INTERVIEW WITH PRODUCT DESIGN STUDENT – ANGELA YU ANQI

Angela is a product design student who interned with the organization Land Transport Authority (LTA) for 10 weeks under the 2015 ADM internship programme.  Angela was placed with LTA by making use of the ADM database of companies. All companies under this ADM database are companies who are already looking and eager to provide internship experiences to our ADM students !

Angela  will be sharing with everyone her experiences in person on the 18th of November 2015, 10:30am @ ART B1-03(LT) . Do come by and listen to what Angela have to say!  She will be there to answer questions and provide useful advice! Meanwhile, below is a sneak peak of Angela’s experiences with LTA !

What first got you interested in the ADM internship programme?

The ADM internship programme came to my attention via the blog site. I was also receiving e-mailers from different professors informing us about the programme. There was also an internship talk which I attended, it was conducted by the school where industry professionals were invited. Through the talk, I  realised the importance of putting our learning at ADM into the industry to receive real life work experience and that’s when I decided to sign up for the programme.

What was the most memorable experience during your internship?

I was interning at LTA where I got the opportunity to work with one of the best innovation and design solution company called IDEO.  We went through an analogous brainstorming session where we try to gain inspirations for the transportation service from totally different industries such as from the F&B industry and also from the skincare industry. Ideas were mapped out and then explored how it could be applied for the Singapore public transport system service design.

What was the coolest/weirdest/craziest thing that happened while on the job?

I had the opportunity to look at MRT train prototypes that are still in development and not shown to the public. I also got to understand the design process from tenant approval to the final workable prototype. Visiting the MRT depot and learning how the train system operates was interesting. Interns get the chance to try out the emergency door opening at the end of the train carriage – without having to pay a fine of course ! I also got to learn that most of the MRT trains are bullet proof !

What would you say is the biggest takeaway from the entire programme?

The biggest takeaway is about learning the importance of how design plays a role in our everyday life. Interning for LTA was a heartening experience as it appears that the Singapore government is paying a lot of interest in design. Through my internship experience with LTA and IDEO, I got to learn that design goes beyond just drawing and making pretty things ! The concept of design thinking is also use to design services and experiences for commuters.  Most of us (design students) are already well trained with the concept of problem solving but I learned not to limit the mindset to just applying it to my class assignments but that I should try to apply it to everywhere else in life too. Through the internship programme, I have learned to live design and breath design.