Hardware Research

Creating Amazing Products

I spent 2 years at Microsoft as a User Research Associate (through Harman Connected Services). In my role, I learned how to conduct User Studies with the Human Factors Lab including both user attributes and product interactions, and then collect, analyze and visualize said data. Human Factors is part of the Industrial Design Studio, where we help develop a variety of hardware devices! It’s been really interesting working with amazing people and learning about how to develop products that really focus on creating great experiences for people. People are all shapes and sizes, and the products we create should be great to use for all of them.

Beyond the experience, User Research is my favorite part of the design process. Adequate research and testing must be conducted to ensure product development goes smoothly. As creators, we have a responsibility and the opportunity to bring solutions to our users, and the only way we can accomplish that is by understanding their unique needs.

Note: Due to NDAs, privacy, and working on unreleased products, much of my work cannot be disclosed publicly. I’d be happy to talk about skills that can be applied to future projects.

Past Hardware Projects

See more here:

• Capstone Project: Building a device to manage post-operative pain

• Mill With Jill

• Husky Robotics Team

Future Projects

Things I want to make:

• Building healthy mixed reality communities to improve civic engagement

• Creating Head Worn Devices for people of a variety of shapes and sizes

• Making accessible technology for people with disabilities

User Research

User Research is a privilege

As a researcher, we have the immense responsibility to talk to both the users who need change and the teams who create the products. Our job is to make space to people who don’t have voices in the products they need, so we can make their lives better. I am so lucky to be in a space where I get to listen to the stories of myriad people and help them make a true difference.

Beyond the experience, User Research is my favorite part of the design process. Adequate research and testing must be conducted to ensure product development goes smoothly. As creators, we have a responsibility and the opportunity to bring solutions to our users, and the only way we can accomplish that is by understanding their unique needs.

Past projects

See more here:

• Period Tracking for Pre-Teens

• Husky Robotics Team

Future Projects

I’d like to use my skills to learn how to make more user solutions and understand current situations in context. Some areas include:

• Technological Storytelling

• Mental Health

• Social Media and Relationships

• Politics and Misinformation

Building user Experiences

How do you build great experiences?

I believe that all great experiences start with research. Whatever the product is, it is vital to understand what your users truly want and need before, during, and after creation.

Using that preliminary research, I follow with sketching and ideation, prototyping, user testing, iteration, and another (potentially Final) experience. In building the initial prototypes, I try to base all my designs on clean lines, accessible navigation features (readable fonts, large buttons, clear instructions, contrasting colors, etc.), and communicating the information in an aesthetically pleasing and uniquely enjoyable ways.

User Experience is a vital part of building great products. As I continue to learn, I hope to apply my knowledge to a variety of areas, including improving accessibility in data, health, politics, education, and/or hardware.

Past Projects

Many of my courses in school have taught me the methodologies of building user experiences. My first HCDE course, User Centered Design, involved building an app to improve public transit experiences.

Since then, I’ve expanded my knowledge with courses and projects like building a more inclusive period tracking application for preteens, where we made sure to think about what kids need as they’re navigating growing up and understanding their personal health. In building this experience, we wanted to provide information in a clear way, remove unnecessary complications, and make it lightly gamified so it would be fun and less traumatic of an experience. More details can be found here.

Present Work & Future Goals

I spent two years at Microsoft in their Human Factors team. Research and Experience are interconnected here, as I work on research studies to understand and improve the experiences of users. As a researcher, we also have the opportunity to improve our experiences by experimenting with methodologies to communicate our findings effectively and streamline our processes.

I was a volunteer for Geek Girl Con 2019, and as the workshop coordinator, I organize the 22 workshops before and during the convention in November. On first glance, this may not seem like User Experience, but managing all these events involves utilizing my UX principles. In making the schedule, I communicated with all stakeholders while considering how to best arrange the schedule for attendees, such as making sure kids content was earlier, and that everything in the program was communicated well.

I continued this role remotely for Geek Girl Con 2020, which involved creating videos and making the experience still valuable even fully online.

In my free time, I’m working on a website to help people build care guides so they can improve their mental health and take better care of themselves and others. I hope to improve my skills and continue to build products that improve accessibility and enjoyment in technology.

Product Design

Building Great Products

The image on the left is Professor Andy Davidson’s figure about how prototyping relates to everything. Prototyping is essential to great product design, whether it’s hardware or software. While most of my coursework and many projects I’ve worked on have been in software, I also have a deep interest and strong love for hardware. My first interest in tech was borne out of being on a robotics team and reading Don Norman’s Emotional Design, so I’ve always had a predilection towards physical objects.

Whether it’s for a website, user interface, robot, or physical device, many of the same principles apply. I try to use the same process for all: Research, Ideation, Prototyping, Testing, Iteration, and Final design. I’d like to continue learning to develop this process with more complex products and devices.

Creating Physical Devices

My main example for this is the capstone project we worked on a few years prior. My nickname in the group was “Fab Queen” for Fabrication Queen. I taught Mill With Jill Courses and was 3D printing everything I could. As I continued this process in prototyping courses, I found myself daydreaming of new ideas, imagining what to create next. I’m waiting to buy a 3D printer so I can make those dreams a reality,

Below is the final poster for our Patient Controlled Analgesia device, where we developed both the internal mechanism, external device, screen and overall user flow. Initially, I’d create designs rather haphazardly due to my excitement to print, but making these was time consuming and inefficient. For example, when I first made the wheel, I manually created each separating section so we could test a variety of sizes and angles, but once we had final dimensions ensuring the symmetry difficult, so we switched to creating pieces and duplicating them to ensure that everything was even in Fusion 360. I learned a lot about CAD in this process, and hope to build and experiment more while working in Rhino and other software. An example of the wheel along with some potential holders is located to the right.