Michael Gao (Changhao)

I’ve always been curious about the 'why' behind human behavior, like why we make the choices we do. That’s what led me to study Psychology. I wanted to understand how people think, which eventually took me into a Cognitive Psychology Lab focusing on language acquisition. My days were spent building experiments and running studies. It taught me how people process information and, more importantly, to never assume I had the answer until I saw the evidence.


Later, I decided to go into Artisanal Baking. I wanted to master a technical craft from the ground up, moving from the abstract theories of the lab to something much more practical. In a bakery, if your timing is off by five minutes or your measurements are off by a few grams, the final product fails. It forced me to develop an attention to the smallest details that most people never notice.


Today, I connect these dots in UX Design. I’ve realized that a great digital product needs both of these worlds. It needs the scientific foundation of a researcher to make sure it actually solves a user's problem, but it also needs the careful hand of a craftsman to make it feel polished. I don't just design screens, I use my background in research and my obsession with detail to build things that feel natural, intentional, and human.


I believe in staying hungry and staying foolish—approaching every new project with a beginner's mind and a drive to learn something new every single day.

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.