ABOUT ME

A Proficient Whimposter – great at doing what I’m most scared to do.

Not having a formal art background but still love the creative arts, I always felt like my work was never good enough. Whether it’s uncertainty of how I create shadows in drawings or maybe I’m not using the pen tool in Illustrator properly or just the overall “eye” for seeing what is “good” art.

I grew up in a Chinese immigrant family, where my options were to become either a doctor, lawyer or engineer. There was an unspoken rule that anything related to the arts was a no go. I excelled in the sciences and mathematics, so engineering was the “obvious” choice.

Even in school, UX was not a well-known field, so engineering was my pursuit. Meanwhile, I always took opportunities on the side to develop my creative side through designing flyers for clubs, doodling logos, creating my own board games, and even leading an Art & Design team for church.

It was only through a conversation I had with a friend who worked with UX designers that I learned about the field in 2022. When I researched more, I was hooked. Every part of the UX design process was every bit my passion – from research to information architecture, to graphic arts and more. There’s also a lot of correlation to engineering in the aspect of using data to analyze and solve problems, only in UX, we deal more with digital products instead of physical.

Despite not going to art school or having any formal training, I practiced and honed my craft, designing logos, learning from UX podcasts/books, spending hours in Figma to become proficient, creating whimsical illustrations of hip-hop lyrics and other original work. Hence, I am a proficient whimposter.