Co-work Fridays @ SQCo - Stage: Crafting UI in an AI-Native Workflow
About the speakers: Reza is a design engineer, and Wondo is a product designer. Both work across design and code, using AI in their day-to-day work and directly shaping production applications. They also build their own tools for creating interfaces, 3D worlds, visual identities, and more.
What will they be sharing:
Designers used to control the quality of their craft by shaping the final material themselves. As digital products became more complex, more of that process moved through design tools, handoffs, engineering, and now AI. We think AI gives designers a chance to take some of that control back.
We don’t believe you can simply prompt your way to good design. Being able to explain what you want matters, but it’s only the starting point. Direct manipulation is what allows us to apply our taste and judgment, work through the last 20%, and control how AI shows up in the final product.
We’ll share examples from our work, including interfaces, 3D environments, visual identities, and tools we’ve built for ourselves. We’ll then go deeper into Handmade as a case study. We don’t stick to one way of building; we find or make the tools that let us shape the work the way we want.
Key-takeaways:
Prompting is a starting point, not the whole design process• Direct manipulation is how designers keep control of the final quality
Designers can choose or build tools that better reflect their intent and taste
The design–code roundtrip can become a continuous loop instead of a handoff between disciplines
Friday @ SQ Collective
Friday is our open co-working day. People come to work on their own projects, take breaks together, and usually stay through the afternoon. It's quiet, focused, and builder- and founder-led.
You can arrive anytime from 10AM. Most people show up after lunch and settle in before 1.30pm. Bring your laptop. Grab any open seat. Stay as long as you like.
At 1.30pm, we pause work briefly for a shared session called The Stage, then everyone goes back to working.
This is how Fridays here work.
The Stage @ 1.30pm
The Stage is a short, open-format session where builders and founders share something they are actively working on. A workflow, a technical breakdown, a lesson learned, or just a topic keeping them up at night.
The goal is to spark ideas you can try immediately after, during the same afternoon. After the session ends, most people simply open their laptops again and continue working.
After the session, we go back to work.
About SQ Collective
SQ Collective is a co-working space in Singapore for founders and builders working with AI. Fridays are open co-working days, with a short shared session called The Stage at 1.30pm. People come to work, learn something practical, and go back to building.
Proudly supported by Singapore Global Network
Supported by Singapore Global Network (SGN), a division under Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Join SGN to become a member of our global network of professionals and friends with Singapore at its heart. Learn more at www.singaporeglobalnetwork.gov.sg.