Roots

Design Fighter

Shannen Sapar

Shannen Sapar is a self-taught Product Designer and art enthusiast. She currently works as a UI/UX Designer at Onerent, where she focuses on solving UX challenges in the real estate market and mentoring junior designers. Previously, she was a freelance designer, and also worked for companies like Oranj and Ingenuity. She’s no stranger to building design communities. Shannen is  the Co-founder and Social Media Manager of UX Davao, and a core member of the Davao Graphic Designers Community.

In this episode we talk about how Shannen learned to take care of her mental health, how she does growth design at Onerent, her design journey as a college dropout and community builder, and so much more. 

Shannen’s Social Media
Twitter - https://twitter.com/shansapar
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannen-sapar/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shannnspr

Links
UXDVO - https://www.facebook.com/uxdvo/
Davao Graphic Designers Community - https://www.facebook.com/DGDCommunity/
Onerent - https://www.onerent.co/

The Design Trailblazer

Jamie Cristal

Jamie Cristal is an Inclusive Designer at Airbnb —where she is helping create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. Previously, she led design initiatives at Facebook as a Design Operations Program Manager and Product Design Lead for Facebook Lite. Before, Facebook, she served as one of Yahoo’s first Design Associates, where she spearheaded cultural initiatives for the greater design community. She led the craftsmanship of delightful experiences for various parts of the business, such as Flickr, Tumblr, and Yahoo. 

In this episode, we talk about leaving medicine to do design, creating inclusive design systems, operationalising and scaling design initiatives, designing for emerging markets, and so much more.

Jamie’s Social Media
Website - http://www.jamiecristal.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jamiecristal/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiecristal/
Dribbble - https://dribbble.com/jamiecristal

Links
WCAG - https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
Design Associate Program (Yahoo) - https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/yahoo-design-associate-program-at-yahoo-30333742/
Design Program Manager (Facebook) - https://www.facebook.com/careers/jobs/364795951016730/

The Curious Learner

Leroy Almeida

Leroy Almeida is an experience designer at ING, the Philippines' first fully-digital bank. He previously worked at Kalibrr, where he designed the recruiter platform, and Accenture, where he worked with Philippine Airlines and Globe Telecoms. Largely self-taught, he transitioned from engineering to design by reading books, asking for feedback, and learning from the smart people of the Twitterverse. Leroy believes that design can improve people's lives, transform companies, and change the culture. 

In this episode we talk about Leroy’s transition to design at Kalibrr, how to respond to critical feedback, curating your own Twitter learning circle, and so much more. 

Leroy’s Social Media
Portfolio - https://leroyalmeida.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LeroyAlmeida23
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leroyalmeida/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/leroyalmeida23

Books
Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster (Lean Series) - https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Analytics-Better-Startup-Faster/dp/1449335675/
Thinking in Systems: A Primer - https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-Meadows-ebook/dp/B005VSRFEA
The Model Thinker: What You Need to Know to Make Data Work for You - https://www.amazon.com/Model-Thinker-What-Need-Know/dp/0465094627
Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense - https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Surprising-Power-Ideas-Sense-ebook/dp/B01F1HOAWA

The Do-It-All Designer

Jay Demetillo

Jay Demetillo is the Lead UX Designer for GrabFood. With 10+ years of experience working in New York City to San Francisco and now Singapore, Jay Demetillo has almost seen it all in the design world. Jay has worked with Twitter, Pinterest, and Yahoo. He's also worked on notable projects such as the Bay Lights, Gaspar Brasserie, and San Francisco's Park System SFPark. Jay is an adjunct professor at CCA in San Francisco and has taught/spoken in China for ACG.   

In this episode, we talk about being the challenges of being Filipino in the US, Jay’s career and John Maeda’s bamboo ceiling, empowering the youth, designing the GrabFood app, and so much more.

Inneract Project - https://inneractproject.org
Gaspar Brasserie - http://gasparbrasserie.com/
Bay Lights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOXlkajGuLY
CCA San Francisco - https://www.cca.edu/

Jay’s Social Media
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jason.demetillo
Twitter - https://twitter.com/asianxjay
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondemetillo/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/asianxjay/

The Gritty Designer

Justine Win

Justine Win is a Product Designer, UI Developer, and team player. She'll be joining Shopify — a leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform — as a Product Designer in the core product team. She recently ended her stint as the Design Lead of UBX Philippines where she had an opportunity to assemble a team, establish a design process, and design products for financial inclusion. Justine's mission is to help organizations realize the value of design by facilitating design sprints, writing articles on design and tech, and mentoring fellow designers and developers. Having experienced a lot of challenges in the past and overcoming them made her a gritty designer that she is now.

In this episode, we talk about Justine’s top tips for designer job hunting, creating a stellar portfolio that gets you noticed internationally, her story in landing a job at Shopify, and so much more.

Travis Nielsen - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyIe-61Y8C4_o-zZCtO4ETQ
Dann Petty’s Tweet - https://twitter.com/DannPetty/status/1091375499232845829?
Justine’s Portfolio - https://justinewin.com/

Justine’s Social Media
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/justinewincanete
Twitter - https://twitter.com/justinewin_
Medium - https://stories.justinewin.com/

The Empathic Researcher

Christine Balatbat

Christine Balatbat is a customer experience officer in JG Summit Holdings Inc., one of the biggest conglomerates in the Philippines. A normal weekday for her is moderating research studies, synthesizing qualitative data and communicating findings to stakeholders. Over her 7-year career she became the UX research manager of OLX Philippines, did experience design for On-Off Group, and co-founded UXPH in 2014.

In this episode, we talk about UX research in an agency, product company, and conglomerate, specialising as a user researcher, how to communicate user research results, and so much more.

Books
Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems - https://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Yourself/dp/0321657292
Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services - https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Digital-Age-Human-Centered-Products/dp/0470229101/
The UX Book: Process and Guidelines for Ensuring a Quality User Experience - https://www.amazon.com/UX-Book-Guidelines-Ensuring-Experience/dp/0123852412
Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights - https://www.amazon.com/Interviewing-Users-Uncover-Compelling-Insights/dp/193382011X
Mapping Experiences: A Complete Guide to Creating Value through Journeys, Blueprints, and Diagrams - https://www.amazon.com/Mapping-Experiences-Complete-Creating-Blueprints/dp/1491923539
Usability Testing Essentials: Ready, Set...Test! - https://www.amazon.com/Usability-Testing-Essentials-Ready-Test/dp/012375092X

Tin’s Social Media
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/avesen20
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/avesen20/

UXPH - https://www.facebook.com/groups/uxphilippines/

The Competitive Designer

Patrick James Lim

Patrick James Lim is a Senior Product Designer for SplitmediaLabs Inc. With over 4 years of experience, he was able to work for companies of various types and sizes like NetSuite, Accenture and First Circle before finding his love for esports or competitive gaming. Now, he currently utilizes his UI and interaction design skills for Challonge, an application for managing competitive activities like esports or traditional sports.

In this episode, we talk about discovering UX through meetups, joining the Philippine Startup Challenge, becoming a designer in the $1.1B eSports industry, and so much more.  

Patrick’s FB - https://www.facebook.com/patjamlim
Twitter - https://twitter.com/patjameslim
Challonge - https://challonge.com/
First Circle - https://www.firstcircle.ph/
Sam Rose Cruz - https://open.spotify.com/episode/74Io4XCX3KogU94FvLAQEE?si=uB94wvn-Qh699cRrCBvikQ or https://rootspodcast.design/samrosecruz

The Emotional Designer

Boggs Labayen

Boggs Labayen is the User Experience Lead at Home Credit Philippines —a self proclaimed emotional designer and guardian of the users. Armed with 10 years of experience in designing products that enrich people’s experiences, he uses his emotions as a key ingredient in the design process. He held various roles from different industries and companies such as ABS-CBN, ASPAC Creatives Incorporated, QUIDDITY, and now leading a great pool of UX unicorns at Home Credit Philippines.

In this episode, we talk about creating a digital product against transportation crime, moving away from service-based design to in-house design, the challenges of being a lead designer, and so much more.

Boggs’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-ildefonso-labayen-01013851/
Home Credit PH - https://www.homecredit.ph/
Quiddity - https://www.quiddity.ph/
Denise Haak - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2A6FGp68JAP0Ki9GoQkZ60?si=72UPFcV1TsGZdK1UrRcbUg

Design Ninja

VJ Francisco

Vj Francisco is the Head of Experience Design for NuWorks Interactive Labs. He brings with him 12+ years of design experience and expertise in design leadership, usability analysis and human-centered design. An experience strategist by practice, his most recent stint before joining NuWorks was with Globe Telecom where he was also the Head of Experience Design. There he championed human-centricity while using design thinking as a method. Prior to this, he has assumed design  leadership roles at Hewlett Packard (HP) and Citibank.

In this episode, we talk about going up the leadership ladder, convincing businesses of the value of design, what job is a designer supposed to do, and so much more.

VJ Francisco - https://www.facebook.com/vj.francisco
TriggerHAPPYmanila - https://www.facebook.com/triggerhappygroup/
Globe - https://www.globe.com.ph/
NuWorks Interactive - https://nuworks.ph/

Accessibility Specialist

Mikey Ilagan

Mikey Ilagan is a Product Manager on the Comcast Accessibility Team. He's spent the past decade building digital experiences using a lifetime of passion for technology. He is a former web designer and frontend developer. He's spent his career working in and around his hometown, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Today, he uses a diverse background to work with product teams to ensure Xfinity's offerings are usable and well-designed for customers using assistive technology. Mikey is also a co-organizer of the Philly Accessibility Meetup.

In this episode we talk about dealing with the effects of a global recession, working as a product manager in accessibility, starting a meetup in Philadelphia, and so much more.

Xfinity - https://www.xfinity.com/
Comcast - https://corporate.comcast.com/
Web Accessibility Initiative - https://www.w3.org/WAI/
Slack group - https://web-a11y.slack.com
A11Y PHL - https://www.meetup.com/a11yphl/about/
Mikey’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/mikeyil
Mikey’s Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mikeyil