I am Shiming, a UX designer leveraging 4+ years of economic research and data visualization expertise, now dedicated to crafting intuitive and impactful user experiences.

You might be wondering how I transitioned from economic research to user experience design. Allow me to draw some parallels for you.

• Both fields study individual behaviors and decision-making processes

• Both disciplines follow a similar process

• Both produce outputs that can ultimately influence individual behaviors

Let's draw a quick comparison between writing an economic policy paper and the user experience design cycle.

🔍 Discover:

During the discovery phase, economists gather data and conduct literature reviews to understand existing theories and empirical evidence related to the research question they are addressing, while UX designers collect user insights and qualitative data to comprehend user needs and challenges.

📖 Define:

Hypotheses and defined research questions are crucial to guide economic investigations, just as creating user personas, user stories, and user flows are essential for designing the experience UX designers aim to create.

💡Ideate:

Designers brainstorm different solutions for the problem by seeking inspiration and analyzing insights from previous phases, while economists collect various data points and empirical evidence to develop various research methodologies.

🔁 Iterate:

Once a paper is mostly finished, it undergoes a rigorous review process and may also be presented at seminars or workshops to generate more comments and feedback for iteration. Similarly, in UX design, designers conduct usability tests to gather feedback and iterate.

As a UX designer, there is still much learning and growth ahead of me. I am eager and passionate about creating impactful designs and stories with you.