今天是我在Meta（也就是臉書)工作的最後一天。

身為設計師我感到無比幸運，可以有機會在全世界最大的社群平台工作。在過去的一年半，我見識到一個國際化的公司是如何執行跨國的專案、看到超多讓我瞠目結舌的設計師作品，與很多超強同事合作甚至交到了很多很棒的朋友。但說到我在臉書工作最大的的獲得，是這三個字：

一、意圖性 intentionality

很多設計師都知道，意圖性是臉書面試設計師時候很重要的指標，意思是你做任何事情背後強而有力的目的。比如在作品集面試的時候：你是否仔細想過為什麼要分享這個專案？你要如何呈現它？而你又想透過這個專案傳達什麼訊息？我一直以為這只是面試時候才重要，沒想到開始在臉書工作之後，才發現意圖性在我每天的工作中扮演如此關鍵的角色。

臉書工作的步調很快，每個人的精力和時間都有限而「你」自己的也是。你開某個會議的目的是什麼？而你要如何達到你開會的目的？你為什麼要在這個會議裡面說某句話或是分享這個點子？

我發現有意識的澄清這些問題，可以幫助我在較短時間內達到自己或是團隊的目標。

二、韌性 resilience

雖然谷歌翻譯是「彈性」，但我認為如果要解釋做人的特性，因該翻成「韌性」，意旨「從困難中迅速恢復的能力」。

臉書這樣一個最大的社交平台，變動無時無刻無所不在。自己無法控制的事情太多所以我只能學著適應，或是用李小龍說的：

Be water.

上善若水。

當變動或是危機發生的時候，我試著不要被舊有的想法框住，而是學著適應新的變化並且專注於自己或團隊的成長和機會。在這個無時無刻都在變動的時代，形如水一般有韌性才是生存之道。

三、待人 people

我想引用Instagram設計主管Ian Spalter說過的一句話：

Be hard on the work, but soft on the people.

對工作要狠，對人要溫柔。

工作或許重要，但是你還是可以對人溫和並表現支持與關心。任何給定產品或項目的成功都不能由一個人獨自承擔。此外，即使是最重要的項目也往往是暫時的，而人與人之間的聯繫可能是長久的。 所以，記得對人好一點！ 畢竟當你回顧你的職涯旅程時，往往「人」才是你最難忘的。

最後，這些字或許不是新詞，但是我從來沒有深刻的經歷他們實際在工作生活中運用的意義。感謝臉書讓我低下頭來，謙虛的學習，並了解意圖性、韌性和待人之道的價值。

Meta，再會。

“Hm, my biceps need more definition.”, “I’ve been training hard recently, do I look leaner now?”, “When will my abs show up?” If the above sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Many people start their fitness journey to get in shape and there’s nothing wrong with that. When I started training two years ago. I claimed I wanted to be healthier but deep down the aim was for a better looking body. During the first year, I never felt happy. I didn’t feel good about myself, in fact, it was the opposite. I was always comparing myself with others who looked leaner, fitter and in better shape. I kept questioning my training programs and doubting whether my regime would lead me to my desired body goal. In the end, training didn’t make me happy and healthy as I thought it would. One day I realised that the problem was not the training nor was it my “unfit” body, it was that I was training for the wrong purpose.

Life keeps changing and that’s why people’s body shapes change all the time. There’s no perfect shape, only shapes that support us to do what we want to do and allows us to gain more life experience. When we choose to live a healthier lifestyle, we’re stepping out of our comfort zone, trying something new and treating ourselves well. That is why, instead of making us more miserable, the purpose of training should be more than the body changes. With this change of focus, we will start to make peace with our bodies and gain confidence, the confidence of not defining ourselves by the way we look.

Now I focus on trying new fun workouts and I train to feel good. Aesthetic changes will happen as a by-product. After all, life is too short to please the ever-changing aesthetic standard.

In May 2021, I set a weekly routine to craft my English writing skill. I therefore publish the short writing (most likely) weekly to keep myself accountable for the project. If you like what I write, clicking some claps would motivate me, no obligation.

Thanks for your reading and have a nice day.

I’m turning 32 years old in three months, yet I haven’t prepared a gift for myself. People say reflection is the key to personal growth, and for those who know me well, any topics around self-development and personal growth are my jam. I thought I’d take this chance to reflect on the key lessons I learned in my 20s, so that my past doesn’t go to waste and I would be more intentional when I encounter more challenges in my remaining life.

Don’t let your job define you

I used to spend every bit of my energy on work. My mind was full of work when I woke up, when I ate, and even when I went out with my partner on the weekends. At one point of my life, my job didn’t turn out as I had hoped. I became depressed and I lost my faith in myself at work therefore I lost my identity. I came to realize that being too attached to the job was dangerous. No job is worth my full attention in life and my value is much more than my job.

Failed romantic relationships are blessings

People start relationships with the hope that this will be their last one; my 20s was no exception. However, the expectation is brutally unrealistic. Studies have shown that people will experience on average five or six relationships before they find “the one”. In my case, I had several heartbreaking relationships in my 20s. In hindsight, the experience didn’t stop me from pursuing a lifelong loving relationship. In fact, if I hadn’t experienced the pains, I wouldn’t have known what I truly wanted in life.

Family and friendships are investments

I didn’t used to actively make time for my family and friends. I would say things like “I don’t like texting” or “I’m too busy at work”, or even claim things like “true friends will always be there for me”. Excuses like these led to many connections, which could have grown deeper and more meaningful, slipping away instead. Humans are social animals and if we don’t invest in our relationships, we won’t get returns.

In May 2021, I set a weekly routine to craft my English writing skill. I therefore publish the short writing (most likely) weekly to keep myself accountable for the project. If you like what I write, clicking some claps would motivate me, no obligation.

Thanks for your reading and have a nice day.

It was a 21-degree breezy morning. I sat on the hotel balcony enjoying my morning cup of coffee. As I sat on the balcony looking out from the second storey, I soon realized the view in front of me was profound.

Several pine trees swinging with the breeze, adults and children staggering for work and school, bustling cars passing through the alley way and their sound echoing gently between the buildings, all of those small details surprisingly brightened up my day.

Many people tend to seek happiness outside of their day to day lives. We think that only by traveling to other countries we’ll be able to see beautiful scenery to make our life better. We buy expensive tickets, spend hours flying to the other side of the globe, and assume that we will gain peace and happiness there. Yet we still feel the same boredom and dullness when we go back to our normal daily lives because our minds are still seeking happiness in the wrong place. Peace and happiness are already here, so look around, be more aware of your surroundings starting from today.

Details will soon come and find you.

In May 2021, I set a weekly routine to craft my English writing skill. I therefore publish the short writing (most likely) weekly to keep myself accountable for the project. If you like what I write, clicking some claps would motivate me, no obligation.

Thanks for your reading and have a nice day.

大家好我是D姐。我不是設計研究員，但因為種種原因，身為產品設計師的我，有時候也是蠻常要自己下海做當研究員的。最近剛做完一個為期三個月的設計研究，當時我的Manager特別提醒我 —「 確保設計的後續有帶來實質的影響力比設計研究的流程還要重要。」

我一開始不太懂Manager所說的意思，於是花了很多時間研究「設計研究要如何發揮後續的影響力」，搞得這個部分花的時間幾乎跟設計研究的流程一樣多。過程中許多資深的產品設計同事和主管也給我很多很猛的建議，學到超多溝通的技巧。

我發現網路上有一個資訊缺口 — 目前大部分的網路文章，設計研究的方法列了很多也很詳細，但是設計研究結束後的溝通策略相關主題非常缺乏。其實產品設計師的溝通能力超級無敵重要，不亞於設計研究流程本身。

所以今天想要聊聊當時我學到的溝通技巧和發表的注意事項。無論你是產品設計師，UIUX設計師，還是設計研究員，如果你做設計研究時遇到以下問題：

• 組織對設計研究的結果興趣缺缺
• 設計研究的報告做完隆某郎跨（沒有人在看）
• 研究發表時大家拍手說好棒棒，但是後續發無聲卡

我希望分享的技巧可以能增加你的自信，讓設計對產品或組織產生影響。畢竟做設計研究的目的就是大家對特定議題有新的認知之後，真的把研究結果拿來應用在產品或服務上面嘛！

那就開始吧！

研究發表之前，先為報告加上強而有力的開頭

很多設計師會抱怨公司都不重視設計研究，但是很多時候其實是因為沒有好好溝通設計研究可以如何幫助產品成長。作為產品設計師的你，在簡報的開頭可以把以下三個基本的問題答案當作你的簡報開頭：研究要解決什麼問題、研究過程是怎樣、以及如何運用研究報告裡面的內容。

研究要解決什麼問題

這裏目的是要增加設計研究的Awareness，讓聽眾知道議題的嚴重性。內容可以包涵：目前產品面臨到什麼問題、問題的嚴重性有多大、本研究可以如何解決。把觀察到的問題列出，如果可以用質化或量化的數據資料佐以證明就更好。

假設你做了一個人物誌（又稱用戶畫像或Persona）的研究，你可以把最近公司月活量或是轉換率的數據收集起來，總結成一個因果關係，比如「我們發現公司面臨一個問題是這幾個月客戶下單數量減少，只有百分之三的用戶會在首頁上找到他們需要的商品。了解人物誌可以幫助我們了解使用者面臨的問題，並且根據他們的需求來優化我們的產品，同事確保我們公司對產品的投資不會被浪費。」

這裏當然不是說一定要把問題說的天花亂墜，但是大家每天都是忙得像打怪，處理事情一定會是有一個優先順序。如果你對問題了解得夠深，並且可以很好的把研究、公司面臨的商業問題和使用者的問題做很好的連結，就可以帶出解決問題與改變的急迫性，這時候觀眾就會比較願意專注接你研究報告帶出的內容和細節。

研究過程是怎樣

這裏就是讓你「給人感覺很專業」的好時機！可以帶出你所運用的研究方法，無論使用的是問卷、訪談、田野調查、團體研究法或專家研究，都可以提出來讓人感覺好像很厲害的名詞。但是有一個常犯的錯誤要避免—不要使用太深入的詞彙。專業詞彙點到為止，畢竟很多時候你的研究報告不是寫給設計師看的。想像自己第一次上一個新領域的課，聽到老師提很多專業詞彙，自己都會聽了霧煞煞，注意力就都被分散在那些對專業詞彙的疑問上面，反而無法專注在要解決的問題本身。除非你知道觀眾都知道哪些詞彙的含義，不然研究方法的名稱提一下，然後研究過程一兩句話簡單帶過就好。

這裏繼續用上面人物誌的來做延伸，你可以這麼說「我們花了X個月做了使用者訪談(研究名稱)，訪問將近Y位使用我們產品的客戶，問他們一系列有關過程中沒有下單的原因和動機（研究過程），在一番深入的解析之後，發現一些有趣的洞察和產品的機會點。」

記得不要花太多時間講研究細節，除非有人問再回答，不然就是放在簡報的附錄，然後趕快進入下一個重點，也就是…

告訴觀眾如何運用研究報告裡面的內容

我記得在剛出道的時候，阿不是，剛出社會的時候，很常有研究報告分享或簡報發表完之後，結尾大家拍手好用力說Good job！但是後續都發我無聲卡。在經過多次挫折之後我心中就產生一個陰影，覺得研究報告都沒有人看那我那麼認真做要幹嘛。後來一個資深設計師跟我說 ：

設計研究就是一個工具，研究的結果就是一本工具書。要是你不說，其實沒有人知道要怎麼使用這本工具書。

我恍然大悟，原來一直都是因為我沒有提醒「這份工具書的User」可以如何使用這份研究報告。我們再次拿前面提到的人物誌來舉例「這個人物誌的研究簡報可以拿來當作我們日後優化產品的基礎，無論是A團隊想要做產品優化，或B團隊拿來當產品路線圖，或工程團隊針對日常的UI Bug做優先級的考量，都可以拿出來做參考喔。」一邊說一邊加上個自信的微笑就更好！這邊就好像你把設計研究當作一個產品，那這份產品的「使用者說明書」就可以對「使用者」，也就是同事很有幫助，大家下次遇到你提到的場景就能夠喚起記憶，可能會說 「Oh！D姊的報告可能可以拿出來翻一翻喔！」

以上三個項目就是一個簡潔有力的設計研究簡報開頭，不只是能夠加強對本次設計研究的印象，設計師解決能力的存在感也會頓時提升。

研究發表時，口頭與紙本同步發布

要確保組織或上司對你的研究有印象，最好口頭簡報分享和書面發布兩者都進行，視覺和聽覺一起最能夠加深印象。

給予口頭簡報

也就是研究口頭的分享會，邀請相關的同事來聽你的分享。這邊分享一個注意事項—記得好好計畫與會者的名單。為什麼計畫這個名單如此重要呢？設計研究通常成本很高而且機會難得，你要用最小的努力讓影響力最大化，最好講一次就讓很多人有印象（我懶）。比如邀請決策者可以影響決策，邀請上司可以增加你的能見度（年度考核也可以加分XD），邀請行銷團隊可以影響行銷企劃，邀請產品經理或工程師可以影響產品的決策。反正只要是你想要日後做出產品或服務改變的人，就把他加入與會者的名單裡面。那如果受邀請的人剛好請假或者沒辦法參加，記得要把你的口頭簡報錄個影，之後寄給他們看，也是很方便的作法。

給予書面發布

這個就很直接啦，可以是口頭使用的簡報本身或是比簡報更深入的電子書的發布。但研究報告要做的好其實不太簡單，可以日後再聊。總之。如果設計研究報告一定要有書面發布，而且如果做的很好，就會增加觀看的利率和黏著度，而且年終也可以當作自己考核的根據，是不是一兼二顧！

研究發表之後，跟進實際的應用

設計研究的終極目標就是對產品或服務產生影響力，我建議可以在發表後續的一兩個月花一些時間跟進，確保研究的洞察真的有被實際應用，你可以：

與產品經理、同事或上司討論短期或長期我們可以做什麼的行動

有時候研究要解決的問題很複雜，解法可能橫跨很多專業，需要不同團隊一起討論，比如一起討論針對設計研究的問題我們可以做什麼產品MVP，需要的時候就舉辦工作坊或是腦力激盪會議，大家參與高，也比較容易增加團隊的合作氛圍。

自己主動做產品初步的原型和提案

如果你是設計研究員，可以跟產品設計師合作一起腦力激盪，產出出產品的原型（Prototype），要是草模可以互動就最好。視覺化可以做出的行動提案給讓產品團隊或者上司，討論看看是否可以有衍生的機會點。

上面提到的都沒空做？那就把研究洞察置入性行銷在近期的專案裡面

如果你很幸運，公司的產品或服務迭代速度很快，就可以好好利用近期正在進行的專案，想想有什麼最基本的產品優化是可以快速被實施的部分。比如最近你剛好設計一個付款頁面準備要交付，可以想想什麼內容策略的優化可以馬上應用在付款的頁面上。或者最近行銷團隊在做一些行銷企劃，你可以建議他們針對你的研究建議做簡單的改善。無論最後這些優化的成果如何，至少你已經做出實質的嘗試，團隊或組織也更快的對設計研究結果帶來的好處有感。

以上就是我建議的小撇步，我自己嘗試了以上這幾個方法，後來設計研究做的比較有信心，持續的都有被團隊拿來提起和應用，甚至被上司拿來當作在年度策略上面的依據。

原來設計的影響力比設計交付時候的感覺更有成就感！
希望這篇文章能夠給你一些參考。

感謝你花時間閱讀這篇文章。
如果這篇文章對你有幫助，麻煩幫我拍手給我鼓勵，並分享給你覺得有需要的朋友。如果你有其他想法，也歡迎留言跟我交流你的看法！那就下次聊咯。

I used to be bad at taking feedback.

When I got positive feedback, the world would become a floral garden, the air smelled fragrant, I saw butterflies dancing around and there was a bounce in my step. But when feedback came in negative, my world would shut down like a city-wide power cut.

How one word can ruin one week

“You could’ve done more”; “Your communication skills need to be worked on”; or the dreaded silence accompanied by the questioning emoji.

Feedback like this used to put me on an emotional roller coaster. I would feel anxious and sometimes defensive, often spending days and nights of insomnia replaying a sentence that needled my ego, over and over again.

Now thinking back, those sleepless nights were unnecessary — if only I had known how to receive feedback. Thankfully in my previous company, Carousell, the people team (aka HR team) would hold a quarterly course for every employee called ‘How to give constructive feedback’. Taking inspiration from that course and my own subsequent experiences, I have come up with a few perspectives that I have found useful. Hopefully they can be of some help to others as well.

Next time you receive negative feedback, before instinctively spiraling into self-deprecation, please remember — it is not always about you and it is not always true. The nature of feedback can be biased.

Who is giving the feedback?

Not all feedback is created equal. Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, uses the concept of ‘trust battery’ to determine the relationship between two people. The trust battery is charged at fifty percent when people are first hired, and then either charged or discharged based on how much you know about the person’s work, personality, and values as you interact with them. In respect to feedback, the quality of your relationship is crucial. Can I trust the person? Does he or she want to help me grow? And is the person an expert in the area of the profession? These are all worth paying attention to.

Think of it like this: someone might leave a comment on a YouTube channel like “voice is so boring, makes me want to go to sleep”. The commenter probably does not know the YouTuber, and the commenter may just be having a bad day. This is not useful feedback — no need to take it to heart. On the other hand, if a voice coach, who has worked with the YouTuber for years, advises improvements on tonality to keep the audience captivated, it may be worth taking heed. The coach is both credible and trustworthy — this is a recipe for useful feedback.

Be wary of the narrative, and get to the data

Good feedback requires both underlying ‘data’ on the event and personal interpretation of that data. However, it’s very easy to get confused as to which is which.

In 1974, artificial intelligence expert Roger Shane noted that human intelligence is organized around stories. We take in selected data and make interpretations resulting in quick judgment labels. The process of moving from data to interpretation happens in the blink of an eye. Additionally, the whole process could be unconscious.

Instead of saying “The words you use are sometimes too technical and complex, thus I feel scared of sharing my thoughts because I don’t want to say anything wrong or stupid”, which is the underlying data of the event, your colleagues might just say “You can be arrogant sometimes” accompanied by an accusatory brow, which is purely a personal interpretation without clarity of the details. If the receiver doesn’t make more effort to follow up on the given piece, he or she may not get the full story and will probably fill in the gaps negatively (we humans tend to fixate on the negative).

Speaking of negativity…

Are we over-emphasizing the negative?

Human nature can be cruel. We are designed to place more importance on negative events than positive events. The pioneering Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman coined the term ‘loss aversion’. It illustrates the phenomenon that people grieve losses more than they enjoy winnings of the same size. When it comes to feedback, feedback givers are more likely to dwell on the negative events because he or she may be affected by negativity bias and therefore forget or leave out positives even though the positives were just as important.

This aspect of human nature also cuts another way — feedback receivers may pick up on flaws or downsides too readily while overlooking the positive. Your boss might remember your shortcomings more than your merits, and you’re likely to condemn yourself with what he or she has said. Just because people mention or even emphasize some mistakes or issues, that doesn’t mean you’ve done nothing right.

Take your time, unwrap it gently

In August 2017, I worked in a startup. The product team would hold a weekly meeting where product designers would share key design progress. Usually my manager would attend the meeting and I considered that meeting ‘show-time’ for me; a performance indicator, so to speak. After several meetings, I was thrilled to have the first one-on-one meeting with my manager.

The meeting started, we greeted each other briefly, and without further ado, my manager said bluntly, “Diona, I often have no idea what you are talking about in the meetings.” I was stunned, soon got irritated, and asked “Hm, why?”, seeking an explanation. “You ramble a lot, and some points don’t make sense. I could tell the audience also got confused…” There it was. That needle-like sentence fiercely wounded my ego. “I am the senior designer in the team, how could I make such a big mistake?” In a twinkling, the irritation turned to self-deprecation. For the rest of the meeting, I listened, but I did not hear him. All I heard was my emotional self talk, “I failed. I’m a loser.”

My manager was cruel, but he forced me to confront a weakness I had had for years — public speaking. Public speaking scared me, especially when using a language that wasn’t my mother tongue. After a couple of weeks, my negative reaction from my manager’s feedback began to evolve into motivation. I come from Taiwan, so English is not native to me, but if I wanted to be influential as a designer, I needed to build competency in this area.

The feedback could have totally shut me down, but instead it fueled me to take classes, to read books about how to be an effective communicator, and to grasp all opportunities I could to practice my speaking skills at the office. A year after receiving the critical feedback, I gave a major public talk in English at Design Bootcamp Asia. I found that I was much more confident with the familiarity I had gained from a year of practicing, and by the end of thirty minutes, I had not rambled at all (hello! People at the back, can you hear what I said? I DID NOT RAMBLE!). After all the effort, I eventually caught sight of progress; noticeable and, to me, astonishing, progress.

This experience taught me that rather than being cruel, my manager had been a very generous feedback giver. As an individual with decades of industry experience, he was well qualified to share my areas for improvement. In fact, it would have been easier for him to give bland and harmless feedback in that one-on-one, but he didn’t. He took the hazard of offending my ego by telling me my shortcomings.

The process of facing the imperfection, and transferring the negative emotion into motivation was definitely not the most comfortable journey. But in retrospect, I am so pleased that I chose to take that uncomfortable path.

His feedback was truly a gift, and it took me a year to unwrap it.

Feedback is important. It not only gives us insights into ourselves but also gives us insights into the giver of feedback. And we must be careful not to interpret feedback as a judgment on our identity, an indicator of whether we measure up or not, but rather as a chance for us to grow after knowing more about ourselves, and a chance for us to learn strategic information about the audience with whom we are trying to connect.

Next time when negative feedback comes, quieten down for a moment and listen, no matter if it is criticism, praise, or a simple message. Then ask yourself:

• Who is giving the feedback?
• Can I separate the data from the narrative?
• Am I over-emphasizing the negative?

If we can learn to receive feedback like this, the feedback can serve us in the right way. It is a valuable skill that will help us grow in all areas of our life.

And don’t ramble!

Feedback Is a Gift, but You Need to Unwrap It the Right Way was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Like most outlanders working abroad, I miss the food at home. It’s been 5 years after leaving Taiwan. I’ve created a must-eat-list whenever going back to Taiwan. Especially around Gong Guan, Taipei, where I spent 7 years of my student life, and where two of the popular universities, NTU and NTUST were beside. With a big crowd of students, the area has a lot of affordable and great places to snack on. And here’s some vegetarian street food I must eat :

Vegan Sweet Potato Balls

Sweet potato ball (地瓜球, digua qiu) is a very popular food, you would find it in almost every Night Market. This Vegan Sweet Potato Balls stall, though, provides the crispiest ones.

These table-tennis like balls are made with sweet potato, potato or tapioca starch, and sugar. They are crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. It is a big thing in Taiwan, simple yet delicious, great as snack time treat.

// Dietary: Vegan, gluten-free
// Address: 素食地瓜球, № 8–1, Lane 108, Section 4, Luosifu Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100

Fresh Veggie Rolls

After having some guilty yummy snacks, I’d always crave for something fresh. Grace Fresh Veggie Rolls (恩典養生活力生菜捲) food stall is in the same lane as the Vegan Sweet Potato Balls.

The veggie rolls taste crunchy and refreshing. You’ll find loads of good stuff in the rolls, — alfalfa sprouts, carrot slices, cucumber, purple cabbage, raisins, apple slices, peanut powder, topped with egg-free mayonnaise, and finally wrapped whole wheat flatbread. Feel free to ask for customising with your heart desires if don’t like any of them.

// Dietary: Vegan, gluten-free (without mayonnaise)
// Address: 恩典養生活力生菜捲, №2–3, Lane 108, Section 4, Luosifu Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100

Everything braised, Lu Wei (vegetarian)

Everything braised (Lu Wei) is everywhere in Taiwan. It’s one of the options that people are able to control the budget based on what you order for an assorted dish. I’d always add a lot of vegetables in mine, including cabbage, broccoli, tomato, radish, and glass noodles.

This food stall is very affordable, and most importantly, not overly seasoned. If you’re like me, a light dieter, you should find this braised dish tasty.

// Dietary: Vegetarian
// Address: 公館加熱滷味, №12, Lane 286, Section 3, Luosifu Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100

Smoked Cheese Pizza (vegetarian)

Vegetarian pizza? How could it be called pizza if without any meat? That was my first impression several years ago when I first visited this pizzeria and they proved me wrong. So free Pizzeria is — one of the rare kiln baked pizza, and also — one of the rarest vegetarian pizzeria in Taipei. The pizza base is Italian style, thinly baked and tastes super crispy and yummy.

You’ll find loads of unusual flavors on their menu, like Three-cup Mushrooms, Korean Kimchi, or Ginger Superman. They also serve for those who look for sweet flavors, like Apple Cinnamon and Banana Almond. I always order the classic — Smoked cheese, its simply topped with tomato paste, smoked cheese chunks, and shredded mozzarella. The smoked cheese is so rich in the smoky flavor, that you’ll forget its a meatless pizza. I can easily finish an 8-inch pizza there by myself. If I have an accompany with me, I’d also order a Cinnamon apple as a sweet ending. What a meal!

Try So Free’s pizza, you’ll find pizza is surprisingly delicious and satisfying even without any meat.

// Dietary: Vegetarian
// Address: So free Pizzeria, №19, Lane 86, Section 3, Xinsheng South Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, 106

Red Bean Wheel Pies (vegetarian)

Look at these cute round shaped pies! They taste as wonderful as they look.

Wheel Pies, also known as imagawayaki (車輪餅), they were originally from Japan. Growing up, it has been a popular street snack for all kids in Taiwan. It’s a waffle-like biscuit pie with fillings inside. Most common sweet fillings are red bean paste and custard. Sometimes savory fillings, like shredded radish, is quite popular as well.

晴光 wheel pies are famous for its thinly baked crust and extra soft fillings. You’ll have to be careful of each bite because the abundant filling might come out and make you a mess. Well, pros and cons when you encounter this delicious little pie.

// Dietary: Vegetarian
// Address: 晴光紅豆餅, № 255, Section 3, Tingzhou Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100

Street food is serious and respected. I’m very proud to introduce you some of the best street food in Taipei.

What about you, what street food in your country you’re in love with?

For those who don’t know me, five fun facts : I am Diona, a Taiwanese girl, a product designer, 153cm/5feet tall, living in Singapore — the beautiful garden city…. well, some people might say country, but I like to call it city, it feels much closer as a place you’re living in, don’t you think so?

Here’s to 2018, I thought it would be great to kickstart the Project D right on the first day of this year!

What Project D is about

Healthy Lifestyle

My friends around me know that I’m “the healthy person”. I eat healthily, my diet is full of whole foods, lean protein and veggie. I also keep my workout routine 2–3 times a week. 4 years ago, I used to be a bit chubby, I ate junk food and was lazy to stay active. These years I’ve changed a lot, and people see the transformation in me.

But there is still something to improve for myself to be a better version. Both mentally and physically. So I’d want to share about how I keep a healthy lifestyle, and hope I could learn from you as well.

Food

I started the habit of cooking when I first time lived abroad in New Jersey. Cooking myself is a way more affordable and healthier choice. Since then I started to love cooking and baking. Especially when I’m sharing the food I prepared for my friends and family. What I love the most is looking at people enjoy the food I made for them, and get the nutrition to stay happy and healthy. I will share some recipes I enjoy the most, or hidden gems of cafe’s and restaurants.

Minimal/simple/freestyle Home Decor

I’ve been loving decorating my own space for some years. Seeing the transformation process of an item, extending to how it impacts a space is so much fun. However, there’re alway challenges of budget in mind and how to achieve the style you wanted. I’m keen to do more projects about home decor and maybe we can exchange some tips together.

And… maybe some other trivia

I might also write about some other stuff like travel, beauty, girls talk, etc.

Why starting it

Since 2013, when I graduated from school, I’ve been fully dedicated to my day-to-day job as a designer. I worked hard, I thought about my work during week days, I did additional design researches and projects on weekends as well. Last year, 2017, I started to feel bored and empty. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do as a designer. Being able to improve products that make people’s life better, is what always motivates me at work. I enjoy my job very much. Yet, after years of focusing on my work, I’ve missed something beautiful. I used to love cooking, baking, home decorating, and traveling. They are small bits and bites, but important for me to reflect myself. That’s what makes me happy. That’s what makes me as a happy person.

So I would like to start here, a space where I project myself, and where beautiful pieces are documented and shared with you.

My goal is to live a happy and balanced life. From one person to another, I want to create content that inspires others to live and feel at their very best!

My design folks always ask me if I do user research as a Product Designer, and yes I do! In fact, with the limited resources in a startup context, it’s even more important to have user research boot into a business.

In the Warm Gun 2014 conference, Branden Kowitz has given great points about how startup designers can focus on what really matters :

It is the curiosity of what problems you wanna tackle, the maker spirit of getting your hands dirty, and the iterations that have been validated in front of people as early as possible.

As a product designer, understanding users and learning the most of you could from iterations are the premise to lead your design. But how to make user research effective and valuable for startups? Below are some notes that I’ve learned along the way.

Demographics and goals

Ensure you’re seeking the properly matched participants, tools and means for your study. The 5W1H — Why do you want to do the research? What do you want to know? Who will be involved in the sessions? Where will be the proper place to conduct? When will be a proper deadlines? How do you to conduct the research with the limited resources? How many sessions will reach your confidence… Things can go on and on. By understanding all above, you’re making sense of the plan to reveal the insights with clearly defined goals as a major guide.

Be flexible & creative

With a design background, I’ve been attached to holistic qualitative methodologies and processes for years : understand who they are, contextual inquiry, and observations, which normally would consume a decent amount of resource to achieve.

However, in the fast-moving startup context, designers need to be flexible and creative with the limited time and resources. That’s how you make your research agile. Here are some interesting stories about how we found the way out to conduct researches in “an agile” way.

Startups are not academic organization, designers need to play smartly and be resourceful to conduct design researches. Try seeking out your co-workers, and brainstorming innovative ways to conduct the research that fits your occasion.

Make proper fidelity prototypes

No one wants to throw out a digital prototype that took hours to make. However, investing the right level of prototype unfolds your study without wasting time. After seeing users being lost and confused in some experimental sessions, I highly believe that a proper fidelity prototype is the key to an efficient user research.

In the article — Paper Prototyping: The 10-Minute Practical Guide by UXPin, Jerry Cao highlighted the disadvantages of paper prototyping :

There’s just no way to replicate the experience of using a digital product on paper, no matter how detailed it is. Paper prototypes require a great deal of imagination, and there’s a lot lost when imagining what a product will be like. What the users are thinking may be different than what you are, but the feedback doesn’t reflect this.

It might be even quicker to build digital prototypes with software than to spend time with paper and later move to the software. Online templates, such as UI8 and Sketch App Sources, allows you to integrate photos or contents you need. Prototyping tools, like invision, flinto, or principle, empowers you to make mockups that loos almost like real products. All of which helps to build solid prototypes fast and prevents users being lost in the sessions.

Invite relevant co-workers to the sessions

The great thing I like about user research is, to be zero as a humble human and to understand the things you thought you knew, but you actually didn’t. I especially like to invite developers and product managers. Sometimes, developers see the blind spots that they didn’t have thought of, or product managers gain new ideas for new features. The insight are so ample with the perspectives from different backgrounds. When you start to make your user study a team-wide activity, not only it fosters collaboration, but also boosts other team members focus on the core problems of users. It’s definitely a non zero sum game.

Outcomes made easy and insightful

You’ve carefully planned ahead, made your hand dirty for tons of prototypes, and got all the user research done. As a finial step, focusing on the analysis and sharing the data is the most valuable step of your research. As Erika Hall mentioned in Just Enough Research :

Whatever type of research you’re doing, and wherever it falls in your schedule, follow these six steps : 1. Define the problem; 2. select the approach; 3. plan and prepare for the research; 4. collect the data; 5. analyse the data; 6. report the results. With practice, the first three steps will become muscle memory and you can focus on collecting, analysing, and sharing the data.

A proper documentation suitable for the topic and your organization is the key. Whether presentation, a report, or even as simple as an e-mail would be great. Don’t make a lengthy 50 pages of report if not needed, and remember to avoid beating around the bush. Summing up with infights and direct action items and suggestions is always inspiring and collaboration-boosting.

Getting user research done in a startup is a huge challenge, with the hectic demands and pressures around. However, user research is powerful to reveal the core problems and the right products being developed for the right audience.

Hopefully the short notes help those who’s fresh to startup as a designer, make the best of your expertise boosts a user-centric startup strategy.

User Research for Startups was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.