With a love for art, Allstar Malini Manimaran shares her journey from a graphic designer for a startup to designing solutions on real-time aircraft health for Asia Digital Engineering (ADE). We put her in the Hot Seat with 8 questions!

1. What got you into the tech field?

I’ve always been fascinated by gadgets. I remember creating my own virtual world for a university project and seeing it come to live on an Oculus was a really rewarding experience. I think this was when I knew tech was a career path that I wanted to pursue.

2. You’re a product designer for airasia, how did that come about?

Funny story: I was doing mostly graphic designing work for a startup in my first job. Then, I started noticing how UX (user experience) was in every part of our daily lives - how we use a coffee machine, how a car works, and of course, how our experience is in a digital world. So I signed up for a Google UX certificate and transitioned into a product designer for a tech company for three years before joining airasia's subsidiary company, Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) in 2020.

3. What’s a fun project you’ve done in airasia?

I think being able to pivot my career into UX and whatmore in a field that is so unique is already a milestone. Who would’ve thought I’d be working in airline engineering that manages the world’s best low-cost airline?

Learning about aircraft while implementing what I do is truly a fun challenge. I get to do what I love while picking up new knowledge about aircraft at the same time. Under ADE, I’ve worked on ELEVADE, which is an aircraft health management system.

What it does is manages the MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations) activities - this includes equipment maintenance, real-time fleet health monitoring, and the provision of vital services. This helps enhance our aircraft technicians and engineers’ workplace productivity with live employee updates via geo-fenced attendance tracking and real-time task progress monitoring.

4. Let’s talk about art; how does art gel with tech?

For me, art is part of design. I believe art can ignite innovation that shapes our world. I’d say I’m a creative practitioner who designs useful experiences through art - how it looks, feels, functions and fulfils.

And working in ADE fuels this purpose because my workplace is all about pioneering innovation and technological advancements. We’re already working on integrating AI into our products and features so exciting times are ahead!

5. Favourite part of your job?
The creative brainstorming! There’s a thrill to finding fresh ideas and identifying solutions to problems. I like the challenge of breaking down complex concepts and crafting experiences that fulfil the needs of users.

6. What’s the one thing you need as a product designer?
Empathy. This leads to inclusive design, considering users are always a step ahead and there’s a diverse range of users who will interact with your product.

By empathising and valuing what users want or need, we factor in their purpose, pain points and preferences to design products that are accessible for all.

7. What do you like about working in ADE?

Being able to have firsthand insights into the airline engineering industry is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But being able to work on projects of a large scale that ensure aircraft safety and health so millions can fly? Now this is truly a great opportunity.

I also enjoy working with leaders and colleagues who place innovation as the priority. This pushes me to explore new ways of elevating our digital products and solutions so we can continue to be an innovative leader amongst other aviation and MRO players in the region.

8. Enough work talk; final question, any travel plans soon?
I’m looking forward to Kyoto. I read that the city exudes a mystical energy with divine experiences and abundant cultural heritage. I can’t wait to see it for myself!

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Interested in joining us as a future Allstar? Make airasia your dream career destination today! Apply at https://mycareer.airasia.com/gb/en; or join our Talent Community for more updates and happenings: https://mycareer.airasia.com/gb/en/jointalentcommunity.