Interview with Anyi Sun
Design Legend Interview
24 May 2019
I have an education background in Psychology. After graduation, I started to be really interested in design and therefore pursued a career in user experience design.
I love creating things. The process of bringing an idea to life is amazing to me. I also enjoy designing things that are valuable to people.
I usually design user experience and interface for mobile apps and websites. I would love to work on more projects using cutting edge technology such as AR and VR.
Great designers constantly do reflections - what they are good at, what they need to improve, where do they see their career goes. Then they create actions to address these reflections. They are always in the loop of self-assessment and improvement.
Good design brings delight among customers and delivers business values. Good designs are usually very simple yet clever, and therefore gets positive feedback from customers.
Doing enough upfront user/customer research is critical. To create anything good, you need to understand the people who will be using your product and design and know their pain points and goals.
I observe how other designers work, which includes their design process, design artifacts, and the final output. From these observations, I gain insights into how I can improve my own process and be inspired.
Designing is the process of creating something functional while bringing delight to its users.
My mixed background in other fields helped me gain different perspectives on how things work. For example, I've worked in other industries and I got to see different problems faced by people, and I was able to incorporate these insights with my design.
Designers should not only showcase their final design output but also display their design process. People are often curious about what goes on behind the scene, and providing them this information may add additional context to your design.
Designers have the ability to create experience and solve problems people face. It is therefore important for us to spend our energies on tackling problems and creating designs that are impactful and beneficial to the society and environment. We have the skills and knowledge to make a positive change.
More focus on inclusive design and accessibility.
My design starts with user research. This is a critical first step for me, as I believe good design stems from a good understanding of your market.
Because I am a user experience designer, most of my work involves designing digital experience. Therefore, I use a lot of different software to create mockups and prototypes.
The design process - what steps they took to arrive at the conclusion. The background of the designer - what education and professional background the designer have.
The people who are potential users of my design. I can often get so many insights from talking to them, and understand their goals and needs. They can also provide me feedback on my design.
I like doing projects where I get to practice my design skills. I also enjoy learning from other designers.
It was obvious that design was a great passion of mine. I enjoyed browsing design websites and learning about design processces. I even designed website banners while in high school
Designer Interview
24 May 2019
I have always had the "design bones" in me. I started doing digital design when I was in high school, but it was more of a hobby for me, and I did not even consider having a design career. I eventually studied psychology for both my bachelor's and master's degree. However, throughout my education, I was drawn to design, and I was interested in seeing how psychology is incorporated into designs. After graduation, I was exposed to User Experience Designer - a field that truly combines my passion for both psychology and design. Since then, I was honored to work with prestigious clients around the world and built a fulfilling career.
To me, design is the art and science of creating human-centered creative output that is highly functional and athetically pleasing.
I very much enjoy designing experience - whether it is digital or physical. One part of the reason is because the challenge of designing experience can be incredibly vague sometimes, it requires a designer to consider all tangible and intangible elements involved and really focus on the user or the customer.
My first design project is a mobile app that helped people collect and sort food recipes. I enjoyed working on that project thoroughly because I loved cooking, and it's always fun to design something you are very interested in.
I enjoy designing for the web, mobile, and interactive technologies such as AR and VR.
I feel the most creative when I work with other designers and artists. It is very fun to have a brainstorming and ideation session with them. Sometimes the idea would be crazy and out of the box, but that might just be the right idea.
I focus on understanding the end users/customers and the business itself. I don't think a design can be successful without having a deep understanding of both. It is the foundation of how one approach the design.
It truly can be a rollercoaster. Sometimes an idea can get too complicated and too difficult to realize. Sometimes an idea I thought was good can receive negative feedback. Sometimes I have the aha moment where everything comes together.
A mixed sense of relief, excitement, and proud.
A design is successful when it fulfills its functional need and bring additional delight to its users. The design solution should be simple and elegant.
Designers have the ability to create experience and solve problems people face. It is therefore important for us to spend our energies on tackling problems and creating designs that are impactful and beneficial to the society and environment. We have the skills and knowledge to make a positive change.
There have been more talks on ethical design, especially during the age of the internet, we've seen "dark designs" that tried to lure people in performing digital actions that they don't mean to, such as clicking on unwanted ads. Thankfully, these problems are being surfaced, and many designers are collectively pushing back. Therefore, I believe the future of design will be more inclusive to welcome a diverse user/customer group.
I live in New York City now but I grow up in Shanghai, China. Living in those two huge cities means I was exposed to diverse people and culture. I was constantly inspired by the streets and the people, which definitely benefited my creative output.
My design starts with user research and market research. This is a critical first step for me, as I believe good design stems from a good understanding of your market. Then, I would move on to defining the problem, brainstorming, and ideations. As a User Experience Designer, I use digital tools to realize my design, but I would always start with pen and paper to sketch out my idea. Then, I move on to using design software to produce wireframes and prototypes. The process is very iterative, as I try to collect feedback at every stage.
It is important to work on different kinds of projects to not only build your skillsets but also see what you are truely passionate about. At the beginning of your career, it is a great time to explore and make mistakes. Be humble and seek mentorship of senior designers.
Empathy - understand your customers' emotions, values, and motivations. Communication - being able to explain your design process to various groups of audience and solicit feedback.
It varies based on projects. For some projects, I work with other designers. For others, I work on my own. To implement my designs, I usually work with software engineers.