About Me: Yvonne
I craft virtual reality world and find my balance by immersing in the mountains.
Photo: Backpacking in the John Muir Wilderness near Mammoth, CA.
The world fascinates me.
I often dream up solutions to life’s problems with just a touch of my finger in the air. The possibilities of interacting with virtual objects in our physical world are limitless.
How can I guide my museum visitors into a piece of history when they’re deeply moved by a work of art? Can my goggles map the route down the hill when I ski in low visibility?
After graduating from Pratt Institute in NYC with a master’s in Visual Communication, I worked as a graphic designer in media and investment companies for eight years. On the side, I taught web design at a government-sponsored career center.
Later I returned to Taiwan to help my family’s manufacturing business. I embraced all possibilities as an Admin Assistant: answering phone calls, serving clients, reviewing contracts, and mediating team conflicts. Staying humble helped me see the bigger picture. Understanding people from all walks of life took me little effort.
California called to me when I hit a low point in 2013. After 11 years of perseverance and unspeakable sacrifices, I’m now at my destination. My journey back to the US was fraught with blood and tears, but I never wavered.
Merging virtual possibilities with real-world experiences inspires me.
I believe there are many ways to make things easier to understand and connect. For example, when I immerse myself in iterating tax returns, I imagine doing it in 3D with smart glasses, interacting with virtual blocks of accounts and exporting financial reports to a real printer. I feel a strong sense of fulfillment whenever I visualize one of my many visions.
The mountains are calling, and I must go.
When I’m not imagining what’s virtually possible in the real world, I’m either trekking along the Pacific Crest Trail or cozying up with my husband in our mountain cabin, listening to the wind. No pets, no kids, just peace and pine trees.
A UX practitioner
I apply UX principles to all projects I work on. However, for small businesses that are not familiar with UX, I have to sneak in the techniques without mentioning them. It’s challenging yet very fun to see it all unfold before me. Only at a later stage do they find the output useful and recognize the value of those activities (but they still don’t know it was UX).
Feel free to connect:
✉️ iyvonne@gmail.com
💬 310-439-9788
Abridged CV
Education
- Certificate, UX Design // UCLA Extension
Los Angeles - Master of Science, Communications Design // Pratt Institute
New York - Bachelor of Arts, Commercial Design // Mingchuan University
Taiwan
Experience
- XR Experience Designer // Independent Contractor
Los Angeles - Compliance, Client Services // WC Global Value Fund
New York, Los Angeles - Robins & Vance // Project Lead, Web UX Designer
Taiwan
See more details on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonneliao/