Design Talks

My Journey into Start Up Land

Laura Simmons –
Industry Partner Graduation Studio

Laura is a passionate paediatric occupational therapist, helping families and working with children living with range of disabilities. Laura has worked in the private health sector for over 5 years, and in this time has noticed a distinct lack of innovative technology solutions targeting the ongoing care of clients outside of direct therapy and how this is impacting the client’s overall treatment.


Developer to Designer: A Career Journey

Ahmed Sabeeh Abid –
MIDEA Alumnus

Originally a software engineer from Pakistan, Ahmed moved to Australia to pursue his passion for design. He is currently working as a User Experience Designer at Honeywell on innovative Building technologies. Addicted to user centered designs, for the past 8 years, he has contributed to devices and experiences that improve and change how people interact digitally. Two words that describe him best are “simplicity” and “detail”.


Designing for Impact and Social Change

Stephanie Fynn –
MIDEA Alumnus

Stephanie is the Senior UX Designer at the NGO, World Vision Australia. She utilises the design thinking methodologies that she learnt from the MIDEA program to  research, design and test ideas that  effectively communicate World Vision’s impact and solutions to overcome poverty and social injustice.


A New Journey

Leo Siqi Liu –
MIDEA Alumnus

Siqi Liu just started his design career in China after he graduated from MIDEA last April. Things get different and new to him since he started working as a UX consultant in Microsoft. He has used PowerPoint as a design tool to design wireframes and prototype and also painted pixel illustration for movies. Working in MS helps him grow and become multi-skilled.