May 01 2023
Coming soon
This is Second ghost site, a brand new site by Trong iCloud that's just getting started. Things will be up
1 min read
Archive
All atomic essays and evergreen notes
Mar 26 2023
🌱 Being a generalist helps you find the right career choice
Being a self-taught designer has been something that made me unconfident.
I hated how I never specialized in anything in
1 min read
Mar 02 2023
🌱 Children who are later talkers
🌱 Feynman was an American theoretical physicist born in New York City. He’s a famous physicist, but many people know
1 min read
Mar 02 2023
🌱 Feynman
Richard Feynman was an American theoretical physicist born in 1918 in New York City.
Feynman was a very late talker—
1 min read
Mar 01 2023
🌱 Fall in love with the process over outcomes
If you are like me and many other creatives, you have many interests and want to do many things. You’
1 min read
Feb 28 2023
🌱 You can improve anything with 30 min a day for 30 days
🌱 The Seinfeld strategy — Don’t break the chain encourages us to use a big calendar that has a whole year
1 min read
Feb 25 2023
STAR Interview Method for Product Designers
STAR interview method is a powerful tool that product designers can use to showcase skills during job interviews.
3 min read
Feb 16 2023
🌱 Atomic essays
Have you heard of the term "atomic essay" coined by the Ship-30-by-30 creators? It's a fascinating concept that I absolutely
1 min read
Feb 14 2023
📗 And I got an offer 🎉
Oh Yeah. I got an offer.
After almost 3 months of unemployment and many rejections, I got an offer. I
3 min read
Feb 12 2023
iA Presenter is impressive
The execution of iA Presenter is fantastic! I believe they will go much further soon.
3 min read
Feb 08 2023
📗 A company I'm interviewing at has conducted a layoff
Do you believe that?
Yeah, it's the truth. Anything can happen, mah.
I was in the middle of an interview
1 min read
Feb 04 2023
How to prepare for your Facebook product design interview
Highlights from Lily Konings’s sharing on how to land a product design job at Facebook
3 min read
Jan 13 2023
🌱 Ask for quick sharing right after every user interview
Doing this will help you synthesize user research 2x faster.
1 min read
Jan 12 2023
🌱 📗 Whiteboard challenge Step-by-Step & Tips
Some companies will have a whiteboard design challenge. I will have one session next week. It will be a case
2 min read
Jan 08 2023
🌱 Building a product isn't about whether it can be built
But about if people need it.
Learning to code might be wise. I think everyone should learn to code nowadays.
1 min read
Jan 06 2023
🌱 Moving my website to Ghost
I’m building an entirely new website with Ghost. My goal is ambitious — to make it my primary website.
It
1 min read
Jan 04 2023
📗 Interviewing & Rejection
Yesterday I had only one interview with a designer from a big crypto company.
The interviewer is very nice, kind,
3 min read
Jan 04 2023
🌱 Powerful life hacks for career, health, and relationship
Sahil Bloom is my greatest resource for learning. His newsletter and Twitter content always give me new and powerful lessons.
2 min read
Dec 31 2022
Write first, present later
Writing first and presenting later is one of the best pieces of advice I get in my career.
2 min read
Dec 29 2022
📗 Two more chats with HR, and it was good
But today, I got two chats with HR from two new companies.
Both are crypto companies, one is a startup,
1 min read
Dec 22 2022
📗 Chat with Viki Recruiter
I had a Chat with a recruiter from Rakuten this morning. He's very nice and warm. Talking with him is
1 min read
Dec 21 2022
📨 Letter from Audience #01
💌Hi Trong,
I am Yurong, a product designer based in Singapore. I chanced upon your article on LinkedIn and when
1 min read
Dec 21 2022
Harmonize the Web Experience
The story of how I improved the buying experience on the web for vertical categories.
7 min read
Dec 20 2022
📗 Chat with a crypto company and ex-colleagues
I’ve had a chat with HR from a crypto company. He set up a 1-hour interview, but it only
2 min read
Dec 19 2022
Perfecting Browse Experience for Buyers
Rethinking the browsing experience for the classified marketplace in Southeast Asia.
9 min read
Dec 19 2022
Premium eCommerce Website
How do I improve a beauty & fashion commercial retailer website?
4 min read
Dec 19 2022
📗 Chat with a recruiter from a 3D AI Startup
Today I will have two chats with HR. I did one this morning with E. Their product is innovative. Building
1 min read
Dec 19 2022
Awesome Figma Tips
Small but awesome tips to work faster in Figma.
1 min read
Dec 19 2022
Pafolios
A side project created by designers, for designers.
2 min read
Dec 19 2022
Visualizem
I devour time and effort to collect the best lessons with visual in the internet for you
2 min read
Dec 18 2022
The best ideas haven’t been created yet.
There are always better ideas.
Many people think all the ideas were already created. But here are some examples that
2 min read
Dec 18 2022
📗 An ex-colleague asked to refer me to a company
Today is Sunday. There’s no more reply from companies. But I have some chat next week. Around 4 chats
1 min read
Dec 16 2022
📗 One chat with HR and one more invite to chatting
Today is Friday, and there is no job that is in the interview yet. Most of the meetings are with
2 min read
Dec 15 2022
📗 Getting some replies from companies that I applied
Today I got some replies from some places that I applied: Viki Rakuten, and Coinhako.
I also applied to some
1 min read
Dec 14 2022
📗 The first official day to look for a job
Today is Wednesday. The first official day for me to look for a job.
Seems like not many companies are
1 min read
Dec 13 2022
🌱 Folders kill creativity
The folder structure defines specific content belonging to one category.
The content is stored in the same place, but they
1 min read
Dec 11 2022
🌱 Morning page
Morning pages was mentioned on Julia’s book The Artist’s way.
Every morning, you write three pages in a
1 min read
Dec 09 2022
📗 Much support from friends and LinkedIn people
Keith, my ex-head of design, sent me a message yesterday. He sent me a Job description from Google and a
1 min read
Dec 09 2022
🌱 Post Layoff Diary
Sharing my process of looking for new jobs after the layoff.
3 min read
Dec 08 2022
Internal Time Tracking
Internal time tracker for team.
3 min read
Dec 08 2022
Leave the todo list to us
How we help homeowner have a better time on moving and relocation?
4 min read
Dec 08 2022
🌱 Showing random quotes in Obsidian notes with Dice Roller
In 🌱 Obsidian, we can show random quotes in daily notes (or in any note) from your quote collections with the
1 min read
Dec 08 2022
📗 A long one-hour call with a recruiter
This morning, I had a call with a recruiter from Neuron Mobility, it’s a company I didn’t know
1 min read
Dec 07 2022
🌱 Goodbye letter to Carousell Product Designers
A note to send to my designer folks. We had too many good things together.
2 min read
Dec 05 2022
I was laid off, here are some thoughts
On this page
Well, I got laid off.
This is the first time I have left a company without intention,
5 min read
Dec 05 2022
📗 Affected (by layoff) colleagues are starting to look for a job
Today is the last day we stay in Singapore this year. We will come back after the holiday and with
1 min read
Dec 04 2022
🌱 From Collector to Creator
We often hoard information because it gives us an illusion of knowledge. We consume too much, but we don’t
1 min read
Dec 04 2022
📗 Digest the bad news of layoff and meeting Felipe
Many things happened to me. The worse thing is I got laid off from Carousell. I have no more work
1 min read
Nov 26 2022
🍓 4 User Research Lessons for Beginner Product Designers
Personal reflection after doing the first usability testing abroad.
3 min read
Nov 25 2022
🍓 Keep track of any habit inside your Obsidian
Do you know that you can create your own 🌱 The Seinfeld strategy — Don’t break the chain inside Obsidian to
2 min read
Nov 24 2022
🌱 A system should follow you, not the other way around
We try to learn a new system, so we ask others what their best practice are and how to do
1 min read
Nov 22 2022
🌱 The point of taking notes is to think better
We have a habit of taking notes and saving valuable things.
But in the end, those ideas get forgotten and
1 min read
Nov 21 2022
🌱 Why do we need a second brain?
We often hoard (or save it for later) content because it gives us an illusion of knowledge. But in the
1 min read
Nov 20 2022
🌱 Don’t break the chain
The Seinfeld strategy
1 min read
Nov 17 2022
🌱 Obsidian
Obsidian is the new note-taking app that I fall in love with.
It’s not about how cool or how
1 min read
Nov 16 2022
🌱 Learning a new tool brings me to new things
I’m often obsessed with learning new tools I love, and 🌱 Obsidian is the newest favourite.
But at the same
1 min read
Nov 15 2022
🌱 Build your own Wikipedia
We all heavily use Wikipedia to learn.
Imagine you could have your own Wikipedia with all the things you learn,
1 min read
Nov 14 2022
🌱 A second brain
A second brain is the trustiest place where you keep all information that matters to you.
In the digital age,
1 min read
Nov 13 2022
🌱 Offering multiple prices for your product to increase revenue
When we put only one price for your product, it seems that we leave a lot of money on the
1 min read
Nov 12 2022
🌱 Price Anchoring with Elon Musk
Twitter Blue and Elon Musk gave us a masterclass on how to use anchoring to drive sales.
1 min read
Nov 11 2022
🌱 The first 100 are the most difficult
Getting the first 100 subscribers or customers is the most challenging part if you are a creator.
It takes a
1 min read
Nov 10 2022
🌱 The new success metric for a knowledge worker is the number of evergreen notes written per day
While reading more notes from Andy Matuschak, I went from hope to disappointment to enlightening.
The light today is I
1 min read
Nov 09 2022
🌱 Learn in public
The fear of being judged leads us to learn and think privately. But teaching people is the best way to
1 min read
Nov 06 2022
🌱 Fleeting notes
Fleeting notes are your loose thoughts, ideas, and anything in mind. They are unorganized and unstructured.
They are to capture
1 min read
Nov 06 2022
🌱 Literature notes
Literature notes are one type of note of [[The Zettelkasten note-taking method]]. They are highlights from the source you’re
1 min read
Nov 05 2022
🌱 Evergreen notes
Evergreen notes are similar to permanent notes or Zettels from The Zettelkasten note-taking method. I prefer the name evergreen notes because it’s human and inspiring.
1 min read
Nov 05 2022
🌱 A digital garden
A digital garden is a place to plant the seeds for future ambitious works. It was seeded with many [[🌱 Evergreen notes]] and linked to each other.
1 min read
Nov 04 2022
Find a way to raise your voice
Today I have a tough conversation with my head of product design. Yes, it’s about the performance review.
2 min read
Aug 04 2022
AMA
Ask Me Anything
1 min read
May 17 2022
The day I become a better designer
The day I become a better design is the day I start writing.
2 min read
May 01 2022
A post for archive tag
To create the tag page
1 min read
Nov 03 2021
A complete guide for Lottie animation with GatsbyJS
Lottie animation is easier than you think. In this post, we will create a Lottie animation, from After Effect to prototype to export handover files for developers.
6 min read
Nov 03 2021
Systems vs Goals
I’m always failed at exercising regularly. It usually starts with passion, the first week is awesome and motivated. But the next week, it becomes less and less.
3 min read
Nov 03 2021
Essential skills for product designers
For designers, only good design skill doesn’t guarantee success. We need more skills to be better and succeed in your career.
8 min read
Nov 03 2021
Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success
I’m reading ‘How to fail at almost everything and still win big’ by Scott Adam. There's one idea that enlightens me and I think everyone should know about it.
2 min read
Jul 03 2021
You’re saying sorry too much
Saying sorry is a good habit, but saying it too much is the contrast. Sometimes, we apologize too much and it affects your presence. Replace sorry with a better phrase will make your ideas more compelling and show up stronger.
1 min read
Jan 02 2021
2020 year in review
2020 is the year none would forget. It was supposed to be a good year with a beautiful number. But what happened was terrible. Today is the time to reflect on the past year.
5 min read
Sep 05 2020
To be a good designer
One of the biggest lessons I learned this year is the power of confidence, for a designer.
2 min read
Jul 18 2020
Learn to code
The greatest lesson from the book The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin
1 min read
Jun 27 2020
Things I wish I knew when I started designing
5 years in the design field is not too long. But it gives me many lessons that if I knew about it before, it will be a better designer than I am today.
2 min read
Jun 20 2020
Get a job as a product designer whithout going to design school
I got my job as a designer without going to design school. This is a guide to teach yourself design.
2 min read
May 15 2020
Generalist vs Specialist
When you hire a person to solve a problem. Do you want to hire a person who knows many things or a person who great dept in one thing?
1 min read
May 10 2020
V for Vulnerable
It’s ok to be vulnerable
2 min read
Mar 15 2020
Designer’s guide for designing for performance
Performance is a shared responsibility and everyone on your team impacts it. Considering performance when making design decisions will have an enormous impact on your users.
7 min read
Mar 01 2020
The function of beauty
We got so carried away with the idea of functionality, we lost sight of who we were designing for in the first place, humans
3 min read
Feb 13 2020
Keep a hero file and steal like an artist
How to find your own design style at the early stage of your design career.
2 min read
Feb 07 2020
People I love at Carousell
Things come very differently when switching from a one-designer-team to a multi-designer-team. We have to work with many people who are better than you. So it’s a chance for you to learn from the others.
5 min read
Jan 16 2020
Best chapters and lessons from “Sapien, a brief history of humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari
A look at the history of humankind from a very new perspective, and surprised.
4 min read
Jan 12 2020
Lessons from the movie “Schindler’s List” by Steven Spielberg
Everything I learned I learned from the movies.
4 min read
Jan 10 2020
In a digital world, don’t forget to use your digits
Don’t let cool digital tools and the noisy world bury your creativity.
2 min read
Jan 05 2020
The secret of writing
What’s the primary purpose of your headline, your graphic, your font, and any other part of the writing?
1 min read
Dec 31 2019
2019 Year in review
End of a decade, the 2010s, the new one is coming, 2020s. What had passed last year?
4 min read
Dec 28 2019
Why I live so far from the office
or many people who work abroad, they tend to rent a house close to the office so they can come to work easier. But the price isn’t cheap. If it’s cheap, it isn't a good room. Let’s see what I do with my daily commute when staying far from the office.
3 min read
Dec 14 2019
How I built a new website in 2 weeks with GatsbyJS
We always want to make something better. And that’s why I built this new website.
3 min read
Dec 08 2019
Is Figma really good? Thoughts from a Sketch designer who tries Figma
There is a trend now on design, switching from Sketch to Figma. But is Figma that good?
5 min read
Dec 06 2019
Jakob’s law
One of the most basic and common principles of UX
3 min read
Nov 28 2019
Our Europe Trip 2019 — Whole journey review
The review for our whole journey, where is our favorite, where has the best food, where we will come back?
6 min read
Nov 17 2019
Our Europe trip 2019 — Back home
We’re playing back to Singapore, it’s a long flight, 12 hours. Long long long flight.
3 min read
Nov 14 2019
Our Europe trip 2019 — Paris
There are so many things to see and do there.
2 min read
Nov 11 2019
Can’t get good ideas? Come up with some bad ones
It’s your brain trying to protect you from harm, from coming up with ideas that is embarrassing and stupid and could cause you to suffer pain. The way you shut off is by forcing the brain to come up with bad ideas.
2 min read
Nov 07 2019
Our Europe trip 2019 — Bye Belgium
The second country of the journey, we are coming to Paris, France.
1 min read
Nov 06 2019
Our Europe trip 2019 — Germany
German people are awesome
4 min read
Nov 04 2019
The designer’s job is both doing and thinking
What if one day you don’t have anything to deliver? It happens very often on a product team, what would you feel?
1 min read
Oct 15 2019
Imposter syndrome is real
It happens to many people. Many people are facing it too.
2 min read
Sep 22 2019
Ugly truths about design systems
Design system (DS) is not a temporary trend, it has many benefits to the organization and the product. But what else?
2 min read