Founder Foundry

Founder Foundry is a community site designed to help service business entrepreneurs build a foundation for their business. Get access to an online resource jam-packed with helpful content and a private community where you can ask questions, get feedback, and create meaningful relationships.

Founder & CEO

Uptime Media

Investor & Advisor

Raw Studio

Founder - Non-Executive Director

Note.co

Working on something interesting! Join our Beta! https://note.co

WDX (Web & Digital Experience) - f.k.a Sydney Designers

Sydney Designers Meetup is a meetup of Sydney-based designers enthusiasts. We share and talk about design and everything related. More infos: https://sydneydesigners.org 

My role: 
I'm genuinely passionate about sharing and connecting with people. I organise the meetup every month and bring on amazing speakers for people to learn but most importantly to connect and network.

Main Organizer

KeyPay Cloud Payroll & Workforce Management

Disrupting payroll via design. Leading the design team to shape the future of cloud payroll.

Lead Designer

Leading the Design in KeyPay. Redesigning every part of the app. Product, and Visual.

Senior Product Designer

vyte.in

Vyte.in is the best way to plan an event with a group of people. From a business meeting to a nigtht out with friends, vyte.in will make the process of organizing much smoother. Forget endless email threads and doodle, and sign up for the beta: http://vyte.in

Product Designer & Co-Founder

Philippe HONG

Freelance Creative Designer UI/UX & Front-end Developer. Clients: Snappr, Apptimize, BETC, Popsy, Sanofi, Badoit, Schneider Electric, etc..

Freelance

Airtasker

Product Designer in charge of the Mobile Product (Web, iOS and Android). User experience and Front-dev

Product Designer

Coeurs et arts

Art Director

After five intense years of running my successful million-dollar design agency, I hit a major roadblock. Burnout didn't just knock on my door—it barged right in and left me bedridden for three days straight. I didn't want to get up or face the world. Lying there, I thought to myself, "Okay, this is enough."

The next day, I made the tough decision to let go of all my employees. I knew I needed a break—a real one—to rethink my priorities and figure out what I truly wanted in life.

It felt like I slammed a giant reset button, letting out a big sigh that carried away years of stress and unspoken worries.

Growing up in France as a shy Asian kid in a mostly Western culture, I often felt like I didn't quite fit in. I was quiet and kept to myself. Design became my safe space—a way to express my creativity without having to say a word. But deep down, I was super ambitious, always juggling side projects and trying to "build something" meaningful.

That constant drive helped me achieve a lot, but it also led me straight into burnout.

As I lay there, I couldn't help but wonder: How does our mind work? How can I bounce back? How can I make sure this never happens again?
Those questions sparked an inward journey—a deep dive into understanding the mind and all its amazing potential. I realised that overcoming burnout wasn't just about resting; it was about transforming my mindset. I learned tools and techniques to not only help me get back but also be a better version of myself—stronger, wiser, and happier.

I believe everyone deserves to know how to utilise their mind to its fullest.
If you are like me, you want to be YOUR best self.
You want to unlock a new level of effectiveness and fulfilment.
You want to feel motivated and excited every day.
You want to feel confident and smart.
You want to prioritise what matters, manage your emotions like a boss, and build habits that support your professional and personal growth.

Join me in this journey.

This is the reason I created The Effective Mindset, a community-based hub where we share science-based resources, techniques, and habits for being our most effective selves.

We all deserve to be at our peak and to live without regrets. Because we all deserve to thrive, not just survive.

Philippe Hong

FLEET Technologies Ltd

Provide design solutions across UX, UI, research, testing, microcopy and interactions, visual design, branding, content and marketing, working closely with C-suite and a tight-knit team of developers.

• Co-lead the product design with C-suite across all digital products
• Collaborate with the CEO, CXO and tech leads to prioritise features
• Lead design review walkthroughs and iterate from client feedback to delivery
• Identify feature improvements and recommend UX design solutions
• Maintain and build out Figma Design Systems
• Educate teams on UX best practices and create a culture of UX advocacy
• Design, iterate and test in-vehicle driver tablet and mobile app experiences
• Improve the customer experience for drivers, travellers and taxi operators
• Identify pain points in customer journeys and recommend improvements
• Conduct user testing and document UX research to validate designs
• Lead design reviews of front-end build to maintain quality and consistency
• Implement the rebrand rollout across the mobile app, portal and website
• Rebrand and uplift the social media presence via content creation

Design Lead

Shift

Helped guide the product design for a unique product and service offering for B2C and B2B customers across merchant and payment platforms to improve the end-to-end onboarding experience.

• Partnered with product owners, senior stakeholders and tech leads to prioritise features
• Conducted senior stakeholder walkthroughs to collate customer insights to improve the design
• Advocated for Human-Centred Design: kept stakeholders focused on customer needs
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure a seamless experience across all platforms
• Improved microcopy across platforms to drive user interaction and increase conversions
• Facilitated dev walkthroughs, handovers and conducted design reviews to improve build quality
• Applied relevant research techniques and behavioural methods to gather insights
• Summarised key user insights from data and recommended UX solutions
• Maintained quality assurance through regular design reviews and critiqued peer work
• Drove the product design direction by validating insights from testing and data

Prospa.

Working across 2 squads, I worked closely with industry-leading service designers, product owners and tech teams to help launch a new business transaction account platform, refreshed the UI design and improved micro-interactions for the mobile banking app and onboarding experience.

• Collaborated with product owners and engineers to prioritise product features in the roadmap
• Advocated for Human-Centred Design - kept stakeholders focused on customer needs
• Summarised key user insights from data and recommended UX solutions
• Continuously ensured best practices were applied to all experience design and EDMs
• Refined the mobile app UI design to improve the usability 
• Collaborated with the marketing team on co-branded Apple Pay app integration
• Mentored product designers with progressing into leadership roles and defining career paths

Product Design Lead

CMC Markets APAC & Canada

I was an active member of the corporate social responsibility committee and helped organise events that uplifted the well-being of all staff through internal initiatives, raised money for charities and increased awareness about mental health through speaker talks.

Corporate Social Responsibility - Committee Member

I was an influential member of CMC's women's leadership committee that helped drive internal initiatives to provide resources and learning to female staff to enhance their career opportunities. I led a 2021 Mentor Program, which included refreshing the mentor program, writing content and pairing mentees with suitable mentors.

Women@CMC - Leadership Committee Member

As the first in-house UX design hire, I helped establish UX workflows, redesigned the customer onboarding experience for CMC's online application and was the voice of UX across all products and services.

• Co-led the experience design across CMC Invest products AU
• Oversaw all phases, including discovery, research, UX/UI design, testing and product launch
• Worked closely with product leads and department heads to define the product
• Cultivated a culture of team collaboration and problem-solving with various squads
• Improved microcopy to reduce users' time spent completing tasks
• Advocated for Human-Centred Design - kept stakeholders focused on customer needs
• Conducted user interviews to understand user needs and recommended feature improvements
• Facilitated UX/Developer walkthroughs and iterated from stakeholder feedback
• Explored research techniques and applied behavioural methodology to an application redesign
• Summarised key user insights from data and recommended UX solutions
• Continuously ensured best practices were applied to all experience design and EDMs
• Developed and maintained the design system and led walkthroughs with developers
• Created user flows, site maps, competitor analysis, prototypes, wireframes, UI design
• Collaborated with the marketing team to guide the brand redesign and improved EDM comms

UX Design Lead

Project F

I did pro bono work for Project F, an organisation founded by Emma Jones, CEO, who partners with organisations to create gender balance in tech teams. I worked closely with Emma to help define the product, advise on the brand and creative direction and mocked UX, UI and visual designs for sales collateral, client presentations and brand assets.

Design Consultant (Pro bono)

Avenue Bank

While working at DIVVY, I also did freelance work with Avenue Bank, which included rolling out the rebrand across their company website, application form, corporate identity and digital assets.

• Worked closely with product managers to define the information architecture for the site redesign
• Redesigned the company website: site maps, user flows, wireframing, prototyping, UI design
• Mocked UI prototypes for the application form working closely with product managers, tech leads
• Developed a mini Figma Design System for all brand assets and design components
• Developed social media templates and corporate ID for the brand refresh

Senior UX/UI Designer

DIVVY

As the first UX design hire, I built and managed a small design team from the ground up for a small startup of 20 people, created a new transport brand, and designed a parking booking website (shipped in 3 months for B2C and B2B clients). Our product and tech teams designed and built 'Q-Tracker', a shopping queue booking platform that helped Woolworths customers shop safely and quickly during COVID-19.

• Led, managed and mentored a small UX/UI design team
• Cultivated a culture of team collaboration and problem-solving
• Advocated for Human-Centred Design - kept stakeholders focused on customer needs
• Co-created user stories and participated in scoping sessions with senior leaders
• Worked with product owners and C-suite levels to define product requirements
• Planned and facilitated research and conducted user testing to improve new features
• Co-facilitated workshops, retros, UX/Dev walkthroughs and iterated from stakeholder feedback
• Summarised key user insights from data and research and recommended UX solutions
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams and ensured best practices in experience design
• Rapid mockups and prototypes to explore and test feature ideas and product directions
• Developed and maintained the design system and led walkthroughs with developers
• Created user flows, user stories, site maps, competitor analysis, prototypes, wireframes
• Participated in usability testing and provided recommendations to improve products
• Improved end-to-end experiences for customers through research, testing & data
• Provided creative direction on all motion graphics, animation and video to post-production
• Traffic managed design requests for marketing campaigns, presentations and client pitches
• Managed and owned the brand guidelines and assets to ensure a consistent experience
• Apps: Figma, JIRA, Trello, Adobe Creative Cloud, Optimal Sort, Tree Jack, Litmus
• Clients: Woolworths, NRMA, DXC Technology, Manly Fast Ferries, Western Sydney University

FlexiGroup Limited (FXL)

After more than 10 years of graphic design and studio management, creative direction, digital and print design, I transitioned to UX/UI design. I collaborated with product and tech teams to deliver a new credit card product.

• Co-led UX/UI design of Skye Mastercard product launch: website, portal, application, EDMs
• Co-led the creative and brand direction for Skye Mastercard campaigns, packaging and videos 
• Created mockups, user flows, wireframes, site maps, UI prototypes, user testing to delivery
• Developed design guidelines and educated teams on brand consistency 
• Synthesised results and iterated from feedback to develop intuitive user interfaces
• Mentored designers and educated teams on applying Human-Centred Design
• Guided product decisions from user research, customer feedback, iterations and testing
• Participated in stakeholder workshops and used insights to guide the UX/UI design
• Conducted UX research and user testing to validate features
• Participated in usability testing for the Skye App and provided UX recommendations for improvement
• Creative copywriting, editing and microcopy for digital projects to increase conversions
• Collaborated with product owners, developers and business analysts daily
• Liaised with clients and executive-level stakeholders from discovery and design to deployment
• HTML coded and A/B tested EDMs using Litmus to increase CR and OR
• UX Apps: Invision, Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, Sketch, JIRA, Trello, Optimal Sort, Litmus

UX Designer

Brady Corporation

As my first people management role, I managed and mentored a small design team, refreshed Brady's sub-brands, elevated creativity and design standards, and introduced UX processes in their website refresh.

• Led the creative direction, managed and mentored a team of 3 designers
• Product design, user interviews, competitive analysis, site maps, wireframing and UI design
• Improved the checkout process, which increased revenue and reduced customer complaints
• Led UX workshops and introduced UX processes to the business
• Presented creative concepts and pitches to executive level stakeholders
• Increased efficiencies by improving briefing processes, managing timelines and costs
• Increased Open Rates (OR) and Click Rates (CR), ensuring EDM best practice for html EDMs
• Lead designer for all print, digital campaigns, online advertising and branding
• Traffic management of design requests for marketing campaigns, EDMs and print collateral 
• Design Apps: Adobe Creative Cloud, Salesforce, Litmus, Invision

Design Manager

Fuji Xerox Australia

As a contractor, I worked onsite at Macquarie Bank, within their in-house brand and marketing design team for corporate events. I was the brand guardian for one of their sub-brands. It was a fast-paced, demanding role where I developed strong stakeholder relationships with Division Heads by delivering high-quality design under pressure while training and onboarding new designers.

• Art directed and trained 8 midweight designers across design projects to final delivery
• Adhered to strict corporate brand guidelines and proof-checked all outgoing work
• Developed creative concepts/campaigns, presented detailed rationales to internal clients
• Liaised with division heads across Asia-Pacific and developed strong client relationships
• Worked closely with Senior Digital Designers ensuring best practice for EDMs
• Guided and advised clients on project scope, direction, design requirements and processes
• Created quality marketing collateral for print and digital design in a fast-paced environment

Senior Designer (Contractor for Macquarie Bank )

⭐️ OVERVIEW
For the past 7+ years in UX/UI design, I’ve designed solutions for products with a holistic solution in mind. I blend 15 years of visual design, branding, and product psychology with interaction design, making data-informed decisions that guide users seamlessly through onboarding journeys and booking and payment experiences. 

I've uplifted the UI design for multiple outdated and clunky user interfaces which have reduced friction points in end-to-end journeys, increased conversions and client acquisition. I synthesise complex data into actionable insights and communicate recommendations to stakeholders to help companies achieve their business and user goals.

In my next opportunity, I want to work within a small design team, collaborate with open-minded experts and continue learning about other design specialties, including AI and accessibility.


🌎 MENTOR
I'm passionate about mentoring, educating and inspiring designers across global design communities. I speak at global virtual conferences, lead one-on-one mentor sessions, appear on design panels and podcasts and provide valuable career advice to hundreds of designers worldwide to progress their careers.

🎤 SPEAKER 
• 2024 Panellist –  'Crafting Careers' ADPLIST Sydney Chapter
• 2024 Podcast Guest – 'Design Downtime' Podcast
• 2024 Podcast Guest – 'UXR Minds' Podcast
• 2024 Podcast Guest – 'Taking Ctrl' Podcast
• 2023 Keynote Speaker – ADPLIST 'BeMore Festival' (24hr virtual conference)
• 2023 Speaker – WDX Meetup, Sydney
• 2022 Panellist – Alumi Design, Sydney
• 2022 Masterclass Presenter – ADPLIST 'BeMore Festival' (24hr virtual conference)
• 2022 Panellist - 'Break into Tech' Week, General Assembly, Singapore
• 2021 Moderator - Female Exec Panel 'Women@CMC', CMC, Sydney
• 2020 Podcast Guest - Syndrome City Podcast
• 2020 Speaker - WDX Meetup, Sydney (previously Sydney Designers)

Clifton Strengths: Strategic Thinking, Relationship Building, Influencing and Executing.

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The Battle

Philippe Hong

Ermi Mendoza-Isais

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