Express in Bits Blog

About me

I am a designer for many years now. And I am also a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, an M.Eng in Material Engineering (cum laude) and a PDEng in Interaction Design.

So, you might wonder what the * have all these engineering studies to do with design?

Let me start with what does a designer do. I think a designer must deliver results that fulfill both functional and aesthetic needs. The KEY is to fulfill the needs. The needs of specific Target Users for specific Tasks in specific Contexts. So, actually I took a great deal of advantages from my engineering background, especially the way of thinking. I learned how to study the TRUE nature of a matter. From Chemical Engineering I learned how to study the nature of substances; from Material Engineering I learned how to study their behaviors and interactions. Observing, testing, analyzing, comparing, testing again ect. are the general steps to go through no matter what to study.

I came to realize the importance of engineering training during my study in Interaction Design. Interaction Design functions as a glue to adhere all my knowledges together. And very importantly is that during the study I restored confidence in design and my design skills. I had gradually worn out my passion to design during my designer career in Shanghai. I had doubts not only on my skills but also on how useful design was to the society. I found my answers in Interaction Design. A Design that is created to fulfill people’s needs is in every facet of lives useful. Thus I unlocked my passion of Design.

Design is where my passion truly lies. With great enthusiasm I learned all the design/development tools by myself. And not just the tools, over the years working in Philips, I have learned from experience and many great colleagues about project management, design process, user testing, data analysis, etc. Those are essential skills enable me to manage the entire design process better.

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