About Me

I’m Gian (pronounced jee-yin), a product designer with a science background based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So far in my career, I've worked at:

I got my start in software design by learning front-end web development online (thank you freeCodeCamp) and building small projects for fun.

I like to support my design work with research (when useful) and I strive to create work that I'm proud of.

It's important for me to work cross-functionally with my teammates. I enjoy working with passionate, thoughtful, and empathetic people.

I'm a curious person who's endlessly fascinated with people and their behavior.

What I'm Doing Now

Other stuff I'm up to:

  • Updating this website. I have a strong urge to redo the entire design of my website every time I come by to make an update... So I'm probably doing/going to do that.
  • Exercising. Slowly getting back into running and sprinting.
  • Exploring recent topics of interest. Namely, mindfulness, compelling storytelling, and time (time perception, making good use of time).
  • Playing games. I recently finished playing Divinity: Original Sin II. It was a brilliant and fun experience.

Last updated July 24th, 2022.

I like building my appreciation of everything.

I'm constantly looking to better understand myself, other people, and the world around me.

I like to do this by...

Challenging myself. I find it important to keep a growth mindset and I try to push myself to do things that can help me grow. I also like to challenge myself physically through exercise (usually resistance training and cardio).

Asking questions. I'm a curious person, so I tend to ask a lot of questions. If I were here, I’d ask you "What made you visit my website?" 🤔

Writing. I write a daily reflection to practice mindfulness and look for patterns in my thoughts and emotions. I also like to write while working on projects as a way to organize and clarify my thoughts.

Consuming interesting content. Books, videos, movies, blogs, and games primarily. I often get inspired by the great work of others. A recent book I enjoyed is How To Live. A recent video I enjoyed is An Antidote to Dissatisfaction.

Meeting and talking to people. I find other people interesting and fun to interact with (in small to medium doses because I’m somewhat introverted).

Traveling. Most recently, I visited Vietnam. It's a beautiful country and I can't wait to visit again! It was also extremely hot and humid and I got bitten by a bunch of bugs.

Slowing down. As much as I love doing lots of different things, I find slowing down healthy. For me, this takes the form of taking walks or sitting around with no distractions.

I like evolving my perspective and looking for the fascinating parts of seemingly mundane things.

I took a non-traditional path to design.

My college education consisted of science (including biology, psychology, chemistry, physiology) and exercise-related coursework.

I’ve found my academic background comes into play when I’m learning about new domains, interpreting data, and testing designs with people.

I started by trying freeCodeCamp out of curiosity and building some web apps. I found the work both interesting and rewarding and decided to continue learning.

I learned everything independently by building side projects and consuming various free videos, articles, and interactive content.

This eventually led me to join Carta at around 150 employees as a product designer, where I did both design, research, and some front-end code.

In hindsight, this path seems obvious as it involves my interests in technology, art, and design. I didn't always consider my time spent drawing pictures and designing school club t-shirts and forum signatures meaningful.

Likewise, my hundreds (maybe thousands?) of childhood hours spent playing Neopets, Runescape, Maplestory, and other computer games in the early-mid 2000s.

I love video games!

The first video game I've ever played was Pokemon Pinball for the Game Boy Color and I've been in love ever since.

Some of my fondest memories are from playing games with friends.

Video games are a huge inspiration to me in crafting compelling experiences. I'm amazed by how the various disciplines and elements come together to create impactful, memorable, and entertaining products for the world to enjoy.

Some of my favorites in no particular order are: