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We are actively building a community of people who share our interest in diverse topics - from AI to Service Design and Leadership. One key aspect about all of them is centrality of people experience & wellbeing.
Keep tuned to this site and our social media posts to get latest update on upcoming community events..

 
 
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Sharedmind

An Open Innovation Platform for Sustainability
SharedMind is a community to harness shared minds, to drive thoughts, discourse and action for collective well-being — discussing topics within the broad themes of business, design, technology, and culture.


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AI for Human Good

At Confluence of Tech & Design
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a topic we are very excited about, including the opportunities it holds, and the fundamental change that cognitive augmentation will bring. Join us as we discuss its ethical challenges and implications for business and society!


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Service Design Drinks

Community of Strategic Designers
Through the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and the sharing of experiences by our speakers, we aim to further the conversation on service design in different industries.

SDD is an international initiative to connect service design enthusiasts.



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Leadership Series

Peer Sharing & Learning for Business Leaders
A series of talks, breakfasts, and trips organised for leaders, to be inspired by and learn from other leaders. The settings are intimate and curated, for discussions to be in-depth, and learning to be optimal.

 
 

Take a look below for our past events and do not hesitate to get in touch if you are interested in partnering with us.

 

Events

 

Addressing mental wellbeing through design

29 October 2021 - 29 November 2021

Given the uncertainties of the world, there is a growing need to help individuals living with mental illness – especially youths. The Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT) – a community-based youth mental health outreach and assessment initiative – received around 1,800 referrals and conducted assessments for about 770 youths just in 2019.

The Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), a charity dedicated to supporting individuals facing crisis and affected by suicide, reported that the number of suicides in 2020 in Singapore is the highest since 2012. Statistics also show that the incidence of suicide among young people aged 10 to 19 rose in 2020 from the previous year by 37.5%.

One of the most important aspects of mental health recovery is having a good support system. Youths that are living with mental illnesses need to find these pillars of support whether it be at home, amongst friends or in classrooms however it can be challenging for those pillars to care for these individuals.

Teams of young designers will come together to ideate and co-create solutions to address the problem question:

How can we support caregivers, teachers and parents in helping youth with their mental well being?

To find out more about this event, click here.

Exponential Growth by Design

13 April 2021

Alongside Global Futurist and Exponential Growth Specialist Charlie Ang, we hosted an event sharing a proven 4-step playbook for SMEs to innovate, digitalise and design their way to success in this digital age.

Having helped countless companies in their transformation journey, we also shared one real success story of business transformation for a local elevator company, where we followed the principles of ‘customer obsession’ and ‘being proactive’ when designing their business strategy. Today, the company has evolved from its sub-contractor image to a service-driven elevators brand, and its revenue has been growing steadily at about 20 percent every year.

In case you missed it, here is the 4-step framework shared during the talk:

  1. Play to Win: Choose to play in a niche instead of diversity.

  2. Pick your Arena: Choose the arena you want to play in, and avoid “doing the wrong thing right”, which might happen in the current space you’re in, or sometimes by business legacy, if you’re a second generation business owner.

  3. Pivot to the Future: Engage in future-back thinking, which is thinking of how the world will look like, and how it will change in the future, and then innovating for that future ecosystem.

  4. Propel to the First: Become the market leader in one product category by playing in a niche. Choose where else to play in, after dominating in one space.

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Customer Journey Mapping: Pave Your Way to the Hearts of Your Customers

14 July 2020

Together with the Singapore Retailers Association and DesignSingapore Council, we delivered an online event on the topic of ‘Customer Journey Mapping’ for businesses in retail and e-tail.

One of the key points we highlighted is the value and importance of customer journey mapping now, especially in exceptional times like this.

These past months have been a major reboot for many industries. The pandemic has changed life drastically for many, and customer behaviours follow quickly alongside it. People are learning new habits and behaviours, breaking out of things that used to be familiar to them, and relearning new ways to do the same things. 

Customer journey is not a tool we use once, but it’s a tool that is alive. As the world changes, the journey should also change along the way.

Our lovely clients, Varun Aswani from Meyer, and Jamie Lim from Scanteak, also shared on the value of understanding customers and their changing behaviours, giving our audience a glimpse into the projects we have worked on together, and the impact on their businesses.

To read more on our event takeaways and case study learnings, click here.

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The Power Of Storytelling

4 June 2020

With an overwhelming response of 240+ sign-ups, we hosted an online interactive event on the power of storytelling. A detailed write-up on the content of this event can be found here. There are the key points:

Why stories? Humanity is built on stories and our ability to imagine. Stories allow people to naturally connect emotionally. Stories provide brands with a way to build a great deal of connection and engagement with their customers.

Why now? During times of crisis, people are more receptive to the stories that others have to tell. There is a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety about the future, and people are looking around for answers. People are questioning their values, and building new habits. Brands that provide support and guidance in these changing times will forge strong and lasting relationships with their customers.

So how? We developed a comprehensive framework of 5 Commandments to help anyone build meaningful stories. You can download it here.

For more information on the 5 commandments, please get in touch with us, or refer to the detailed write-up here.

“The Power of Storytelling” was supported by DesignSingapore Council, the national agency for design in Singapore, and the National Design Centre.

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Scoot - Transforming Service Culture with Empathy

28 May 2020

Last month, we delivered a talk to the multi-country Scoot team on transforming Service Culture with Empathy. Aviation and Travel are currently one of the hardest hit businesses globally with almost zero revenue. The current crisis is a clear signal to many that nothing is future proof, but it is an opportune time to become future-ready.

Event Takeaways:

In this time of ambiguity and uncertainty, businesses that thrive post-covid will be those with the capacity to think and act beyond the boundaries of their imagination and empathise with new consumer behaviours and expectations. 

“New ways of customer engagement and new products and services for new norms will emerge, but the fundamental human need for connection and collaboration remain unchanged.”

Empathy with the customer thus becomes ever more critical for airlines to deliver exceptional, customer-centric service to stand out among other brands. Service design enables a deep understanding of a traveller’s entire flight experience, and the many small interactions with people, places and procedures that happen in between. 

Flying can be about stress, inconvenience and anxiety, but it can also be about smooth travelling with a well-designed customer journey. 

A great starting point for airlines is to revisit their customer journey with fresh empathy, to map out the most critical touchpoints of post-covid air travel and highlight new opportunities where meaningful differentiation can be created. Even small gestures can make a big difference!

RESTART: POST-COVID
Tri-City Service Design Drinks

21 March 2020, Singapore, Frankfurt & Tokyo

This is an experiment. Our first prototype.

In a world where, suddenly geographical distances have collapsed, new opportunities abound. We can harness the collective mental energies and intellect of people despite the physical distance that separates them. This Tri-City meet up is our one such endeavour where we would like to bring design communities of three wonderful, global cities together to share what we know, and know what we don't yet!

During this event, we ran an interactive exercise with all participants (service designers from all over the world) to discuss the behaviors that will have changed post-covid. These are some of the outcomes:

  1. Preparedness - People desire to have buffers and fallbacks, to feel prepared for when the unexpected happens.

  2. Mindful consumption - People want to be more mindful of their consumption, to reuse and recycle more, and to reflect more often: “Do I really need this?”

  3. Purposeful time - People want to spend their time more efficiently, and want their lives to be seamless. In a time of hyper-awerness of “this meeting could have been an email”, people cherish and put a premium on their time.

  4. Independence & Self-sufficiency - People want to be able to do everything by themselves, and be independent to fulfill their own needs.

  5. Generosity - People want to be more human to others, and are more aware of those less fortunate than themselves. People are finding new ways to contribute to society, share positivity, and do good.

  6. Going back - As creatures of habit, people want to go back to the way things were, and live their lives the same as before Covid, even though circumstances have changed.

These insights were synthesised from the event outcomes and contributions from 50+ discussion participants from all over the world. You may use them as triggers to think about how behaviors of people will change in your line of work. If you are interested in learning more about post-Covid customer behavior, get in touch!

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Leadership Talks #02 - Family Business

3 March 2020, Singapore

In the second session of our Leadership Talks series, we had 3 wonderful #WomenInLeadership share with us their stories and lessons with candour and honesty.

Jamie Lim from Scanteak SG

1. Follow your heart

2. Pick a good mentor

3. Take care of the vision and have a deeper purpose

Sara Ang from Synergraphic Design Pte Ltd

1. Having clarity of your purpose is important. "For me, it was about maintaining the legacy  of the passion for glass art."

2. People and Culture can make or break organisations

Bridget Tai from Sonata Dancewear:

1. Have a clear vision

2. Keep learning and self-educating 

3. Stewardship is a special kind of leadership

With our all-female leadership panel for the event, we celebrate  #InternationalWomensDay, and hope to inspire more women in leadership roles. 

Leadership Talks #01 - People Power

20 Feb 2020, Singapore

We launched our #LeadershipTalks Series [for CEOs by CEOs] last week with an incredibly insightful sharing from our wonderful speakers Steen Puggaard and Damien Tan with moderation by our Principal, Nav Qirti.

Sharing on the topic of People Power, where employees are the most critical yet often forgotten part of the customer service equation, Steen and Damien left the audience with countless nuggets of wisdom from life and business lessons from each of their professional journeys.

Steen Puggaard:

“Solve the problems of the floor on the floor, not in the meeting room.”

“If you don’t intentionally create culture in a company, it will create itself, sometimes undesirably.”

Damien Tan:

“Without people, there will not be an organisation.” 

“To change culture, empower employees around your vision to run beside you, not behind you.”

“It takes time to build a relationship, and a relationship that is nurtured becomes an alliance.”

“Support form employees come from sincere, genuine leadership.”

Service Design Drinks #04 - An Era of Service Economy

7 Feb 2020, Frankfurt

Ideactio's first Service Design Drinks in Frankfurt was a swell. Lively and provocative discussions on a present topic Service Economy: In an era where the world is increasingly moving towards 'servitisation' supported by a service economy, how can Germany retain its top spot as the most innovative country in a world, when people will not pay for cars but for mobility?

Almost everyone who signed up, turned up! This can happen only in Germany, and that's the German secret sauce! Great insights, Katharina about the new mental models needed in a service economy. Thank you TechQuartier for being a wonderful host.

Service Design Drinks #03 - Agency vs. In-House Service Design

23 Jan 2020, Singapore

Fantastic turnout, fantastic speakers and an engaged exchange of experience, wisdom and ideas - that sums up our first #SERVICEDESIGNDRINKS #SDD in 2020. A big thank you to Ronald Daldarup, VP Innovations Shangrila Group, and Reima Rönnholm, experienced service designer from Finland, having worked globally, including Singapore.

Reima

"You're not designing a screen, you're designing the behaviour of the person using the service”

”Good service design is not about digital or non-digital, it is about creating value for customers” 

Ronald

“At Shangrila service experience is driven by two key things ‘joy’ and ’thoughtfulness’”

“Industry research tells us where we are now, but user research tells us where we could be”

Service Design Drinks #02 - User Research

28 Nov 2019, Singapore

Thank you to everyone who joined our Service Design Drinks event in our cosy Singapore studio. It was heartwarming to see many new and familiar faces!

A huge thank you to our amazing speakers sharing on the topic of User Research — Xintian Zhang from Nielsen shared her practice of using ethnography as a research methodology for a snacking innovation project executed for the China market. Ideactio’s Yvonne Ng shared her go-to tips for hacking challenges in user research. & Shaun Sandu shared research methods used in the investigations field and the similarities between this mixed methods approach and design research.

We hope that ServiceDesignDrinks can be an informal and welcoming way to truly share knowledge and foster learning within the Service Design Community. Please join our Service Design Drinks Singapore MeetUp group, and become part of our next Service Design Drinks event!

TAIF - Business Transformation Toolkit Launch for Travel Industry

22 Nov 2019, Singapore

It was our great pleasure to be invited by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to introduce something we have been working very hard on for the past few months at the Travel Agent Industry Forum 2019 — our Business Design Thinking Toolkit.

The Toolkit is an easy-to-use guide designed for any travel company to pick up Business Design Thinking and innovate in their own business. It guides travel agents through the Business Design Thinking process in 3 design stages with 12 simple tools, and is filled with case studies and interactive activities that bring together various stakeholders in a company to co-create a transformative business idea.

True to our Design Thinking methodology, the process of designing this Toolkit was an iterative one, where we worked closely with STB and various travel companies. It has been extremely fulfilling to finally come up with this Business Design Thinking Toolkit, which we hope will guide our local travel agents in transforming their businesses and reaching greater heights in the year to come!

Service Design Masterclass - SME Case Study sharing

14 Nov 2019, Singapore

As part of the “Masterclass in Strategic Transformation and Leadership by Service Experience Design” hosted by NYP School of Design, it was our great pleasure to give a presentation about one of our most recent Service Excellence projects for our client Benjamin Barker.

Felix Mollinga, one of our Service Designers, was invited to share insights into this project, alongside Damien Tan, COO of BB. Aiming to increase happiness, motivation and confidence amongst employees, we developed a day-by-day capability-building programme for new Fashion Advisors to be effectively and efficiently trained.

By putting Benjamin Barker’s people at the core of the project and the design process, we succeeded in creating a simple visual and gamified training set fulfilling the trainees’ needs, including: exercises to practice soft skills, role-play, as well as FAQ cards. The value of the project is greater than solely more confident employees - we are confident it will result in strengthened company culture, better customer experiences, and an increase in sales. BB shared they have started to see the first results already!

From field research including interviews with ground staff and higher management, co-design sessions with the BB team, all the way through the ins-and-outs of the programme development, our guests got a complete overview of Service Design: which methodologies we used, why using a human-centered approach is crucial, and how it can benefit companies. Send us a message if you want to hear more about what we did for this project!

NYP Service Design Masterclass

13 Nov 2019, Singapore

Service Designers are a nascent breed in Singapore. Every little effort and contribution to bring Service Design closer to businesses to catalyse their transformation journey must be lauded and supported.

Nanyang Polytechnic - School of Design Singapore is doing just that by organising a Service Design Masterclass for Singapore SMEs, supported by Royal College of Arts London, and also by carrying the Service Design Network baton high.

It was a great opportunity and an absolutely wonderful experience as our Principal, Nav, got to speak alongside Dr. Nick Leon of Royal College of Arts, who shared a highly inspiring keynote on the 4th industrial revolution.

We followed with a talk in two parts:
1. Two key phenomenon that are shaping our world - Servitisation and Platformisation.
2. Nav also shared the Service Transformation journey of Meyer Engineering, a client we worked with over a period of 2 years resulting in 50% increase in sales.

Service Design Drinks #01 - Healthcare

9 Oct 2019, Singapore

Thank you to our wonderful speakers who took the time to share their diverse Service Design experiences, research, and projects within the Healthcare sector.

Emmy-Lou Hamley from Academy Xi shared her experience in designing Australia’s first ever non-clinical mental health service, the Safe Haven, which addresses the needs of thousands of people feeling isolated and lonely in inner-city Melbourne.

Sharina Khan from Thoughtworks, shared how she conceptualised and deployed the Double Matrix method as a creative problem solving tool when engaging a diverse group of participants to address the topic of CARE from a Sustainable approach.

Working as a Strategy and Service Designer at Philips, Marie Bachoc shared some learnings on developing service design and design thinking within large corporate healthcare companies.

Our very own Brandon Tan from Ideactio shared on a past project: a caring fatigue reminder system for delivery businesses that consists of posture analysing sensors, a smart driver’s hydration shirt, and a reminder system interface.

We are building Service Design Drinks as a place to learn from each other through sharing our experiences, knowledge and ideas within the world of Service Design. If you’re keen, do join our Service Design Drinks Singapore MeetUp group, and become part of our next Service Design Drinks event!

SharedMind - Why do We Design Poorly for the Poor?

16 Sept 2019, Singapore

Our friends, Jack Sim from the World Toilet Organisation, and Prasoon Kumar from billionBricks, shared their experiences at a fireside chat and design sprint on the topic of: Why Do We Design Poorly for the Poor? They also discussed how we can design world-class products, services and business models to unlock the potential of a 4-billion-people strong market at the ‘base of the pyramid’.


Jack and Prasoon are two individuals who have made their mark globally through their work on social change, through meaningful design and value-driven commerce. Participants didn’t just hear from these inspiring speakers but also got to work hands-on to solve some of the trickiest Base of the Pyramid (BoP) problems and unlock value for their customers and business in the Design Sprint.

This event was supported by the DesignSingapore Council.

Power of Human Mind in Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

9 Sept 2019, Frankfurt

We have never been as drawn to, and fascinated by the topic of ‘AI and how it is shaping our world'.

Thanks to WMFRA for inviting Nav Qirti to speak on “Shared Mind: Power of human mind in age of AI” in Frankfurt. WMFRA is short for 'Webmonday Frankfurt', which is one of the largest Webmonday events in Germany. It had a fantastic audience, and a great format.

We shared our point of view on three key areas:

1. What it means to be human
2. Human-machine relationship so far
3. Future of human-machine (read AI) relationship

The key attribute that differentiates humans from AI are emotion and imagination - and that’s what we should work on to create a shared future for us. The power of a shared mind will not be in the power of intelligence, but rather in the power of compassion and purpose.

Business Transformation starts with the Mind

19 Aug 2019, Singapore

This was a session we held for knowledge sharing and hands-on experience in innovation tools on transformation.

Leaders who are faced with an ever-changing environment of complexity and speed need to leverage the full potential of their organisations. This needs agility and bravery in decision-making as well as fully-engaged employees who strive to continuously contribute to the value offering and creation of the organisation.

Our mission is to provide leaders, shapers and makers of organisations — beyond the formal structures and hierarchies — with the strategic and operational tools to future-proof their companies and accelerate the evolution in the fields of human capital, customer service excellence, service or product innovation and growth strategy.

Event participants gained hands-on experience in innovation methods and frameworks, and received insights into the changing paradigm of organisational development, shifting towards a more entrepreneurial and design-driven approach.

This event was supported by DesignSingapore Council, and in partnership with Journey 2 Creation.

Retail Transformation through Design

July 2019, Singapore

It was our privilege to speak at the event 'Retail Transformation through Design’ held at the National Design Centre, alongside Nelson Yap of Benjamin Barker.

At Ideactio Pte Ltd, we have been doing valuable work in the retail sector over the past year - helping companies transform through design, in an era that is being increasingly shaped by digital business models. Our experience in working with retailers like Benjamin Barker and Scanteak Singapore, as well as conducting industry research projects in the Singapore retail scene, brought us to this event.

Thank you DesignSingapore Council and Enterprise Singapore for inviting us to share our perspective with an engaged audience comprising of leaders from some of the top retail companies in Singapore.

Panel: Human-Centered Design for Everyone

30 May 2019, Singapore

Has a lot been said about human-centred design? Yes. But there is still much to be desired in order to make it relevant and simple — relevant to the context, and simple to understand, internalise and act upon.

This is what our Principal, Nav, did at a recent panel discussion on the topic. Nav lucidly deconstructed #HCD in terms of concept, principles and application.

Thank you to Academy Xi for inviting us to share our insights — alongside other passionate #HCD practitioners Katrin Abwerzger, Victoria Koo, Yu Shing Sit — on a topic we love so much: Human-Centered Design for Everyone.

Asia Pacific Week - What Kills Innovation

13 May 2019, Berlin

We were honored to represent Singapore at the Asia Pacific Week in Berlin, where our Principal, Nav Qirti, shared insights on overcoming innovation killers as one of the keynote speakers.

Innovation succeeds and ends in the mind first, before it takes any material form. From this lens, innovation is essentially a mindset.

To nurture and cultivate an innovative mindset in organisations, it is imperative to understand the impediments in the way of innovation, and how we can overcome them. Such an approach to innovation is about ‘awareness’ and ‘action’ to unlock value.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset in the Context of Human-Centered Design

15 Mar 2019, Singapore

Research in the field is showing ever more clearly that the aspect that distinguishes the entrepreneur from the "non-entrepreneurial person" is not a rare gene or a metaphorical "suitcase full of tools", but the way in which it works. Entrepreneurs understand themselves, see the world around them, and define their role in this world. In other words, entrepreneurial thinking and action is first and foremost a ‘cognitive style’ that allows for a specific view of the world and thus enables entrepreneurial thinking and action.

In this session, we delved into the relationship of 'design mindset' and 'entrepreneurial mindset' by sharing our thoughts and insights through these questions :

1. What would happen if you apply the entrepreneurial mindset into human-centered design?

2. How can an entrepreneurial mindset become a driving force for successful design of new products and services?

Human Futures in Smart Cities - Service Design Hong Kong

20 Nov 2018, Hong Kong

At Service Design Hong Kong 2018, our Principal, Nav Qirti, and Service Designer, Felix Mollinga, gave a talk titled "Are smart cities happier cities?", raising the question of whether collecting data and introducing technology in a city really makes its inhabitants happier. Our conclusion was threefold:

1. "Smart" discourse should not be technology-centered but should include many disciplines, like philosophers, human-centered designers, city planners and behavior scientists, just to name a few.
2. Can we make happiness and well-being key metrics? We compared Singapore to the Netherlands, regarding their different approach to elder care. It seems that smart cities = happy cities = social cities.
3. Using "City" is not inclusive. If 60% of the world's population will live in cities, 40% will not. Can we change the discourse to "Smart Habitat", to include those in rural areas? If we create smart rural habitats the overpopulation in cities might decrease as well.

Code Summit 2017

Dec 2017, Singapore

Ideactio was invited to speak at Code Summit 2017 - a conference of User Experience Design in Singapore on 16 and 17 December.

Our Principal, Nav, represented Ideactio at this conference and spoke on the topic “Is design thinking a magic wand for product success”. His talk was followed by an interactive session to hear the views from a 150-strong audience.