My current design approach is shaped the Shaker Design Philosophy:
“Don’t make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don’t hesitate to make it beautiful. ✨”
My Whys
Always, serving others 💐
Growing up in a family influenced by medicine, I was always guided by the idea of serving others. This desire led me down various paths: my background in cognitive science research taught me all the textbook facts about how humans think and behave. Then, serving as a peer therapist gave me a shot at reality because all my clients' experience were extremely nuanced and complex. I was humbly reminded to always consider context (what they were coming from) and constricts (what they can realistically try and accomplish).
Now, solving problems at scale 🤓
As a product designer with 2+yoe, my past experiences became the best gifts I could ever ask for. They made me an inquisitive, collaborative, and versatile designer — I am well trained to think logically, seek resource to validate whenever possible, actively listen, and be extremely open to adapt to the unpredictable changing context of both users and businesses.
To me, product design, like a heart-felt and productive therapy session, is about breaking down struggles that seem surface-level and getting to the root cause 🎯 — only in this case, it’s about solving people’s problems at scale 🤓.
tshao25@pratt.edu
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