Chungchun food menu

A menu that summarizes the food items from a Korean snack spot in Toronto

How I work

I design static-based visual aids to communicate insights and information through data. At the core of all my work, I focus on the end-user to alleviate their pains and create gains. One example of how I incorporate user research in my work is digging through online forums like Reddit. I read through them to understand pet peeves people talk about and synthesize general themes people identify. To some people, these are complaints. To me, they are opportunities to improve on design.





  1. Identify target audience: At the core of every product is to solve a user’s problem. The first step to any design process is to identify the target audience and their needs.

  2. Define the problem: Identifying the problem depends on the target audience defined. This step takes time and precision to define. What are their pain points? How can we relieve them? Are there ways to help create new gains for them? This step takes inspiration from the Value Proposition Design process.

  3. Research and develop domain knowledge: Developing familiarity with the content is critical because content determines form. This process may involve additional research and consulting domain experts.

  4. Concept development: A concept acts as a compass that guides the direction of the design. The concept is developed based on the problem being solved and intended outcomes.

  5. Prototype ideas early: Testing several ideas out early in the process is crucial to understanding if the current design direction is valid. This takes form of quick sketches with paper and pen, and crude mock-ups. This step can quickly determine design directions to further pursue.

  6. Design and iterate: When specific design directions have been determined, they are further iterated through frequent feedback sessions and check-ins. This process is very short to get to a form that is as complete as possible. If possible, this step would also involve testing the design with end-users.

Latest

Work

The food your grandmother made

Jan 12, 2021

A project made in tribute to my mom and grandmother. I created a way for future generations in my family to access their Chinese heritage through food.


Blog


Cataloguing My Family's History Through Food

Jan 12, 2021

How could I show recipes beyond the standard cookbook? What are some ways I could visualize data that could last for generations to come?

Publication


How Tekken Reinvented My Data Visualization Design Process

Sep 3, 2020

Engaging the community around this fighting game challenged me to rethink my approach to creating data visualizations.

Video


How Self-Employed Data Visualization Designers Make a Living

May 28, 2020

Insights and lessons on how to make a living as a dataviz designer.

Sign up for my newsletter

I’ve had many insights about life, work, data visualization, design, and creativity ever since I became an independent designer. I have been documenting them as much as I can. I write for Medium publications, write on my blog, and discuss on various Slack channels. I decided that I wanted to put all of my thoughts into something less formal while keeping it consistent. A newsletter seemed like the ideal way to do this. It’s not a newsletter meant for clients, it’s meant for people who want to learn more about what it’s like to be an independent data visualization designer.