Today we’d like to introduce you to Tianqi Wang.
Hi Tianqi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My experience and story I am currently studying two master’s majors in industrial design and design management at scad. I think the keywords for my experience and story are “don‘t be afraid to try” and “embrace change”. I know a lot of outstanding people who identify their goals early, make a plan, and then move steadfastly toward them. But I was as hesitant and confused as most twenty-somethings. I didn’t know anything about career concepts when I was 18, but I loved MUJI at that time, and I wanted Chinese brands to have their own design style, so I chose industrial design as my undergraduate major at that time.
Industrial design has helped me a lot. It is a complex and cross-cutting discipline that requires a combination of aesthetics and functionality, as well as thorough user research and rigorous testing. It even needs to be combined with business, thinking about how to make a product realize its business value while effectively controlling costs, which is why I came to the U.S. to continue studying industrial design master, I think the U.S. has done a very good job in combining design and business.
Later, the Internet boom swept the world, and UX and UI design gradually became hot. My interest in interaction design also grew rapidly, and I especially like Apple’s interaction design, and I pay attention to every Apple launch. I think the essence of industrial design and interaction design is very close, they both need to design the relationship between people and things, industrial design considers the relationship between people and physical objects, interaction design considers the relationship between people and electronic products or virtual products, they both need to combine aesthetics and function, both need to be human-oriented and fully researched.
To get started with interaction design, I enrolled in a study course formed by designers and product managers from big Chinese Internet companies, learned software and product thinking, and completed my first toC app transformation iteration project, serving a leading bike-sharing platform in China. This is the first step for me to make experimentation and change.
Next, I wanted to have more hands-on opportunities. So during my vacation before coming to scad, I did an internship as a product manager in China, working mainly on AI intelligent creation systems for content creation platforms, and knowledge graphs as well. At that time, I wanted to experience the difference between toB and toC work, and I went through all the things that a product manager would encounter in their daily work during the 4-month period. Under the guidance of my mentor, I was able to independently draw flowcharts and medium-high fidelity diagrams, write clear product documentation, write data modeling documents, and coordinate product iterations and meetings with various project leaders. I also did not imagine that the AI field would be booming in 2022.
After coming to scad, I added design management as my second master’s degree, which was the second step in my attempt to make a change. Because after experiencing the work of a product manager, I realized that as a product leader or project manager, I need to learn how to judge design or innovation as good or not, and I need to improve my ability to innovate. Not only my own but also how to lead the team to make better innovation. Also, I need to work on my ability to manage business projects.
When I was on idus733, the professor once told us about the importance of work and project experience because no work experience means that we can only start from entry designer when we step into the workplace, and there is absolutely no need for companies to spend more hiring cost for a higher master degree background, so we may not be more competitive compared with undergraduates. So I worked on two scadpro projects, the design of an intelligent management system for TSA in collaboration with Deloitte and a new functional solution for GooglePay. These two projects are toG and toC respectively, I got a more comprehensive improvement and practice and got the company’s approval and satisfaction. I also got to know many excellent students and friends.
Now I have graduated from Industrial Design and am finishing my graduation design in Design Management. Instead of choosing to stay in the US like most international students, I chose to return to China this year to look for more opportunities while reuniting with my husband and getting married. We actually got our marriage license before I came to the U.S. and I set out on a solo journey of discovering my future during the epidemic. I hope that I am undefined and unbound and that even if I get married or have a change of identity, I still have the right to choose what I want.
I always believe that everyone has their own unique rhythm, so I will think my situation through before I make a decision and not lose my bottom line just because my decision is different from others. Finding the right pace for you is the most important thing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My family did not approve of my coming to the U.S. to study when the outbreak occurred.
Needed to be in an exotic relationship with my husband.
I was hesitant to choose a second major and worried that my decision would not pay off.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As I mentioned before, I had an internship as a product manager which help me a lot and learn some professional skills that I can use in Scadpro project as well. In the Deloitte project, I’m the UX/UI designer, I always designed the best pages in the team because I learned a lot of UX skills that should be taken into account in real business projects during the internship.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I would advise people to keep an eye out for job opportunities and to have confidence in themselves. Don’t feel that you are a BEGINNER and no company or project will want you. Practical work must be a shortcut to growth. I would get more internships if I can take my time again. The second point is to get to know more good classmates or friends, especially experienced seniors. Shared resources can unlock more possibilities.
Must practice a lot, have solid foundations.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: vitacocolivia
Image Credits
From myself and scadpro project
