I’m a designer, storyteller, craftman, and thinker. I am passionate about solving system-level problems and bringing meaning to the products!

Hi! I’m Yuan Fang, which literally means 'Square and Circle.' Culturally, it represents balance.
In my work, my name reflects my approach. 'Fang' (Square) is the logic, the grid, and the code—the structure of the product. 'Yuan' (Circle) is the flow, the empathy, and the user experience. I bridge the gap between rigid technology and organic human needs :)

01/

How I Work

I start by grounding myself in the problem—talking to users, reviewing data, and aligning constraints with PMs and engineers. Clear communication matters to me.
Sketch early, prototype quickly, and validate often.
When things get ambiguous, I communicate, break problems down, and ship in small increments. Speed matters, but quality matters more.
And I’m at my best when collaborating: working across disciplines, and pushing toward solutions that are both technically feasible and human-centered.

02/

My design journey starts from...

My first sketch was from primary school, and the character was from the Japanese anime "Code Geass"...

When I entered junior high, I got a tablet and started drawing crazily.

During my high school years, I began to explore different themes and different media, portraits, landscapes, and installations, attempting to discover myself.

So in college, I came to New York and began to explore the intersections and boundaries between art and engineering, transferprint, 3D Rendering, Unity VR & AR, TouchDesigner, Physical Computing, Python, and Curation. The upper-left picture is me creating installations for New York Fashion Week.

Every week, I came to Manhattan to see all kinds of openings, exhibitions, art fairs, and open studios.

The turning point came when I minored in interior design in my sophomore year. We needed to build a mobile classroom on a barge for RETI, a local environmental organization in Brooklyn. From the pencil sketch to the actual structure built, I experienced for the first time the charm of design: it is the tug-of-war between the design and the real conditions. It is communication and empathy with users. It is the sense of achievement from the draft to the realization of reality.

Then, I began my first design job at a design agency in New York. This was the last project before the end of my internship; we were responsible for the interior design of an Italian restaurant in Midtown New York. This is one of my sketches.

No designer can refuse to see their design come to fruition step by step.

My UX journey began with Design-a-thon: helping local emerging artists promote and sell their works. During this process, I drew inspiration from on-site interviews with local businesses and created a platform based on AR technology where local businesses can try out and rent artworks for free. In this project, I listened to the voices of more users and used design to solve practical problems. This also enabled me to determine my future goal: to make society better through design.

After graduating with 4 years president's lists, I moved across states twice, from New York to Los Angeles and then to Seattle. My dream school, UW.

At UW HCDE, I systematically studied a lot of ux knowledge, including qualitative and quantitative analysis, usability testing, accessibility design, service design, user-centered design, and visual communication.

As a designer, I delve into the product, constantly experience the cutting-edge products in the industry, align with strengths, and seek design opportunities from weaknesses.
At the same time, use design language to explain business value, such as flowcharts and user journey maps, so that both the product and the engineering team can understand the logic behind the design.
I am good at establishing a complete chain among experience, competitors, user insights, and design solutions, and integrating scattered information into verifiable design solutions.

For me, design means innovation, balance, dialectics, and communication.

Fragme

Check my horror novel here 👇

Alessa, interior design for an NYC Italian restaurant

ToyCycle: Rethinking Toy Waste

Redesign the Visual for Pratt Fine Art Center

ArtUs: Through AR, a platform for artists and local businesses to borrow artworks

Synk, a mentorship program for international students