Previous Experience
I majored in Industrial Design at South China University of Technology from 2017 to 2021. At the start of my sophomore year, I chose to specialize in Interaction Design. I was exposed to different types of technologies related to interaction design, such as UI design and programming on various platforms, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality, and Intelligent Hardware. Besides, user experience design and service design are also parts of my previous design experience.
Even though I had a rich skillset, when I graduated, I still had no clear clue about what I really liked (not just with interest), what kind of designer I wanted to be, and how these were associated with my personality. This is the crucial reason why I am seeking further study as a Master candidate.
Technology & Realization
T&R is the prime specialization of mine. I have a great interest and enthusiam in exploring the different interaction techniques, in terms of their functionalities, their features and their application domains. I enjoy observing and studying how the users perceive and react to these technologies, and connecting users with these rigid technologies by means of data and computing.
SayIt - FBP
This project shows my interest as well as my competence specialization at the end of my bachelor's study. In this project about Social Anxiety Disorder, I made use of VR technology with conventional interaction techniques (VR controllers). I got a basic understanding of how VR technology functions with the required hardware, and how the implementation process of a VR application is done.
DeepTouch - M1.2 Project
In my M1.2 research project, I worked with the company Dimenco on the topic of Simulated Reality (SR). I was exposed to stereoscopic displays, which I had never used; moreover, I also worked with Leap Motion, which usually served as the interaction technique for SR. I learned how the hand-tracking technology worked with supportive applications and plugins, and how it is used in the virtual scene (Unity 3D) for visualization, simulation, and particularly data-gathering, which works well for research purposes.
HandiCaptain - M2.1 Project
For my M2.1 design project, I loaned a pair of Meta-gloves from Manus, a company that works on body-tracking technologies. I further extended my experience in hand-tracking technologies, from the completely touchless, burdenless Leap Motion to the gloves that work as wearables. By comparing this technology with Leap Motion, I learned about its advantages, shortcomings, similarities, and different application domains. I finally implemented this technology in a gamified solution, around the field of hand rehabilitation.
Touchpad for Locomotion in VR- Assignment Elective DUIET
This is the mid-term design assignment from the elective Design User Interfaces with Emerging Technologies. Dr. Rong-hao has taught us the working pattern of a touchpad and guided us to make touchpads step by step. Using the touchpad I made, I designed an interaction paradigm for locomotion in VR, with the touchpad embedded in a glove. I learned to understand and utilize another common yet efficient technology and implemented it as a unique interaction technique in VR.
GesVenture - FMP
In my FMP, I made an integration of my previous knowledge and skills around the interaction techniques. I designed a music game, combining VR technology and the Meta-gloves. I realized the free-hand gestural interaction with the gloves, without interference from the VR controllers. Based on my M1.2 Project, in which I used hand-tracking to gather data, I also implemented instant gesture recognition using Machine Learning to support my realization of the game. I also designed a paradigm for Pre-game setup tasks, which involves gestures in touchpad-based interaction.
User & Society
I believe, that the development of technology is lacking its significance without studying the users. In my bachelor's study, I got experience in using various user-related tools, but they did not really help me form a clear design process that I liked. My several projects here did this: by working with the novel interaction technologies that I like, I have learned different types of quantitative and qualitative user study methods, and how they could be used to supplement each other and facilitate the going of the design process.
Math, Data & Computing
MD&C is crucial to my competence development. In my bachelor's study, I used to see MD&C as the extreme of T&R. However, from my M1.1 project on, I learned about how it builds the connection between T&R and U&S. My understanding and competence of quantitative user study is generally based on my MD&C skills, which greatly helped me in my development as a 'technological designer'.
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PRAISE - M1.1 Project
In the Artifice squad, I learned some basic theories and applications of AI technology. In this project, we approached the users from a data perspective, and converted these into concrete parameters in the AI algorithm. I learned some basic AI algorithms, and implemented one with Python, which significantly helped me improve my understanding of data in a user's context, as well as my competence in handling data.
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DeepTouch - M1.2 Project
In this project, based on my knowledge and practice in how the emerging hand-tracking technologies work, I gathered the users' performance data from Unity in various aspects (movement velocity, reaction time, etc.), and analyzed the data using relevant analysis and visualization tools. I was manipulating data in a static way: recording the data during the test, and using the data afterwards.
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GesVenture - FMP
In my FMP, I combined my 'data competencies' that I acquired in past projects. I made use of a machine-learning algorithm to analyze the hand data from the players to make instant verdicts on which kinds of gestures they are making. Different from my M1.2 project, in this case, I am using the data in a dynamic way: collecting the data during the game, and sending it to the pre-set AI model to receive instant gestural information. What I wished to do but did not do was the quantitative analysis of the players' performance, similar to what I did in the M1.2, which I think suited my game very well.
Creativity & Aesthetics
C&A is not what I focus on, but is crucial to the quality of my design work. This part is not linked to projects, but I'll explain what I have incorporated in my previous projects around this expertise area.
User Interface Design
In NODV (Bachelor's) and PRAISE (M1.1), I have designed the graphical user interfaces for mobile devices. My graphical skills in Bachelor's were quite shallow, implementing only simple information. In my M1.1, I participated in the design of the UI for "Presenter Device", which helped me improve this basic skill for an interaction designer.
Aesthetics of Interaction
In the elective A Designerly Perspective on IoT, I was introduced the concepts of Rich Interaction and Aesthetics of Interaction. Our team work realized a prototype for remote connecting between intiated people, and the iteration-based process let me learn about what kinds of interaction is "beautiful", how they are connected with the form and the function of the product, and how that is implemented in certain contexts like IoT, which involves multiple techologies.
Game Aesthetics
In my M1.2 project, I started to study gamification in my design work. In my M2.1 project, I incorporated the MDA framework, which demonstrates the basic layers of a game. Still, the use of it was shallow. In my FMP, I incorporated this framework starting from the first iteration, and used it as a guideline of the iterations.
Apart from this, in my M2.1, I also incorporated game-related user study tools like the Play Experience Inventory (PXI). In my FMP, I further adapted this tool to a qualitative one to serve my purpose. I have learned how player experience is structured, and why and how it is associated with the MDA framework.
Business & Entrepreneurship
In my Bachelor's study, I had basically no direct contact with 'industrial' environments of industrial design. My works were mostly done in a very 'lab' environment.
In my M1.1 semester, I took the elective Design for Social Innovation. In that course, the lecturer gave each group the access to a company, and each group worked on a real case. We were assigned with a freelance professional, who had much experience in HR and social innovation. The cases she introduced gave us valuable insights into pratical innovation with people and human intelligence, and helped us form an innovative approach called "Human Landscape", a transformative practice combines key insights from social & natural sciences and wisdom practice.
In my M1.2 semester, I worked with the company Dimenco. Though my work was mostly individual and very research-driven, my colleagues from the same team introduced me a lot about the business aspects: what kinds of companys are buying the SR monitors, what they are using this technology for, and how the user's requirement urges them to make technical innovation on the display and interaction. This also helps me reflect on my ongoing project: even if the users are carefully included, what the market wants still needs further considerations.
My second year is a year with Manus. In both projects involving the Meta-gloves, I have made benchmarking in the relevant domain, and propose the advantages of the Meta-gloves around how they would prevail in the given context.
However, so far I have just briefly introduced them about what I am working on, but no structured presentations have been done. I will reach out to them before the final presentation, to gather perpective from the manufaturers' business scope.