Michael Gao (Changhao)
Before I became a product designer, I was a psychology student at the University of Toronto. I worked in a language acquisition lab, where I enjoyed running studies, conducting research, and analyzing data to discover new patterns in how people learn languages. This experience helped me understand how humans think and behave.
Design entered my life in 2019 when I participated in a user testing session conducted by a former lab mate. As she introduced her product, I was inspired by her empathy and passion for building things to help people. In that moment, I realized that at its core, product design is about helping people, and I instantly knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
My background in psychology makes me a perfect fit for this field. I have a strong understanding of user behavior and limitations, and I know what can be done to help them. Users have limited memory, limited attention, and are prone to making errors. As a product designer, I consider users’ capabilities and limitations to reduce errors and improve the overall interaction experience.
Despite I don’t have a traditional design background, I am hungry to learn new design trends, prototyping skills and designer mindset.
Skills
User research
Wireframing
Prototyping
User flow
Design Sprint
Interaction Design
User Testing
UX Research
Design Systems
Information Architecture
Accessibility
Interests
Snowboarding
Travelling
Photography
Good food
Reading
Learning new things
Interests
Snowboarding
Travelling
Photography
Good food
Reading
Learning new things
Changhao Gao
Coming from a psychology background, I understand human cognition, care about human emotions and strive to create a better user experience. When I first came across UX in my final year of undergraduate study, I instantly fall in love with it. It’s a perfect combination of problem solving, creativity and helping people. I found it extremely rewarding to understand users’ pain points and solve them. UX perfectly aligns with my knowledge about human behaviours, research methods, and user empathy.Besides those knowledge, the most important thing I found in UX design is understanding users’ limitations. Users have limited memory, limited attention and constantly making errors. As a UX designer, I consider users’ capabilities and limitations while designing to reduce the errors users make and improve interaction experience. Despite I don’t have a traditional design background, I am hungry to learn new design trends, prototyping skills and designer mindset.