About

Designer's Philosophy

Design is first a verb. Design is a way to build people and organisations up. In order to ascend, in principle we must let go of processes and mindsets that no longer serves us. We know, that most necessary behavioural changes are not easy to see through. Design then serves its value, by making change pleasurable - not easy, but pleasurable, by deeply understanding implicit drivers of behaviour. The life cycle of 'Good Design', however, shall not end with behaviour. Every interaction leaves an intangible impact on our individual lives and on our experience of the world around us. We live in a system of systems. That is to say, it is the due diligence of a Designer to create delightful and meaningful experiences that ultimately create harmony between people and places. As within, so without.

Designer's Background

Ysanne first explored the notion of design hands-on as one of the pioneer batches of students in School of the Arts, Singapore (2010-2015), alongside the development of the Design trade in Singapore. She was a consecutive recipient of the Ngee Ann Kongsi Scholarship. Upon completion of her International Baccalaureate Diploma, she received a full scholarship from the National University of Singapore (NUS) to pursue higher education and training in Industrial Design (Class of 2020).

Her experience in NUS is unique, having earned the opportunity to study and work in start-ups n Stockholm, Sweden for a year as part of the NUS Overseas College Program. On top of cultivating her design skills in industry, she learned business needs first hand as she explored marketing and 0 -> 1 design development in a pre-series A machine learning start-up. She worked closely with the CEO and CTO to refine their product, eventually moving their headquarters to San Francisco. Being the first hire of the company (although now defunct) provided some of the most joyous memories and learning opportunities.

With a keen interest and a portfolio of work geared towards social impact and public wellness - including med-tech and edu-tech design projects - Ysanne continued her practice with the Economic Development Board of Singapore (EDB) upon graduation. There, she found her place in advocating for the needs of officers in the design of digital products. She worked in cross-functional agile teams, directly with engineers and product managers. In EDB, she was part of a new in-house design team, and was involved in developing their principles and practices. She and two colleagues took the initiative to start a Design Thinking Training course for managers and teams to share value of design, and to facilitate product innovation and team alignment using design methods and tools.

In 2022, Ysanne left EDB to pursue a Master's Degree in Systems Design and Management at Keio University in Japan under the MEXT Scholarship. The core driver of this pursuit was to explore the role and value of design upstream, at the level of organisational strategy and planning. In those two years, she has presented concept models of design for holistic wellbeing to engineers and academics on international stages to spark discussion and collaboration to design better for people. In parallel to her academic work, she has been an active member of the University of Tokyo DLX Design Lab where she conducts futurespective workshops for design innovation and expounds on the role of design in bridging science and society through research.

Today, Ysanne finds herself equipped with translatable skills to serve in any industry where design is valued for systemic ways of tackling wicked problems. She revels in understanding human complexities and is acutely aware of the tacit values and sentiments of the people whom she meets. This helps her to tailor her design approach to unique problems and circumstances, especially when it comes to negotiating stakeholder requirements.

Core Skills

Systems Approach
Design Synthesis
Design Education
Workshop Facilitation
Project, People, Process Management
Wellbeing and Human Advocacy

Interests

Holistic Wellbeing
Eastern Traditional Wisdom
Philosophy and Phenomenology
Environments, Relationships, Behaviour
Food and Health (Project Zucchini Bakery)

Academic Roles

2024 Oct ~ Present
Project Researcher at the University of Tokyo, College of Design, facilitating curriculum design and recruitment.

2024 Apr ~ Present
Participating member of University of Tokyo Memu Earth Lab activities, based in Obihiro, Hokkaido

2023 Oct ~ Present
Design Project Researcher at the University of Tokyo DLX Design Lab

2024 Sep~ Present, PhD Candidate
2022 Sep - 2024 Sep Master's Student
Member of Holistic Being Design Lab at Keio University, System Design and Management.

Academic Contributions

2024
Y. Yeo and M. Niitsuma., Reframing the Role of Behavioural Interventions: Dominant Views and New Directions, ISTE Transdisciplinary Engineering Conference, July 9 – 11, 2024, UCL East, London. DOI
10.3233/ATDE240962

Y. Yeo and M. Niitsuma., Proposal of An Integral Model of Human-Food Interaction: Insights for Social Systems Design, International Journal of Agile Systems Management (IJASM), Vol. 17(5), 2024, DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2024.10065834

2023
Y. Yeo and M. Niitsuma., Developing the System Model of Human Behaviour and Its Implications on Social Systems Design, ISTE Transdisciplinary Engineering Conference, July 11 – 14, 2023, Hua Hin, Thailand.
DOI: 10.3233/ATDE230651
LinkedIn post

Y. Yeo and M. Niitsuma., A Primer on the Integral Viewpoint of a Human to Facilitate Human-Centred Innovation,ISTE Transdisciplinary Engineering Conference, July 11 – 14, 2023, Hua Hin, Thailand.

Certifications

2022 Dec JLPT N2
2021 Dec 200H Yoga Teacher Training, by Yoga+ Singapore
2021 Jul Storytelling for Leaders by All Lined Up, Coaching Tigers
2021 Mar Facilitating Powerful Conversations L1, by The Thought Collective Common Ground
2021 Mar Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Institute of Integrative Nutrition

Awards

2024 Sep Keio SDM Award of Highest Honors
2022 Aug MEXT Scholarship (University Recommendation), Keio SDM
2020 Jun   Dean's List, Division of Industrial Design, NUS
2019 Nov   The James Dyson Award National Runner Up (Project: Electro)
2019 Mar SustHack Winner, Sustainability Innocenter, Uppsala, Sweden
2016 Aug    NUS Global Merit Scholarship, 2016 - 2020
2016 Jan IBDP Excellence Award, Year 6, SOTA
2015 Jan Excellence Award, Year 5, SOTA
2014 Jan Ngee Ann Kongsi Scholarship (2014 - 2015)
2010 Jan Ngee Ann Kongsi Scholarship (2010 - 2012)

Active on: LinkedIn

Exhibitions

2015 Dec 3-27 Visual Arts (VA) Graduation Exhibition
2014-2015 Oct Allen & Overy LLP Artworks Showcase
2014 Feb 13 Chinese New Year (CNY) Moments Photography
2013-2014 Oct Ashurst LLP Artworks Showcase
2013 May Encapsulations VA Year 3&4 Exhibition
2012-2013 Apr Allen & Overy LLP Artworks Showcase

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