This is Tony Jin
T-shaped Designer · Thinker · Tech Enthusiast
T-shaped Designer
I am inherently collaborative as a designer. My Computer Science and Psychology background enables me to speak the language of Engineers and User Researchers , and consider their needs when making design decisions. My experience as an Oratory Coach and a News Writer helps me clearly and concisely communicate my ideas with different kinds of audience, whether it is my teammates, users, clients, or stakeholders.
At the same time, I specialize in Product Design and Problem Solving. I’m excited by the process of deriving user needs from research, creatively leveraging the power of technology to satisfy those needs, and thinking critically about the constraints and edge cases to make sure that the solution scales.
Thinker
I am a highly intentional and detail-oriented designer. I think deeply about design problems, and make sure that there is a reason behind every design decision I make.
I also reflect a lot on who I am as a designer, and on the design process itself. Despite the popular “Double Dimond” representation of the design process, I know that the real process is always messy and full of uncertainties. I believe that a good designer should approach any problem he or she encounters with a designer’s mindset, to experiment with different approaches, fail fast, and constantly reflect on past experiences to seek improvement.
Recently, I’ve been organizing my thoughts and publishing them on Medium to share them with more people, and to start more conversations on design. Check out my latest article on what I learned from my Home Depot summer internship!
Tech Enthusiast
I am excited by the latest technologies because of the design opportunities they bring. Apart from designing experiences for apps and websites, I am actively exploring VR experience design and Voice Interface design, not because they’re “cool”, but because these platforms bring about new affordances and constraints that did not exist in traditional UX design. These affordances and constraints push me to think about how to leverage the strengths of each platform and compensate for their respective constraints through design.
Despite the differences between different platforms, I was also able to find commonalities between them—some underlying design principles remain unchanged. For example, no matter what interface we design, designers should provide guidance for users to be able to navigate through the interface. The guidance can be a call-to-action button in an app, a yes-no question asked by a voice assistant, or a light in VR that grabs your attention.
Technologies evolve constantly. As a tech enthusiast, I’m excited to constantly learn new technologies, be a pioneer and explore new design opportunities.
Contact
yjin@gatech.edu
Where I Lived and Studied
Shenyang, China
Middlebury, VT
Paris, France
Atlanta, GA