Reflections on 2025: A Year of Expanding Horizons and Uncomfortable Growth

2025 has been one of those years that asked a lot of me as a founder, a designer, an educator, and a human being trying to make sense of the world (and all things AI) while learning how to show up better for the people around me.

I didn’t plan for many of the things that happened this year. But looking back, I can see the threads connecting everything: inclusion, community, courage, and growth.

This is my attempt to capture those threads before we step into a new year with new energy.

Growing 55 Minutes’ inclusive design work: a new focus takes root

If I had to choose one defining arc for 2025, it would be how inclusive design slowly, and then very suddenly, became the centre of gravity for 55 Minutes.

We launched Inclusive Inquiry this year, a call-out to organisations experiencing accessibility barriers so we could offer to conduct user research and solution prototyping, imagining it as a small, three-month pro-bono experiment.

We thought we were going to “help” underserved communities who have different needs.

In reality, they became our teachers.

My team and I testing out the various ideas and lofi prototype we made to better understand how the solution would work for both the wheelchair users and the caregiver. 

We met visually-impaired creators, caregivers, care-receivers, volunteers, disability-led organisations, and ground-up initiatives who generously shared their lived experiences. Many of their stories touched my heart in ways I wasn’t prepared for.

They taught me patience: that good design cannot be rushed.

They taught me humility: that lived experience holds truths textbooks or the internet can't always capture.

They taught me to notice the invisible: the emotional labour it takes to navigate a world not built for you.

Some of them have since joined us in co-designing prototypes that I’m genuinely proud of. Not because they are polished, but because they are rooted and shaped directly through many, many hours of honest hands-on work by the team.

And honestly, prototyping physical products was far more complex than we expected. It required careful coordination, multiple iteration, understanding of materials, repeated testing, and a willingness to be wrong in front of the people you are trying to serve. But that’s why it mattered. It’s the immediacy of feedback, the ability to test viability and usefulness quickly, the way a tangible object sparks new conversations. It made our design process kinder and more grounded.

For me, inclusive design felt like this was who we were meant to become as a studio.

Our first UX Clinic at BLOCK71: bringing design to founders who need it most

Another highlight this year was running our first UX Clinic at BLOCK 71 (NUS Enterprise).

It was intentionally small and intimate, with early-stage founders coming in one by one. Many didn’t have the budget or headspace for a full UX engagement. But they needed our expertise to help them name the problems they may already have sensed but couldn’t articulate.

55 Minutes' Design Lead Adeline Kuswanto, Orbits Studio CTO Arkin Julijanto, Orbits Studio Co-Founder and CTO Jofi Marsheel, and I after our UX clinic with them.

And it reminded me why I still love this work.

There is something powerful about the moment when a founder feels seen and heard. A few founders shared that they walked away with:

• clearer insight on how to redesign their product user experience with real user needs in mind
  
  

• a better understanding of how to run sprints and build MVPs

  
  

• the importance of keeping website copy simple but clear, because clarity is kindness
  
  

These small but meaningful breakthroughs were energising.

Joining the DBCS Executive Committee: a new chapter of service

Another major shift this year was stepping into the Executive Committee of the Design Business Chamber Singapore (DBCS). I’m still a little surprised (and grateful) that I was considered.

This role stretched me in ways I didn’t expect. It made me think beyond my studio and consider the larger shape of Singapore’s design ecosystem — the gaps and the opportunities in design businesses and the next generation of design leaders.

A big part of my work this year was helping shape the Seed Awards. This is a platform that celebrates emerging designers not for their grades, but for their values. It is bringing a spotlight on their heart, grit, resilience, and potential to grow.

I hosted a table at the DBCS 40th anniversary Gala dinner. The guests at my table were some of the recipients of the inaugural Seed Awards.

It reminded me how many students are overlooked simply because they’re not academically “perfect.” When in fact, they may be the ones who will become thoughtful and courageous designers who will truly move our industry forward. It made me even more determined to help build a system that notices potential, not just performance.

My delegation trip to Chongqing: a lesson in cross-border design bridges

DBCS inaugurated its Chongqing Representative Office and unveiled a comprehensive collaboration framework to bridge design capability gaps for manufacturing-led enterprises in Western China.

Then came December, and with it my first official trip representing DBCS and my first time in Chongqing.

The city was dramatic, with 10–12°C cold winter air, extremely spicy cuisine, steep hills stacked with buildings, endless bridges, as well as neon lights reflecting off the Yangtze. But beyond the aesthetics, what stayed with me were the conversations.

We met leaders deeply committed to building Chongqing’s design ecosystem. They are people who think long term and care deeply about developing better products and capabilities in their people.
We heard about the economic pressures Chinese companies are navigating, and how differently design talent is nurtured there.

We learned to appreciate what Singapore is admired for — international branding and “soft” design.
One moment I won’t forget was standing in the newly inaugurated DBCS–CSID Chongqing Representative Office. The red drapes had just come down. Cameras were flashing. Speeches were made in two languages. And for a brief moment, I felt the weight of what cross-border design collaboration could mean. A sincere cultural exchange. Mutual learning. A bridge for design businesses who will one day collaborate across both cities.

The trip stretched me professionally and personally. And it reminded me that design diplomacy can be slow, relational, sometimes ambiguous, but necessary for growth.

A circle completed: returning to NYP

Felt such a strong sense of pride and nostalgia heading back to my Alma Mater in NYP, School of Design and Media.

On a more personal note, being invited back to Nanyang Polytechnic — my alma mater — to give a leadership talk felt like coming full circle.

Sharing about empathy, courage, and “upside-down leadership” with student leaders was meaningful in a way that can’t be captured in a résumé bullet. Their youthful energy was hopeful, and their desire to make a difference felt familiar. It was like looking at a younger version of myself.

They reminded me that leadership begins long before titles or authority. It begins with kindness. With the quiet desire to make things better for others.

With the student leaders, lecturers and fellow guest speaker.

Looking ahead to 2026: with gratitude and steady intent

If 2025 was a year of stretching, then 2026 feels like it will be a year of building slowly, but intentionally with clarity. Here’s what I’m holding as we enter the new year:

Deepening Inclusive Inquiry

Bringing more structure, better documentation, and expanding our circle of partners, especially with disability-led groups who guide and ground our work.

Running more UX Clinics with partners

Creating bite-sized UX support for early-stage founders and demonstrating the value of UX to businesses.

Strengthening DBCS’s Seed Awards and cross-border work

Providing more support for awardees, and deepening the Singapore–Chongqing design exchange with pilot programmes.

Protecting time for teaching and leadership work

To continue giving my best to the next generation. In particular, the students at the Singapore Institute of Technology where I teach Design Innovation, and to deepen my practice in leadership, facilitation, and shaping future designers.

2025 asked me to grow.
2026 is asking me to build.

Thank you to everyone who walked this year with me, and my team at 55 Minutes, our Inclusive Inquiry partners, friends in the design ecosystem, my fellow instructors and students from SIT, and the many people I met along the way.

Here’s to another year of designing with empathy and doing work that matters.