1. UX DESIGNER / RESEARCHER
KIM LIU
kimliu17@gmail.com
201 835 5411
www.kimliu.co
linkedin.com/in/kimliu2
2. I am a curious, self-directed learner with a background in writing and digital
marketing. I am looking for a challenging, fast-paced UX designer position in
an environment that emphasizes growth, feedback, and innovation.
Here’s a sneak peek at the inside of my brain:
I value
BIG IDEAS
I believe in
failure as
GROWTH
Hi, I’m Kim.
In the words of
Alice, I am
CURIOUSER AND
CURIOUSER
I approach
situations with
INTEGRITY
I am interested in
EMERGING
TECHNOLOGIES
ABOUT ME PROJECTSMY PROCESSTOOLS CONTACT
some key highlights…
3. My process is driven by problem-solving, iterative testing, and
a strong foundation of research, while taking into consideration
all stakeholder needs.
Here is an overview of my process.
ABOUT ME PROJECTSMY PROCESSTOOLS CONTACT
Here are my go-to tools.
PROTOTYPINGDESIGNING COLLABORATION
Tools I am interested in learning include Adobe Illustrator,
After Effects, Pixate, and Marvel.
RESEARCH
IDEATION
DESIGN
TESTING
ITERATION
4. INSTAGRAM SUNDARA CREATURE
Personal ProjectClient WorkStudent Work
These are the projects we will be going through. Detailed case
studies are available upon request. Click to see any project
you might be interested in.
ABOUT ME PROJECTSMY PROCESSTOOLS CONTACT
5. OVERVIEW
CHALLENGE
Create and integrate a photo printing
feature for Instagram with customization
options
SOLUTION
A simple single photo printing that allows
for customization and gifting, taking into
consideration user goals, business goals, and
brand identity.
MY ROLE
PROCESS
Research
Ideation
Design
Iteration
TOOLS
PRODUCT MANAGER
I acted as product manager,
focusing primarily on managing
our schedule, research, feature
definition, and testing.
This was a student project for General Assembly, created in a
1.5 week span with a team of three people.Instagram
DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH ITERATION
6. OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH ITERATIONS
As project manager, I created a project plan to keep us on
track, as well as a more detailed task sheet with responsibilities
and due dates.
Managing the Project
7. DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCHOVERVIEW
In approaching this project, we looked for the intersection
between users of Instagram and photo printing. We collected
data about printing needs and Instagram use from 2 surveys
and 90 respondents.
I conducted extensive contextual inquiry of physical locations
where people went to print. We additionally interviewed 24
users who used Instagram and had printed photos in the past.
I led the creation of 5 personas from the synthesis of our
research.
competitive analysis | contextual inquiry | surveys | user interviews | personas
ITERATIONS
Contextual inquiry at photo studio
diana
BACKSTORY
Diana is just out of college and her friends are scattered across
the States. She feels nostalgic for her college days and she wants
a way to remember them as she navigates through a new city
and new job. She also likes to send her friend gifts to share with
them social moments.
PAIN POINTS USE CASESBEHAVIOR
NEEDS
I want to capture the
social moment.
• Good quality
• Reasonable price
• Reasonable price
• Inconsistent quality
• Time consuming
• Diana wants to send her
friend Katie a print for her
bday
Age: 23 | Gender: Female | Instagram Use: Frequent
• Diana wants to print out
photos from college to put
on her bedroom wall
• Posts: friends, vacation,
family, nature
• Prints for: For herself to
remember, gifts for
friends
Instagram and Photo Printing
Contextual Inquiry and Personas
8. DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCHOVERVIEW
MVP | feature prioritization | brainstorming | user flows
We considered user needs, business goals, and brand
identity, making use of takeaways from our research,
personas, and writing out user flows to find the MVP and
prioritize features.
We brainstormed multiple possible interfaces in design
studio, incorporating features that we further validated
through a survey.
Brainstorming the MVP and prioritizing features on the whiteboard.
ITERATIONS
Design Studio
Less is more
9. DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCHOVERVIEW
The digital prototype demonstrates the first use case,
available at the link. We used this to test more subtle
interactions and interface details, such as gestures and
color.
I created a paper prototype to test the printing feature
selection and checkout flow, which also functioned as low
fidelity wireframes. I created 2 use cases for testing both
the low and high fidelity prototypes.
rough sketches | paper prototyping | wireframes | user testing
ITERATIONS
A paper prototype demonstrating how you can scroll through features at
the bottom of the screen.
DIGITAL PROTOTYPE: http://invis.io/C620CG03X
Paper Prototype
Digital Prototype
10. ITERATIONSDESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCHOVERVIEW
INSTAGRAM FILTERS GESTURES
i.1
i.2
i.3
i.4
We iterated on how users would physically interact with the
options, the way users navigated through the customization
options, defaults (and how they were indicated), and what
options were available.
i.1
i.2
Though our early sketches began with scrolling up and down
on the screen to select options, I observed that users may be
more familiar with the side to side interaction seen in
Instagram’s filter function, which was eventually used in our
final design.
Integrating with Instagram
Iterations
NAVIGATION
11. CHALLENGE
The founder of Sundara came to us
with a request for a site redesign to
make her site look more professional
with the aim of getting more
consistent funding.
SCOPE
Based on business goals and all
stakeholder needs, we narrowed the
scope of the project to updating the
information architecture, identifying
users, and content strategy.
MY ROLE
PROCESS
Site Audit
Research
IA/Content Strategy
Design
TOOLS
INFORMATION ARCHITECT
I primarily contributed in
conducting research, creating
content strategy, revising
information architecture, creating
wireframes, and creating materials
for the client.
Sundara was a client project that I worked on in a team of 4
over the course of 2.5 weeks.
OVERVIEW SITE AUDIT RESEARCH IA/CONTENT DESIGN
Sundara
12. charity: water clean the world pencils of promise
usability testing | heuristic evaluation | competitive analysis
In the site audit, we conducted usability testing and heuristic
evaluation. I focused on examining the sites of direct and
indirect competitors to see what is currently succeeding in the
nonprofit sector.
I additionally created site maps of the current site and
competitor sites in order to audit content and understand how
successful nonprofits present information to their users.
OVERVIEW SITE AUDIT RESEARCH IA/CONTENT DESIGN
Researching the Nonprofit Space
Competitor Site Maps
13. survey | user interviews | personas
I created the survey that we used to survey 25 people
previously involved in the nonprofit sector to understand how
they found sites and what content they were looking for. We
also interviewed 13 people to better understand Sundara’s
target user base.
Identifying the Sundara User
LAURIE
“The Millennial Activist”
EDGAR
“The Consistent Donor”
COURTNEY
“The Knowledge Seeker”
ASHWINI
“The Screener”
We synthesized our research into 4 personas. Our primary
persona was Ashwini, whose job consists of scouring websites
to find nonprofits to recommend to her boss for corporate
sponsorship. This was based off the stakeholder need for
consistent funding.
Ashwini, the Screener
OVERVIEW SITE AUDIT RESEARCH IA/CONTENT DESIGN
14. I created user journeys and use cases for all of the personas to
help understand what pages would be important for us to
build out and what type of content Sundara’s users would be
looking for, with an emphasis on Ashwini’s user journey.
Ashwini’s Story
We used affinity diagramming and the MSCW method to
determine what content was most important to users on a
non-profit site. We tested the taxonomy of our results through
open and closed card sorting.
Identifying Important Content
user flows | affinity diagramming | MSCW method | card sorting
OVERVIEW SITE AUDIT RESEARCH IA/CONTENT DESIGN
15. I collaborated with the project manager on content strategy
and created lo fi wireframes for each page, which we
validated through user testing.
http://dz5wna.axshare.com/home.html
site map | prototype
OVERVIEW SITE AUDIT RESEARCH IA/CONTENT DESIGN
Lo fi Prototype
I synthesized the results of the card sorting into an updated
site map. The navigation was further validated through
multivariate testing.
A New Site Map
16. PROBLEM
Couples in long distance relationships have
difficulty feeling connected.
Current technology has improved frequency
of contact, but few significant improvements
in quality.
SOLUTION
An interactive experience app for mobile
and wearable. Partners interact through
synchronous tapping to maintain the health
of a virtual creature.
MY ROLE
PROCESS
Research
Ideation
Design
Validation
TOOLS
INTERACTION DESIGNER
In a team of two, I contributed
with research, interaction
design, and illustrations.
Creature was created as a student project for General Assembly in
a 1.5 week span in a team of two people.
Creature
OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH VALIDATION
17. We began the project with an in-depth investigation of
intimacy and technology, with the primary goal of
understanding how people feel connected. A notable source is
the paper “On Relationships” by Marc Hassenzahl.
academic research | competitive/comparative analysis | user interviews
We conducted a feature analysis of various couple apps and
discovered there was a focus on awareness, expressivity, and
memories. However, in our user interviews, people cited
sharing activities and responsibilities as a key aspect of feeling
intimacy with their partner.
JOINT
ACTION
GIFT
GIVING
EXPRESSIVITY
AWARENESS
MEMORIES
PHYSICALITY
OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH VALIDATION
Intimacy and Technology
A Market Gap in “Joint Action”
The pattern observed in user interviews: joint action was a
common source of bonding not addressed in current couple apps.
JOINT
ACTION
GIFT
GIVING
EXPRESSIVITY
AWARENESS
MEMORIES
PHYSICALITY
18. personas | finding the MVP | feature prioritization
OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH VALIDATION
Brainstorming ideas around Hassenzahl’s facets of intimacy.
I created the basis for 5 personas based on common needs
and pain points observed through user interviews. We chose
Irene, a woman in an international relationship, as our
primary persona.
Irene, the International
We considered user needs, business goals, and technology
constraints to understand our MVP, which we used to
converge on a solution through multiple brainstorming
sessions and user testing.
Converging on a SolutionSADIE
The Madly in Love
IRENE
The International
(primary)
LYDIA
The Busy Bee
NEAL
The Weekender
JOHANN
The Traveller
19. character conceptualization | survey | character design | hi fi mockups | prototype
I conceptualized various character designs for the
creature, as well as the room that he would live in
within the app.
We tested my designs through a survey. Out of 44
respondents and 10 possible creatures, there was one clear
winner. I created multiple animations of Creature in
Photoshop.
OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH VALIDATION
Character Design
Testing the Characters
20. character conceptualization | survey | character design | hi fi mockups | prototype
JOINT DANCE SEND TAPS NOTIFICATION
I created hi fi mockups for the watch. The primary
function of the watch app involved the taptic engine
and notifications to give Creature a sense of life.
PRIMARY SCREEN
A A. Indication at the top of the screen of your
partner’s presence in the app
B. The health and form of the creature
increase and evolve based on the frequency
and question of your interactions.
C. The creature’s environment also evolves
over time. Color, sound, and texture
increase in complexity.
D. The dots indicate your progress during the
synchronous tapping interaction by growing
into pink circles.
B
C
D
I also created hi fi mockups for mobile, as well as an
interactive prototype in Hype 3 (beta) demonstrating the
synchronous tapping interaction in the on boarding tutorial
(after account signup).
PROTOTYPE | http://bit.ly/1zlQ3LD
OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH VALIDATION
Mobile Screens
Watch Screens
21. OVERVIEW DESIGNIDEATIONRESEARCH VALIDATION
I executed this user test by setting up a board
between people in the same room so they could
hear but not see each other. Test subjects
interacted through clapping without talking to
make the ‘creature’ (my partner) dance.
We incorporated testing throughout the design process. Due
to technical constraints in creating prototypes of sufficiently
high fidelity, we used unusual methods: one example being
bodystorm testing the synchronous tapping interaction.
I additionally created a few test plans for involving real
couples to address the possible issue of negative feedback
loops, as well as a diary study to understand how the
Creature app would work over time. Due to time constraints,
these were not able to be implemented, but may be used
moving forward on this project.
Future Test Plans
Bodystorm Testing
TEST EXECUTION
