Systems thinking · Strategic design leadership

The design was never the point. The shift it created was.

Fifteen years across products, services, and exhibitions, from global enterprise to Singapore's public sector. The throughline was never the design. It was finding the system shaping the problem: an organisation, a platform, a population, a public. Then moving it, so the impact outlasts the project.

See the work How I lead
15yproducts, services, exhibitions, and complex systems
19creative teammates led side by side
5+Singapore public-sector platforms shaped, from apps to exhibitions

Selected work

Four systems. Four shifts that outlasted the project.

ActiveSGPlatform

It tested well. We told them to build something else.

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533 + 14 survey respondents and focus groups behind one approved strategic reframe
Singapore CustomsOrganisation

402 pages, restructured around what users came to do.

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4.2 → 8.0 first-time user confidence, validated across three user groups
URA Dream LabPublic

Singapore's first AI-powered government exhibition.

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2026 Singapore Good Design Award winner; launched in 27 days and cited at the National Day Rally
HPB Healthy 365Population

One app, two masters. We made national policy feel personal.

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3 years a team of three, trusted back initiative after initiative on a platform used by millions

Leadership

Design leadership is mostly decisions about people.

19

Side by side, not top down

I run a nineteen-person creative department where the team interviews and chooses its own interns and colleagues. Trust is a structure, not a mood.

A leadership system, not a vibe

After my Dec 2025 team feedback asked for clearer check-ins and decision rights, I built and launched an AI-assisted creative tracker in Jun 2026 to monitor KPIs, capture 360 feedback, and turn the signals into a CEO-ready report.

Creative tracker dashboard showing team KPI progress, feedback approvals, and pending reviews
View tracker demo ↗

Decisions over deliverables

I scope work by the decision it has to inform, not the artefact it produces. Research that does not change what gets built is theatre.

Evidence under pressure

Complex organisations push toward the average user and the safe answer. My job is to keep findings intact through that pressure, and to make the uncomfortable ones actionable.

From the people I have worked with

What it's like to work with me.

Design that improves lives

“She understands that good design isn't just about aesthetics. It's about creating experiences that genuinely improve people's lives.”
Read full recommendation
KC Kelvin ChuaSenior IT Consultant, CIO Office, Health Promotion Board

Big picture, fine details

“A confident, decisive creative leader who holds both the big picture and the fine details.”
Read full recommendation
CN Christine NgDeputy Director, Experience Design & Research, Health Promotion Board

Steady under pressure

“What's particularly impressive is her ability to balance stakeholder priorities and often, difficult client demands, while ensuring her team's creative output stays aligned with the set vision and business goals.”
Read full recommendation
HL Hariz LimHead of UX Research & Strategy, ex-Grab

The right things

“She cares deeply about doing the right things, not just doing things right.”
Read full recommendation
SA Safiah AliasUX Copywriter & Content Strategist

Room to learn

“Her dedication to her craft, coupled with her supportive nature, creates an environment where learning and collaboration thrive.”
Read full recommendation
ML Marcus LauProject management intern and mentee, Trinax

Culture, built

“She has built strong rapport within her team and helped instil a positive, collaborative culture.”
Read full peer review
NG Nick GanSales Manager, Trinax

Servant leadership

“I’m particularly envious of how well she cares for and protects her department people.”
Read full recommendation
EL Elisha LimSenior Project Manager

Writing

Thinking in public.

Stop designing for demographics. Start designing for behaviour.

Why age, ethnicity, and housing type often fail to predict what people actually need, and why behavioural archetypes make better design decisions.

Essay · 8 minRead article ↗

Redesigning Healthy 365: the psychology of self-tracking.

A reflection on rewards, privacy, fear, motivation, and the challenge of designing health nudges that feel caring rather than judgemental.

Case notes · 5 minRead article ↗

Why my team chooses their own interns and colleagues.

How shifting hiring and mentorship from assignment to choice changed accountability, team culture, and investment in people’s growth.

Leadership · 5 minRead article ↗

Contact

If your team needs a design leader who works at the level of systems, whether strategy, delivery, AI-enabled product, or organisational change, talk to me.

hello@xinning.me Download CV