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Aona Yang shared thisIt's a good day because Learners Research Week Schedule is OUT!!! Excited to meet old and new friends here in person this year! Check out the full program schedule -> researchweek.com What an exciting line-up - awesome work Learners team! Alec Levin
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Aona Yang posted thisA quick post to my network since many of you have DMed me regarding my YouTube channel. Yes recently I have decided to unlist all of my videos (and privatized my other social medias). Many things happened over the last couple of years and my perspective on social presence changed quite a bit. I’m also a new mom now 🥹, and now that we are in this fast growing AI era, I am reevaluating my relationship with public content sharing and decided to be more wary of my own and my family’s privacy. Thank you for your support of my channel in the past. I didn’t think many people would notice since I haven’t posted in so long, so I appreciate those who messaged me and asked about how I am 🙏🏼 Your warm notes made me feel good about I once made a small impact in this circle, and for that I’m forever grateful! I’m still checking LinkedIn every once in a while for networking purposes and I love seeing all of you sharing what you’ve made/accomplished and keeping up with the new trend of the industry here. So let’s keep in touch! (If it helps to make it more sincere - this post is not written by AI 😛)
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Aona Yang shared thisGemini Advanced is HERE. Something we poured months and months of heart and soul researching and designing and perfecting - we hope you love it as much as we do! Try the first 2 months for free on us! https://lnkd.in/gif2tpXZBard becomes Gemini | Ultra 1.0 and a new mobile appBard becomes Gemini | Ultra 1.0 and a new mobile app
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Aona Yang reposted thisAona Yang reposted this***UX / UXR Job Seekers*** Having trouble with case studies and portfolios? I know it can be tough to create an artifact that respects confidentiality. I dug out an extended case study I did for a conference that I later wrote up as an article. You can see that client confidentiality is protected (even though for the conference itself I had permission to share it) and there are no user names or photos. And yet, I get into quite a bit of detail. More then you'll need for a portfolio. The basic format I used (then tweaked for presentation purposes) is as follows: 1. The Problem. What the client was asking for and what they believed was wrong with the product. 2. The Work. The methods used and how we structured the project. I interwove the findings into this section as well. 3. Recommendations and Implications. What this meant to the team and what it led to. Notice that, as a consultant, I was unable to see any tangible results but I was able to follow up and get an idea of how the work was moving forward and how their viewpoint had changed. A link to the full article is in the comments.
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Aona Yang shared thisIf you haven’t followed my dear friend / one of my career role models Kelly here you should. She writes great stuff about UXR these days 💗Aona Yang shared thisUXR job seekers: Struggling with creating that portfolio someone asked for? Tips here! A few highlights: *Choose case studies that demonstrates breadth within your skill set (ex: a usability study and also a card sort; NOT 2 usability studies) *Break each case study down into The Ask, The Methods, The Outcomes *Highlight the challenges you overcame (ex: poorly defined goals, stakeholders who'd never worked with researchers before, a difficult to reach target population) *Not currently job seeking? Keep notes about your projects based on the tips above so you can easily add them to a portfolio when needed. (Please let me know if you can't access the post. I'm unclear on permissions between LinkedIn and Medium.)
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Aona Yang posted thisDoes anyone know or can recommend any research vendors who can provide a reliable GenAI user pool/panel? DM me or leave a comment if you know any - Asking for a friend :D
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Aona Yang shared thisI can super relate. That said, to convince myself to care “less” or redirect my care also brought extra cynicism and pessimism that contributed to a lot of my disappointment in the industry and my career choice. Some new perspectives I learned in the past few years - these so called “business interests” a lot of times are unfounded guesses. We like to criticize our thinking and always believe there are some magical metrics our leaders use to predict the future. But a lot of times these guesses are wrong. Your work still matters, but the way to influence up needs to change. Energy needs to be spent creatively. There’s lots of nuanced ways to do this and I’m trying to learn myself too so can’t articulate sharply at this point. But I do see great UX/R role models around me who seem to strike a good balance effortlessly which gives me a little hope.Aona Yang shared thisThe biggest mistake I made in my UX career was caring too much. Over the years, I tried really hard make things happen inside of some really challenging environments—growth-obsessed, non-democratic, exploitative, and discriminatory organizations where so-called leaders paid lip service users and human centered design if it wasn't profitable. More often than not, I was overwhelmed with stress, burnout, cynicism, self-doubt, anxiety, and depression. Why was I even there if I couldn't impact the product, user, or business according to my ability and potential? Why was my work not valued? Why wasn't I valued? After my escape, it took me a couple of years of reflection and distance to see things with full clarity—I was working too hard to improve things that were not in my control and not a business interest. Internalized pressures and idealism compelled me to forge on with often fruitless efforts that did not serve me or the user or my team. I felt let down by others who didn't seem to care as much as I did. In hindsight, I wish I had taken their approach—do the best you can, collect the paycheck, go home, and not take it personally. My job, identity, and values were too closely linked. I knew it was time to gtfo when I kept saying to myself and others, I am wasting my literal life on this. This isn't just my story. It's a largely collective experience in UX. So many of us want to do the right thing for the customer, for employees, for the culture—for people, not for wealth and power. Let's face it, this is why so many of us are in UX to begin with. We see the potential for equity, good UX, and solving real problems, but we're limited at work. Many of us have struggled to contend with and accept the lack of power, the fakery and fuckery and theater, and higher-ups telling us to JUST TRY HARDER. Really? I'm pretty damn sure we've tried everything at this point. Our environments don't enable our success. The layoffs have hit UX hard, but it's opened up an important conversation about what exactly we are doing here and where we want to go next. People are opening up and feeling validated and not so alone. I'm here to say that these frustrations are completely valid and true. If I could go back and give myself some advice, I would say: Amy, it's ok— better even—to care less. You've done everything you can, now it's time to move on. Step back, reframe the situation, and strive for balance and sustainability. Choose your battles wisely and conserve your energy for more important things—i.e., yourself and your community. Existing at work is hard. In the current socioeconomic system, our life choices are constrained. At the end of the day, UX is a job, and it is a Hard But Good Life Choice to keep our jobs in check. Our productivity has nothing to do with our value as humans. Our individual and collective health and wellbeing are most important, which comes from exercising what power we do have in the places where it is most welcome and viable.
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Aona Yang shared thisThis this this 👇👇👇 Please be an informed consumer esp. during times like thisAona Yang shared thisJob hunting in UX right now is super tough, I know. But please be cautious of spending $x,xxx on certificates, bootcamps, or other trainings. There are some out there that are borderline predatory. Please evaluate these programs for things like: -do you know anyone else who has been through the program? -have you ever heard industry leaders who are not associated with the program talk about it? -how long has the program been around? -does it sound reasonable that you would gain the skills being sold in the time being covered in the program? -are there other, less costly ways to gain the skills promised? -do you have the funds readily available, without making large sacrifices? Please be an informed consumer. These are indeed products being sold so don’t forget that.
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Aona Yang shared thisAona Yang shared thisUntil last Friday, I worked with a badass team of UXers - atypical researchers who have business acumen. We specialized in 0-1. We developed processes, methods, and fluency in a plethora of domains, helping to develop over 50 products in three years at Google's incubator, Area 120. We’re now all #opentowork Are you looking to hire 1,3 or 9 UX researchers who have a track record of shifting and shaping products, who understand how to generate early signals on resonant value propositions or product market fit? Meet the research team in our Lookbook, a human lens to pair with their resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Inside you’ll learn about each team member's values, super powers, ideals, and gravitational pull. https://lnkd.in/g8e6yFty Katrina Pecot Joyita Banerjee Sofia Qin Yinda Ayo-Ani Kelly Coney Catalina Garcia Kaelyn Quinn Adam A Elmaghraby (He/Him) Special thanks to our incredible design partner DesignMap who lifted our spirits and focus in the last week through helping us articulate who we are. Too often vendors go unnoticed. These amazing designers truly were partners to the Area 120 researchers and the product teams. These wonderful humans are to thank for 90% of UX and design in the Area 120 portfolio from the last two years. To name a few: Barbara Natali-Sherman Maggie Mitchell Sean Murray Christopher Gaffey William Fletcher Maggie Feuchter Chuck Moore Audrey Crane #ux #uxresearcher #research #googlelayoffs #zerotoone #startup #innovation #uxlookbook #hireourteam
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5mo
THE best news!!! ❣️
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Aona Yang reacted on thisI helped out with this survey, partnering with Yale and Marija Verner - exciting to see it published! 🎉 Check out the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g5tQeB3FAona Yang reacted on thisGitHub & Yale Program on Climate Change Communication dropping new research this morning on software developers opinions on climate change. 79% worried about global warming 80% interested in tools to write more efficient software 70% interested in contributing to open source projects focused on sustainability Longer write up & link to full research report here: https://lnkd.in/gFhvVXvZ #climateweeknycDevelopers want more efficient software. Here’s what over 1,000 GitHub users told us they need.Developers want more efficient software. Here’s what over 1,000 GitHub users told us they need.
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Aona Yang reacted on thisAona Yang reacted on this🎉 Career Update 🌱: Last month, I joined Microsoft AI to lead the user research team for emerging experiences across the Microsoft AI ecosystem! Leaving the incredibly strong, mission-driven research team at Credit Karma wasn't an easy decision. I'm proud of how we stayed resilient through a lot of company change, kept our human connections strong, and continued delivering impact for our members. I'll be cheering the team on from the other side. Interestingly, it was AI that inspired the move. This year, the Credit Karma team upleveled our research workflows with Claude, and I caught the AI bug. It empowered me to drive strategic IC work while leading the research function in ways that would have been much harder before. As a parent, I also want to play a part in shaping the future of AI with safety and human agency top of mind. So why Microsoft AI? 1. The people. At Research Week, I was impressed by the AI User Evals work pioneered by Chuck Kwong, Christopher Monnier, and Wendy Wang Mertensmeyer. I get to work with Jess Holbrook as my manager, and reunite with awesome Airbnb research fam and Google colleagues. The whole research team has been A+ so far. 2. The platform strategy and humans first perspective. From Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and VS Code to internal tools, Microsoft’s ecosystem brings together the best models from our partners OpenAI, Anthropic and internal MAI models, with full context across Teams, Outlook, and Microsoft 365. Copilot has answered all my onboarding questions spot on. Microsoft has been vocal that people matter more than AI, and AI is in service of humanity. Putting humans front and center in our AI evals, and topics like youth safety and accessibility are priorities on our UX research team. The best part? Our team is hiring a Senior Researcher! Come join us and you get to work with the amazing Jian Yang as your manager. Apply directly through the link in comments. I'm visiting our Seattle mothership this week, but I’m usually based in the SF office and will be supporting the Microsoft AI presenters at Outliers. Come say hi if you'll be there!
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Aona Yang reacted on thisAona Yang reacted on thisI’m currently hiring two UX Researchers to help build the next generation of AR/VR! 🔬 Staff UX Researcher: XR Betas & Post-Launch 📍 Seattle, San Francisco, or San Jose Build and lead our beta testing programs and post-launch insights engine, helping drive product quality and roadmap decisions for upcoming launches. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gVgxiyGQ 🥽 Senior UX Researcher: XR Hardware 📍 San Jose Lead research across our hardware portfolio, shaping ergonomics, physical interaction, and critical product design decisions. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/g3mrST_g If you’re a researcher who loves tackling complex problems at the intersection of people, hardware, and emerging technology, check out the roles above and consider joining us! #Hiring #Google #UXResearch #UXR #ARVR #XR #HumanFactors #HCI
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Aona Yang reacted on thisAona Yang reacted on thisHuge congrats to Alec Levin, Maggi Levin, Judd Antin and the entire team at Learners for the launch of free membership at joinlearners.com, and the amazing suite of features that come with it! Geniunely excited to use the platform to connect with more folks from this amazing community more often! With that, I'm absolutely honored and humbled to be hosting a couple of Office Hours on Oct 27 and Nov 24, alongside a line-up of seasoned research leaders. If you can make it, grab a spot and come AMA! #LFG! 💪
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Aona Yang reacted on thisAona Yang reacted on thisThe free Learners membership is now live at joinlearners.com 🎉 I'm embarrassed that this internal launch announcement meeting leaked, so I thought I'd just own it, and post publicly. Checkout our amazing launch features 👇 🎟️ Events: event information and tickets, just for (free) members 🤝 Together: get matched with exactly the researcher you need to learn and grow ☕️ Office Hours: intimate, small group AMAs with experienced research leaders 💸 Toolkit: exclusive offers and resources from trusted sponsors Tickets for our upcoming event season go live on September 15 (Tuesday)! 🎉 Also, huge thanks to Angie, Emily, Eve, Caitlin, Dave, and Pete for joining the meeting. 🤩
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Aona Yang reacted on thisAona Yang reacted on thisBack in July, I was invited to an Amazon Design Open House. It ended up being one of the most interesting gatherings I had been part of in a while. There were leaders in the room who helped shape UX as a discipline years ago, now having very open conversations about what AI means for our field. What changes? What should we hold on to? And how do Design and Research come out of this transition as stronger functions? What also stood out to me was the energy around Design and Research at Amazon, and the commitment to making these disciplines even stronger as AI reshapes how we build products. So I’m very happy to share that I’ve joined Prime Video to lead UX Research, with the opportunity to work with some incredible leaders in Design and Product and an exceptionally talented team of researchers, authors, and ethnographic pioneers. I’m especially excited to be working in entertainment. Someone recently described it to me as “chicken noodle soup for the soul,” and that stuck with me. At the end of a long day, there is something special about disconnecting for a while and stepping into a world you’ve chosen. There is so much that could change here with AI — how we find something to watch, how well the experience understands what we’re in the mood for, and perhaps entirely new ways of experiencing entertainment that we haven’t thought of yet. Looking forward to this new chapter, and to building a point of view on what entertainment could become next.
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Aona Yang reacted on thisAona Yang reacted on thisLearners is launching a free membership Sept 10th! If you've ever been to a Learners event, you know how magical this community is. 🪄And soon, you won't have to wait for an event to feel it. 🌈 I'm so excited to show you what we've built! 🎉
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Aona Yang reacted on thisAona Yang reacted on thisSuper proud of my awesome UX team and XFN partners who launched our Gmail Live experience today to the world today - first announced at i/O along with Docs and Keep - checkout the blogpost to learn more! https://lnkd.in/gDRwT39SUse your voice to get more done in Gmail, Docs, and KeepUse your voice to get more done in Gmail, Docs, and Keep
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