TV5, and Solar Network. In this episode, we talked about run...

I interviewed Michael Dela Cruz, affectionately known by his peers as “Miggy,” is the former Director of Customer Experience Design at Globe Telecom, the leading telecommunications company in the Philippines. His professional experience in Globe lasted 10 years, starting from his humble beginnings as an intern back in 2007 and management trainee in 2008. In this episode we discuss what it’s like t...

I interviewed Samantha Rose Cruz, Senior UI Designer at Effective Digital. She has held roles as a Product Designer and Front-end Developer working at Make Technology by Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, Challonge at SplitmediaLabs, and Proudcloud. She is the founder and community manager of ManilaCSS, an organization aiming to promote the latest CSS practices. In this episode, we talk about being a lone des...

I talked to Aldrich Tan, the Design Director and Co-founder of Vessel Innovation Design Group. He previously held Design Roles at Remitly, Getty Images, Artefact, and IMS Health. His design journey has taken him to the US and Canada, before he decided to go back to the Philippines to build impactful startups, design cultures, and mindsets, while mentoring younger designers.

I talked to Angela Obias-Tuban, Design Strategy Lead at Metrobank. She has been a quantitative research analyst, qualitative researcher, User Experience Design manager, digital strategist and teacher over her 12-year career. Now, she turns her focus onto banking, plus learning how to parent. In this episode we talk about design research, interaction design, job titles, consulting, teaching, and a...

I talked to Marianne Ho, a Hong Kong-based UX Designer reimagining the way people think about money at HSBC. She previously held design roles at Cathay Pacific, L3 Bioinformatics, On-Off Design Technology, and Save22. In her spare time, she enjoys discussing about culture, identity and being a plant lady. In this episode, we talk about her time in ASES Stanford, hustling your way to a job, navigat...

I talked to Mika Aldaba, an international design consultant with experience doing branding, web design, UX consulting and data visualization for clients in Asia, Europe and the US. She has given talks on design in Manila, Singapore, Montreal and Vienna. Being passionate about world issues, she brings her global perspective into her craft. In this episode we talk about her student exchange in San F...

I talked to Sophia Lucero, the co-founder and president of the Philippine Web Designers Organization, a volunteer grassroots group that organises the Form Function & Class conference, plus other activities that nurture the local community. When she’s not busy organizing, her actual day job is crafting interfaces and writing front-end code as an independent consultant for local and foreign companie...

I interviewed James Cabrera, a self-taught User-Centered Visual Designer formally educated in Math and Physics. He is currently the Design Director at Gimlet Media, having previously held design roles at Refinery29, Say Media, and Foot Locker, Inc. He has also given talks at various design conferences across the world. We talked about turning a side gig into a full time job, how he started out des...

I talked to Philip Cheang, the co-founder of By Implication, an award-winning independent software & game development studio he and his friends created after becoming the Champion of the Microsoft Imagine Cup. He is the product lead of Sakay.ph, a navigation tool that gives the best commute directions in Metro Manila. We talked about Phi’s journey, the origin story of By Implication, and how they...

I caught up with Roxy Navarro, the co-founder and creative director leading a small, young, and passionate creative group called Works of Heart. Her studio aims to provide design for all, especially for impact-driven organizations to catapult their advocacies forward. We talked about her humble beginnings as a designer, the origin story and challenges behind Works of Heart, how she finally chose t...

I interviewed Christian San Jose, the Managing Director of Make Technology, a UX and technology subsidiary of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi. Before that he was Head of Digital of MullenLowe Group Philippines and the Head of UX and Design at Jump Digital. At 21 he bootstrapped his first digital startup, Create.ph, and worked for clients like Usher, Kanye West, Kobe Bryant, Usain Bolt, James Harden, Dwyane...

I Interviewed Mark Lacsamana, a product designer working at Kalibrr. He previously worked for OLX as a product designer for mobile apps. Before that, he was at Shift Interactive, The Forge, and SOLUS Interactive. Mark studied Communication Technology Management in Ateneo de Manila University. We talked about things like leadership, communication, ownership and more.

I interviewed Jem Rosario, a user experience specialist and educator based in Toronto, Canada — who was a journalist in his previous life. He studied New Media Studies and Philosophy at the University of Toronto and is a volunteer at Canada Learning Code teaching Wordpress and digital design.

I talked to Allan Caeg, the founder of Northstories.io, previously at Migme, Save22, US Autoparts and Netbooster.asia (Movent). In this episode, we discuss interaction design, product management, digital marketing, storytelling, career shifting, and more.

I caught up with Andrew Aquino, a Filipino product designer who just started working at Facebook. In this episode, we discuss design education, mentorship, university courses, internships, product design and a lot more.