Thought Garden
Welcome to my thought garden. A public notebook. A space to learn in public. A place to share my perspectives on design, coding, tech, mindset, and parenting.
Featured
2020 Thoughts
✦ June
Things I wish I knew when I started designing
5 years in the design field is not too long. But it gives me many lessons that if I knew about it before, it will be a better designer than I am today.
2020 Thoughts
✦ June
Get a job as a product designer whithout going to design school
I got my job as a designer without going to design school. This is a guide to teach yourself design.
2020 Thoughts
✦ May
V for Vulnerable
It’s ok to be vulnerable
2020 Thoughts
✦ March
Designer’s guide for designing for performance
Performance is a shared responsibility and everyone on your team impacts it. Considering performance when making design decisions will have an enormous impact on your users.
2020 Thoughts
✦ March
The function of beauty
We got so carried away with the idea of functionality, we lost sight of who we were designing for in the first place, humans
2020 Thoughts
✦ February
Keep a hero file and steal like an artist
How to find your own design style at the early stage of your design career.
2020 Thoughts
✦ February
People I love at Carousell
Things come very differently when switching from a one-designer-team to a multi-designer-team. We have to work with many people who are better than you. So it’s a chance for you to learn from the others.
2020 Thoughts
✦ January
Lessons from the movie “Schindler’s List” by Steven Spielberg
Everything I learned I learned from the movies.
2020 Thoughts
✦ January
In a digital world, don’t forget to use your digits
Don’t let cool digital tools and the noisy world bury your creativity.
2020 Thoughts
✦ January
The secret of writing
What’s the primary purpose of your headline, your graphic, your font, and any other part of the writing?
2019 Thoughts
✦ December
2019 Year in review
End of a decade, the 2010s, the new one is coming, 2020s. What had passed last year?
2019 Thoughts
✦ December
Why I live so far from the office
or many people who work abroad, they tend to rent a house close to the office so they can come to work easier. But the price isn’t cheap. If it’s cheap, it isn't a good room. Let’s see what I do with my daily commute when staying far from the office.
2019 Thoughts
✦ December
How I built a new website in 2 weeks with GatsbyJS
We always want to make something better. And that’s why I built this new website.
2019 Thoughts
✦ December
Is Figma really good? Thoughts from a Sketch designer who tries Figma
There is a trend now on design, switching from Sketch to Figma. But is Figma that good?
2019 Thoughts
✦ December
Jakob’s law
One of the most basic and common principles of UX
2019 Thoughts
✦ November
Our Europe Trip 2019 — Whole journey review
The review for our whole journey, where is our favorite, where has the best food, where we will come back?
2019 Thoughts
✦ November
Our Europe trip 2019 — Back home
We’re playing back to Singapore, it’s a long flight, 12 hours. Long long long flight.
2019 Thoughts
✦ November
Our Europe trip 2019 — Paris
There are so many things to see and do there.
2019 Thoughts
✦ November
Can’t get good ideas? Come up with some bad ones
It’s your brain trying to protect you from harm, from coming up with ideas that is embarrassing and stupid and could cause you to suffer pain. The way you shut off is by forcing the brain to come up with bad ideas.
2019 Thoughts
✦ November
Our Europe trip 2019 — Bye Belgium
The second country of the journey, we are coming to Paris, France.
2019 Thoughts
✦ November
Our Europe trip 2019 — Germany
German people are awesome
2019 Thoughts
✦ November
The designer’s job is both doing and thinking
What if one day you don’t have anything to deliver? It happens very often on a product team, what would you feel?
2019 Thoughts
✦ September
Ugly truths about design systems
Design system (DS) is not a temporary trend, it has many benefits to the organization and the product. But what else?