Natasha Low, Senior Consultant, Digital Design & Development, GovTech, Singapore

How do you use technology to improve citizens' lives? Tell us about your role or organisation.

I work at the Digital Design and Development division - part of GovTech’s Government Digital Services unit - which develops citizen-centric mobile apps.

My role is to plan various user experience (UX) activities such as focus group discussions and usability evaluation to enhance the apps’ overall ease-of-use. For the usability evaluation of the interaction, we would invite citizens to our Digital Experience Design (DXD) Sandbox where we use eye-tracking device to track users’ eye movement.

This will allow us to ascertain their gaze pattern and “hotspots” so that we can make relevant recommendations to the visual elements on the interface for better usability.

What has been the most exciting thing that you worked on in 2016?

It’s difficult to pin point a particular project since UX activities can range from user research to design to evaluation. I have been fortunate to be involved in various stages of crafting a positive user experience for agencies, together with my team members.

Apart from the usability evaluations for MyInfo and CorpPass interfaces before their respective launches, I also enjoyed the collaboration with the PS21 (Public Service Division) team to help various government agencies re-design their selected digital services.

It started with identifying the most transacted e-services across the government agencies, then engaging the agencies through Design Thinking workshops to improve their internal processes and public-facing user interface.

GovTech’s primary role in the project is to look into the overall effectiveness of the user interface, in terms of the seamlessness of user interaction.

I’ve benefited from the exposure to different agencies and learnt a great deal about facilitation from the PS21 team.

What tool or technique particularly interests you for 2017?

In 2017, I would like to hone my facilitation skills, especially on-site usability evaluation, where I hope to use eye-tracking eyewear to observe users' behaviour in their natural environment.

If you were to share one piece of advice that you learned in 2016, what would it be?

As the saying goes, ‘no man is an island’; it seems more apparent after joining GovTech where teamwork is key to the success of any project.

In 2016, the DXD Sandbox won the PS21 ExCEL Award for innovation (Silver) and we could not have done it without the team members’ collaborative mindset and commitment to ground our designs around user-centred principles.

Who is your hero and why?

I know it’s clichéd to name my mother as my hero but indeed she is. She was the one who taught me about patience and resilience.

When faced with a difficult situation at work, I would “hold out” and try resolving the issue by looking at it from different angles rather than running away from the problem.

And finally, if you could recommend us one place to eat, where would it be?

I’m known to my colleagues to have cravings on different days of the week! But I always have a soft spot for Japanese food.

My go-to Japanese restaurant is Nanbantei Restaurant at Far East Plaza which serves yummy yakitori. I have patronised it since young. If anyone wants to check out this cozy restaurant, remember to make a reservation.