About Me
I am a user experience designer based in the sunny Bay Area ☀️. The passion of my career is to create inclusive digital products that empower communities.
Throughout my career, I’ve delivered over 60 design projects to clients all over the world. Currently I’m a Human Interface Designer at Apple where I design accessible and fun learning experiences.
I love my cat, my friends, hiking, kickboxing, standup comedy, and thrillers.
My Story
1990 The Illegal Child
The one-child policy was strictly enforced in China when my mother found herself pregnant with a third child 8 years after her second daughter was born. My parents stopped by a clinic to inquire about an abortion, but they were told that it was too late to do it safely. “Let’s keep her then”, my father said with determination. At that point, my mother had to hide her pregnancy to avoid forced abortion until I was born.
I had a peaceful childhood. Living without being legally registered until middle school. Although I was told that my second sister would come home in tears when other kids teased her for being an illegal child, my childhood was different, and the topic didn’t affect me. I found myself fortunate to be born and fortunate to be accepted.
Me in 1993
1996-2008 “Study hard, there’s no other way.”
My hometown is located in a rural village of northeast China. My parents owns a house, some farmland, and a garden where we grew vegetables. My eldest sister didn’t pass her high school entry exam, and my parents couldn’t afford to send her to a technical secondary school, which was a popular alternative at the time. To this day, my parents regret that they were unable to provide such opportunities and blame themselves for my eldest sister’s hardships.
I had always been told that I must study hard, I must go to a good college, I must get an office job, and I must not end up working on a farm. “There is no other way”, my mother would say. Fortunately, I enjoyed school and studying as a child so much that I would rank as one of the top students at my school every year. It made me happy that it made my mother happy.
2008 Beijing Welcomes You
I remember clearly screaming at a 14-inch-TV-sized computer screen, when I saw that I was accepted into China Agricultural University for Industrial Design located in Beijing. That day, I played the 2008 Summer Olympic song, Beijing Welcomes You, on 1-track repeat.
I was 17 when I stepped foot onto the capital city. The entire city was still filled with a sense of togetherness, friendliness, and confidence from the recent Olympic Games. I caught myself observing people wherever I went, on the subway, at the bus stops, at the convenience stores. I was filled with excitement to become one of so many locals of Beijing. A Beijing-er.
School started, I scurried to find a seat. It was my first class – a core art class at that. The professor stood directly in the center of the lecture hall with her hands resting on her hips waiting for a brief moment for the crowd to come to a silence. She greeted us as she pointed at the windows, “You all have become designers the moment you walked through those college gates,” She scans the room, “Welcome to your first class, my fellow designers”.
On Monday, September 1st, 2008, I became a designer.
2011-2016 The Profession
I started my first design internship at a startup the month after iPhone 4s was released. I was given my first Apple device as an intern for the company - a brand new iPod Touch 4. I still remember how the device felt in my hands – the slight cool sensation from the stainless steel back, the smooth and rounded home button, and the iconic click when the screen unlocks. The interface so simple, clean, and intuitive. I fell in love that day.
It was July 2013, I had an interview at a startup in Beijing, co-founded by two American entrepreneurs from Texas. It was my first time speaking with someone purely in English. Before the interview, I asked a friend who had studied in the U.S. to help me prepare. “When you shake their hands, grip firmly”, he said. I remember being intrigued about the professional culture differences. Though I was nervous, the interview went well and I got the job. It was a small company with a handful of diverse employees originating from China, France, Czech, Lithuania, and the U.S.. We were tasked to build a website to sell 3D printers and educate users about 3D printing with the faith that the new technology would explode in global markets. To our dismay, this didn’t happen. The CEO returned to the U.S. in attempt to acquire more funding, and us employees decided to push forward in faith although we were no longer getting paid. It wasn’t long before the company closed shop, and it was announced that the CEO would not be returning to China. I was on the hunt again.
In late 2015, I joined Toptal, a freelancing platform. I quite enjoyed the “digital nomad” lifestyle. It was very dynamic and I had the opportunity to work with all sorts of entrepreneurial business from all over the world. With the hard work and positive reviews, it was so fulfilling to see Toptal featuring me on their homepage.
A web ad designed for THRE3D (2013)
2017 Hi, my name is Hannah.
I decided that I wanted to achieve a Master’s degree in the U.S. for design, but it was always the sentiment that it was only possible for the very wealthy in China. I knew it was impossible for my parents to afford this dream of mine, so I calculated how much I would need to work and save in order to send myself to school abroad. I began vigorously working long hours as a freelancer, counting every banknote and coin in my checking account. After two years of this lifestyle, the impossible dream became possible, and I applied for design schools across New York and California.
In 2017, I was admitted to the Design and Technology MFA program at the Parsons School of Design. I decided to name myself “Hannah”, a palindrome name to remind myself that an end is also a beginning.
2018 “Howdy from Apple”
One morning, after a late night working on a design project, I was awakened by sunlight beaming through the window blinds. I grabbed my MacBook laying next to me on my bed and swung the screen open to ensure my work from the night before was saved. A chime from an email notification grabbed my attention. It was titled “Howdy from Apple”. A manager from Apple reached out after viewing my portfolio online. The body of the email inquired if I was looking for an internship, or if I would consider something more permanent as well. It was the dream of dreams that started that day. As for me, Apple exemplified an epicenter of interface and product design.
Fast forward the summer after my first year of the MFA program, I was standing outside the gates of one of Apple’s Cupertino offices, 20 minutes early for my first day. 10 years ago, I walked through gates from which I became a designer, on this day, I wondered what awaits me beyond the gates of Apple.
T-Shirt from the first day at Apple
Today
I joined Apple as a full-time employee after achieving my master’s degree in 2019. My work focuses on designing accessible and fun learning experiences for users. From a rural farm village of northeast China to the global center of technology, Silicon Valley, I believe in the power of education and determination. I hope that my work could help dreamers all over the world achieve whatever they set out to achieve – no matter who you were, no matter where you are from, and no matter how impossible it may seem.