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Creating Personas Helps Team Collaboration

We learn about users so our brand/product teams can have a framework to build better experiences. There are many challenges though as each individual has their own mental model of what is being discussed in the room. There are a few ways to combat this; first, teams can create personas. Personas is a fictional, yet realistic, description of a typical target user of the product. It is a tool to help teams keep in mind the characteristics, motivations and goals of the user throughout process to help them make design decisions based on user's needs. The goal is to help teams know the user so well that you make user research part of the culture.

The second actionable strategy to help create a collaborative work environment and learn how to understand users is to help one another see the bigger picture. While each team member is an expert in the their craft, without coming together and synthesizing the knowledge, it can lead to a disjointed, expensive collection of partial answers and a glaring lack of insight. Perhaps its not just laziness or lack of effort on an individual, but actually teams are not using the same vernacular during internal reviews. Rosenfeld recommends that it is important and helpful to identify at least a few shared references and vocabulary to enables researches from different backgrounds to understand each other and eventually collaborate.

While we explored a few ways to get teams to work together, taking time to schedule an old-fashion interview with the user is invaluable. By having conversations with your target user, it can uncover hidden insights which could otherwise be overlooked. Getting exposure hours to user behavior helps prevent obscurantism. In fact, Jarad Spool suggest that teams take 2 hours every 6 weeks observing users such as field visits or usability test. By having this face time, conversations can help you identify the gap between what people say and what they do. It is even better to contextualize your learnings by laying out your user research methods in Christian Rohrer's "Landscape" as an auditing tool; ensuring that you have covered off on both qualitative and quantitive insights.

References:

https://constructive.co/insights/5-user-research-benefits/ http://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/7-sins-of-user-research.html http://alistapart.com/article/seeing-the-elephant-defragmenting-user-research

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This year’s design at TANG, a Taiwanese-American conference/camp for youths and young adults.

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Couldn't be more excited to put this surprise video together from all our friends. Wishing my beloved David a happy 28th birthday! 

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The reality of society that were in is that people are leading lives of quiet screaming desperation where they work long hard hours in jobs they hate, to enable them to buy things they don't need, to impress people they hate.

Nigel Marsh, How to Make Work-Life Balance Work, TED Talk

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Business cards are in for my client Werks Automotion! Thanks MOO for an easy to upload interface. Definitely will make a big first impression.

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On February 28th, 1947, the people of Taiwan stood up against the suppression of the Chinese soldiers that invaded the island. This was the beginning of the white terror period in which thousands of lawyers, professors, and doctors were kidnapped and killed. Some families today still do not know what happened to their loved ones. A generation of leaders were wiped out. 37 years of martial law ensued, the longest in world history. The ruling power denied the right of assembly, free speech and publication in the native tongue of Taiwanese. Propaganda was wide spread and news media was tightly controlled by the KMT party. 

My parents immigrated to America, and it was then they understood the amount of BS that was force fed.

To not forget the true history of my people, I’ve created a mark that is shared across Facebook. Friends are encouraged to change their profile picture to show their solidarity and the logo takes on a theme that correlates to important events that year. I see this as a way to capture our own story through great design.

2013 Original Logo –– 2014 Representation in the Winter Olympics –– 2015 Sunflower Movement

I was inspired by Tsai-Ing-Wen’s campaign logo so I based this year’s theme to this historical election. It’s the first time the Democratic Progressive Party took over the majority seats in the legislature. Once a silent minority, now an equal. 

There has been an awakening of Taiwanese identity and it is felt around the world. It’s not helpful to dwell too much in the past, and I hope to seek ways to improve international recognition of Taiwan. We have so much to offer to the world. Let’s not forget how hard our ancestors fought for democracy and freedom. Let this be a day of reflection, unity and hope for a better future for Taiwan.

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The full HD video is here! Exceptionally proud to have dedicated myself in completing this project from conception to the final form. Enjoy!

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Pencil in 8pm tonight for the release of my new video! Can't thank @werksautomotion_dave enough for the professional shoot and editing expertise. Stay tuned!

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New motion graphics and logo design for Werks Automotion

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Thick type

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My next experimental project, stay tuned for more!

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Smart Watches are HOT... in a few years

This post is a response to this article by The Guardian 

The main argument of this article is that even with a great consumer base and diligent market strategy, wearables have yet to find its success. I agree with this point of view because as a consumer myself, I personally see it an extra electronic piece to worry about as I go through my day. However, I feel that this new segment is not just a fad, but an incredible step towards achieving direct human and digital communication. Imagine a world where a smart watch can detect anxiety by one’s physiological state and immediately suggest ways to feel better. Or knowing how to navigate to a desired destination without data fields. But I digress. We can only imagine our future world where artificial intelligence and humans collide.

Five years from now, I imagine a few advancements. First, I would like to see a more sleeker product design – and I’m sure Apple will be trailblazers in this area because Apple puts a focus on their craft. I think the Apple Watch as a product might not have met sales expectations but I do think its a success for Apple’s overall brand image as an innovative company. Second, Arthur makes a thoughtful point that fitness trackers are not disruptive enough because it is not clear what utility the device is replacing. If it is the mobile phones that these smart watches are replacing, I see engineers working towards integrating an LTE network. Until consumers can buy a data plan, they are going to save their $200. And of course, extending the battery life is plus. Overall, these are all actionable tasks, just a matter of when this is going to be done.

Wearables are relevant to UX designers because anything that can be improved with human interaction is worthy to discuss. This visual below is a perfect explanation on what constitutes UX.

In conclusion, this article by The Guardian was an insightful read and wearables are here to stay.

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Today I am relocating to the NYC office from our Princeton office. I had to thank my team; but then it snowballed into 30+ people. These thank you notes are important to write because I like to share my true feelings about the people I spend 8+ hours with. Each person played a positive role in my career, directly or indirectly, and a thank you is the least I can do. Working in a digital agency is rare to see these handwritten notes, but I think going analog gives each piece some charm. These notes took a good three weeks after work + weekends to write. 

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Paula Scher on stage makes a nod to Apple's identity transformation throughout the years

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Why thank you, my buns are rather nice :)

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"Once you've been enlightened, you realized you've been enlightened all along." Now that I'm reaching the end of the conference, I think this unknown author quotes my overall feelings very well. I think this conference was amazing and really centered me back to why I got into this field.