frances yan
engineer // designer // artist
Hello,
I am an interdisciplinary designer / engineer, currently working at Palo Alto Research Center as a User Experience Designer + Researcher. I help bring novel emerging technologies from the lab to the market by identifying opportunities through qualitative user research and hypotheses validation - an iterative process grounded in rapid design testing of human-centered, cross-platform experiences. I enjoy exploring how technology innovations can challenge adopted routines and augment interactions. Due to my hybrid background in engineering and design, I work fluidly and effectively between technical, design, and business groups. I'm open-minded, optimistic, and always interested in learning something new.
education
MA + MSc, Innovation Design Engineering
Royal College of Art + Imperial College London
London, UK // 2015
BS, Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, USA // 2013
work experience
User Experience Designer + Researcher @ PARC
Palo Alto, USA // February 2015 - present
Innovation Design Engineer Intern @ MADE
Beijing, CHINA // July - August 2014
Research Assistant @ Berkeley Energy and Sustainable Technologies Lab
Berkeley, USA // June 2011- May 2013
Product Design Intern @ Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies
San Francisco, USA // June - September 2012
skills
Design + Making: Design Thinking, Qualitative User Research, Sketching, Machining, Casting
Tools: Solidworks, Fusion 360, Arduino, Processing, Adobe CS 6.0, basic HTML/CSS
Language: Fluent in English and Mandarin
exhibitions
Theia, Imperial College London @ London, UK // February 2014
Hiram, Perez Peace Center @ Tel-Aviv, Israel // April 2014
S3, Royal College of Art @ London, UK // January 2015
S3, Milan Design Week - La Fabbrica del Vapore @ Milan, Italy // April 2015
ONIXX, Royal College of Art + Imperial College London @ London, UK // June 2015
Let's chat!
© 2015 by Frances Yan
