Life

At eleven, I sketched a holographic video-call watch, long before I knew “interaction design” was a job. That curiosity never left; it only found better tools.

Born in Taiwan, I’ve spent the last twelve years in the United States. I came here alone with two suitcases and have since worked with teams at companies of all sizes.

My path took me from a design consultancy into enterprise products, where I learned to translate complicated systems into interfaces that feel clear and intuitive. More recently, I’ve been exploring product design from another angle: starting with needs I experience firsthand and moving quickly from idea to something real. It has broadened the way I think about product design, combining the rigor and systems thinking I learned from complex software with a deeper attention to behavior, personality, and the small details that make something feel good to use.

That exploration became Hinoki Haven, a collection of apps I design and build with AI. There’s Cha, a tea steeping timer that draws you a poem slip while the tea steeps; Horizons, a kanban board organized by projects and how far away things feel; and Dayleaf, a diary for making photo collages and documenting everyday life.

Outside of screens, I love making things by hand: woodworking, illustration, packaging, jewelry, and murals. I still read on paper.

I enjoy live jazz, Broadway, dancing, and wandering through nature and cities, old and new. This year, I took up pottery and tennis. I’m also renovating an old Tudor house into a Taiwanese hobbit hole, at exactly the speed you would expect. I live in Berkeley with my husband and our two cats.

I’m always happy to connect via qiaohuangdesign at gmail.com.

十一歲時，我畫過一支可以做全息視訊通話的手錶，那時我還不知道「互動設計」原來可以是一份工作。這份好奇心一直都在，只是後來有了更好的工具。

我出生在台灣，過去十二年住在美國。當初帶著兩個行李箱一個人來到這裡，之後有機會和不同規模公司的團隊一起工作。

我的職涯從設計顧問公司一路走到企業軟體，學會把複雜的系統轉化成清楚、直覺的使用體驗。最近，我也開始從另一個角度探索產品設計：從自己親身感受到的需求出發，快速把想法變成真正可以使用的產品。這段經驗也拓展了我看待產品設計的方式，讓我把從複雜軟體中學到的嚴謹與系統思考，和對使用者行為、產品個性，以及那些讓東西「用起來就是很對」的小細節放在一起思考。

這些探索後來成為了 Hinoki Haven，一系列我用 AI 設計並打造的 app。像是 Cha，一個泡茶計時器，等待茶湯的同時會替你抽一張詩籤；Horizons，一個用專案與時間距離來整理事情的 kanban board；以及 Dayleaf，一個讓你用照片拼貼記錄日常的日記 app，等等。

螢幕之外，我喜歡用手做東西：木工、插畫、包裝、首飾、壁畫，到現在還是紙本書讀者。

我喜歡現場爵士樂、百老匯音樂劇、跳舞，也喜歡在自然中散步，或穿梭在新舊交錯的城市裡。今年開始學陶藝和網球，也正在把一棟老都鐸式房子慢慢改造成一個帶有台灣氣息的哈比人洞穴，進度大概就是你可以想像的那種速度。我和先生以及兩隻貓住在加州柏克萊。

歡迎來信：qiaohuangdesign at gmail.com