About Me
My name is Gin Chieng and I am a recent Masters Graduate from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, School of Information, with a Specialization in Human-Computer Interaction. I have graduated in April 2012 and I am currently based in Sunnyvale as an Interaction Designer at McAfee – An Intel Company working on the apps team.
I AM A DESIGNER, A THINKER,
A PROBLEM-SOLVER.
For the past two years, I worked as a User Experience Designer at MICHR on the web platform of UMClinicalStudies.org improving outreach and engagement of clinical research to volunteers. In the past, I worked as a usability analyst for a few years at a cognitive psychology research lab examining information visualization and how people make better decisions based on the different types of weather forecasts information. I also completed several summer internships at technical software environments where I examined usability, information architecture and conducted in-depth user research in making design recommendations for marketing teams and RD teams.
However, designing an experience is much more than the quantifiable understandings of user research, but more so of a craft. And I see myself as a crafter of experience. In order to keep myself freshed with creativity and in keeping an unbounded mentality for new interface mediums, I entered myself to multiple design competitions. In 2011, I entered the MLibrary iDesign Competition placing 2nd in the challenge. In 2012, I was invited to the CHI 2012 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference as semi-finalists to showcase my project, fridgeTop.
MY PHILOSOPHIES AND INSPIRATIONS
I draw my philosophies from a range of disciplines. Architecture for one, was one of the mediums that taught me how design should always consider the interactions of people. I am intrigued by the works of Louis Kahn and was fortunate to visit the Salk Institute five years ago and was moved by the design and its interaction with people. I draw my inspirations and look up to figures such as Richard Saul Wurman – information architect, Sylvia Plath – confessional poet, and enjoy reading Nicolas Feltron’s information visualization reports through the use of personal informatics.
“Prototype. Testing. Failing. All the time. But failing quickly and cheaply, in order to succeed.” – Design & Thinking: A Documentary
My design is grounded in the psychology of people. Coming from a behavioural science background, I am well-versed in the theories of gestalt principles. My background in cognitive psychology helped me to examine how people think, remember, perceive and solve problems in the context of usability of web applications.
