Roots

The Creative Partner

John Paul De Guzman

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 running a creative company, treating clients like partners, the quality talent problem in the industry, and a lot more.

Frost’s Website - https://www.raincreativelab.com/

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/raincreativelab/

Jobs at Frost - https://www.facebook.com/frostdesigngroup/

JP’s Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jpdguzman.rain

CX Champion

Miggy Dela Cruz

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 to lead design and change at Globe, how design can change lives, obstacle sports racing, and a lot more. 

Miggy’s Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/miggydlc

Miggy’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heymiggydlc/

Globe - https://www.globe.com.ph/

CSS Avatar

Samantha Rose Cruz

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 designer vs being in a design team, coping with carpal tunnel syndrome, managing a CSS community, and a lot more.

Samatha’s Website - http://samrosecruz.com/

Rico Sta. Cruz - http://ricostacruz.com/

Manila CSS - https://facebook.com/manilacss/

Supersaiyan Designer

Aldrich Tan

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.

In this episode we talked a lot about managing up, asking questions, requesting feedback, starting a design career, and a lot more.

Aldrich’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aldricht/

Remitly - https://www.remitly.com/us/en/philippines

Vessel - https://www.linkedin.com/company/vesselgroup/about/

Relevance Machine

Angela Obias

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 lot more.

Angela’s FB Page - https://facebook.com/uxresearchfilipina

Medium - https://medium.com/@yellowicepick

Twitter - https://twitter.com/yellowicepick

Hong Kong Hustler

Marianne Ho

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, navigating bureaucracy, and a lot more.

Marianne’s Cleaver Site - http://ohmarianne.com/projects/index4.html

Blog - http://ohmarianne.com/

Medium - https://medium.com/@somarianne

ASES Stanford Summit - https://ases.stanford.edu/summit/

Design Voyager

Mika Aldaba

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 Francisco, combining computer science with design, working and studying abroad, and a lot more.

Mika’s website - http://mika.design/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/hailmika

University of San Francisco - https://www.usfca.edu/

Loyola Schools Awards for the Arts - http://www.ateneo.edu/ls/soh/finearts/awards-and-grants

Jason Munn - https://jasonmunn.com/

Saul Bass - http://www.saulbassposterarchive.com/

Jiah Margallo - https://twitter.com/jiahbot

Stephanie Sy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefsy

Mika’s Graduate Program - Master in Digital Communication Leadership

Thinking Machines - https://thinkingmachin.es/

Design Community Pioneer

Sophia Lucero

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 companies.

In this episode, we talk a lot about the early web, blogging, Sophia’s passion for community building, and a lot more.

Sophia’s website - https://stellify.net/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/sofimi

Philippine Web Designers - https://facebook.com/groups/webdesigners.org.ph/

Form Function & Class - https://2018.formfunctionclass.com/

Brad Frost - https://twitter.com/brad_frost

Jina - https://twitter.com/jina

Rachel Nabors - https://twitter.com/rachelnabors

Angela Obias - https://twitter.com/yellowicepick

Dan Matutina - https://twitter.com/danmatutina

Andrei Gonzales - https://twitter.com/andreigdesign

The Podcast Designer

James Cabrera

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 designing templates, negotiating design offers, marrying UX and business goals, and a lot more.

James Cabrera - https://jamescabrera.com/

Gimlet Media - https://www.gimletmedia.com/

Behance - https://www.behance.net/jamescabrera

Dribbble - https://dribbble.com/shots/4463835-Gimlet-Spring-Shows

Problem Solving Unicorn

Philip Cheang

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 refocused all efforts to work on Sakay.ph.

Phi’s Website - http://phi.ph/

Sakay.ph - https://sakay.ph/

By Implication - http://byimplication.com/

Microsoft Imagine Cup Winner Profile - https://news.microsoft.com/2010/07/08/imagine-cup-2010-world-finals-winner-profiles/

Wildfire - http://wildfire.byimplication.com/

Storylark - https://storylark.ph/