Home | Ying Chen | UX Researcher & Strategist

Hello, I’m Ying

I'm an interdisciplinary UX researcher & strategist,
I transform user insights into innovative design strategies.

About Me

I am an interdisciplinary UX researcher & strategist with 5+ years of experience across consulting, healthcare and gaming
I am adept at driving innovation with a global outlook shaped by my lived experience living in North America, Asia and Europe
My educational background includes:
- Master in Library and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia (Canada)
- Dual B.A. Degrees in English Literature from University of Bayreuth (Germany) and Fu Jen Catholic University (Taiwan
- Associate Certificate in UX/UI Design, (with additional course Statistics for Data Analysis) from the British Columbia Institute of Technology
I am a passionate and detail-oriented team player, always thinking of innovative solutions to UX problems
My story is featured on the People of Research Newsletter

My Top Accomplishments (so far)

Service Design: Led UX & customer insights research to guide end-to-end service design for product, brand and e-commerce development for an Asian e-commerce brand, setting their competitive advantage for the next three years
UX Research & Customer Experience Design: Conducted UX and market research for product and business model redesign of a sporting equipment brand, propelling them into a new market segment
Gaming & UX Strategy: Conducted UX research studies for AA-AAA game studios including Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios to produce strategic insights improving multiple game features
Healthcare UX: Prototyped risk communication tool for hospital settings, and published peer-reviewed research in JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Workshop facilitation: Led stakeholder workshop to align UX strategy with business goals; led UX research workshop for 40+ participants and mentored 4 hackathon teams (2 of which won awards) at UBC BizTech's 2024 UX Open

My Strengths

I have experience in various work environments, including consultancy, gaming and healthcare
My background blends user research, business strategy, UX design and content strategy
Skilled in generative & evaluative research, with focus on qualitative & mixed-methods research
Proficient with UX/UI prototyping tools (Figma, Adobe XD)
Proficient with survey design tools (Qualtrics)
Competent using Python for data cleaning, analysis and visualization
Basic knowledge of HTML & CSS, and social media marketing
Native in English and Mandarin Chinese with conversational German language skills

My Work

My UX Portfolio

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My Other Projects

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My Volunteer Work

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My Philosophy

Context is Everything

This is a common saying in literary analysis that I bring with me from my background in English Literature. Extensive research into the context, problems, needs and behaviours of target users informs all my UX research and design work.

Focus on Usability

My UX research and design work focuses on identifying core usability issues and improving them for better product performance.

Balance User Needs with Business Goals

My previous experience in a branding consultant startup taught me the importance of aligning clients' business goals with consumer needs, which I bring into my UX research and design work. I believe a product can grow more successfully when it balances user needs and business goals.