Hello! Nice to meet you! My name is Qixing Zheng
(pronounced as Chi-shing Jeun ). It means "the unique star in the sky" in Chinese. I grew up in the beautiful city of Suzhou, China, which is the home of Chinese silk and pearls. I moved to North America when I was 17 and now live in the lovely city of Vancouver, Canada.
My work is everything user experience related, which includes:
- User research for defining product requirements
- Interaction and visual design for user interfaces
- Usability evaluations to ensure the ease of use for products
I graduated from the University of Georgia, US, with a Bachelor degree majoring in both Computer Science and Math. I obtained my Master's degree just last year in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of British Columbia, Canada. My Master's research was focused on Computer Supported Collaborative Work.
My Passion
"When technology delivers basic needs, user experience dominates." - Don Norman
My passion is deeply rooted in helping people to improve their user experiences with the technology they rely on everyday. To me, a good user experience is simple, consistent, pleasing, and reliable.
- Simple/Comfortable: Products should be easy to use. The product's user interface should smoothly blend into the background and being very intuitive. This allows users to think less about how to use the product and concentrate on their tasks. Simple products also assist users to streamline their tasks by providing the right options at the right time.
- Consistent/Familiar: Products should allow users to transfer existing knowledge to new tasks and new environments. Familiar and consistent interfaces can help in this by allowing a smooth transition between products and maintaining users reusable knowledge. This helps users to gain confidence of the products and aids in bridging between the online and offline experience.
- Pleasing/Interesting: Products should have positive emotional appeals for users. Attractive products are well received by users and can actually improve users' productivity (see Attractive Things Work Better). They give users a pleasant interaction experience and, if well designed, they can encourage exploration of new product features.
- Reliable/Trustworthy: Products should be reliable and provide users with a sense of security. Gaining users' trust and building a good product reputation takes time but it is extremely important in creating a long term relationship with users.