RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research focuses on the intersection of Design Research, Psychology, and Human-Computer Interaction. In the past, I have worked on the following topics:

• Artificial Intelligence

• XR/AR/VR

• Self-tracking technologies

• Health care

• Data Visualization

• Multimedia

THESES & PAPERS

Crafting Persona Research: A Deep Dive into a Mixed-Methods Approach with Latent Class Analysis

2024

Quant UX Con, 2024

Personas are a widely used technique for informing design decisions, prioritizing features, and promoting empathy and awareness of users. However, there are concerns about their reliability, generalizability, and adaptivity. Users of personas, such as product managers and engineers, often criticize them for being elegant but lacking substance. Researchers also have common concerns, such as how to identify the appropriate number of personas, how to ensure that personas are generalizable beyond a small sample, and how to differentiate the personas based on different variables. In this talk, I will present a mixed-methods research design that addresses these issues. Specifically, I will present practical steps for applying Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a powerful tool for clustering both categorical and numerical data. With this information, researchers will have a clear picture of what it takes to apply mixed methods in persona discovery research.

Data Visualization Design Strategies for Promoting Exercise Motivation in Self-Tracking Applications

2022

SIGDOC '22: Proceedings of the 40th ACM International Conference on Design of Communication

Abstract: In self-tracking applications, data visualizations play a fundamental role in delivering efficient information and creating personalized user experiences. Literature consistently indicates that data visualization is a powerful tool to make data persuasive and improve motivation. However, how to leverage different data visualizations to boost motivation remains largely unknown. In this study, the researcher explores the effects of different data visualizations on user motivation within self-tracking mobile applications. Through design space analysis and semi-structured interviews, the researcher defines a set of design factors that impact users’ exercise motivation at different levels of exercise adoption. Based on these factors, the researcher delivers a set of practical design suggestions for design practitioners and people who create visualizations for large data sets.

Cultivating Motivation Through Data Visualization - An exploration of self-tracking data visualization design strategies that cultivate motivation of doing exercise among college students

2020

Ninth International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition (DCC'20)

This study proposed design guidelines for visualizing self-tracking data to motivate users who are at different stages of exercise adoption to workout.

Design Features of Health Information Visualization for the Purpose of Efficacy Perception about Weight Control among Young Adults: A Mixed Methods Study

2017

Design 4 Health, Australia

This study intends to find out the design features of health information visualization that can positively influence young adults’ perception of self-efficacy about weight control. An exploratory mixed methods design has been used by firstly collecting qualitative data in order to develop an information visualization intervention, and followed by a quantitative phase to assess the design features.

User Experience Design of the Physical-Contactless Interface Based On Leap Motion

Sept. 2014 – May 2015

Graduate Thesis, Peking University

This article is based on my graduate project which is a gesture capture game for preventing hands’ fatigue by using Leap Motion. It focuses on the UX Design of the physical-contactless interface which is corresponding to the WIMP (Window, Icon, Menu, and Pointer).

Narrative Interaction Design of Electronic Picture Books

Oct. 2012 – April 2013

Undergraduate Thesis, Beihang University

Published in proceedings: The Second Session of National Art College Illustrations

By interviewing the scheming director of the Yippee Arts and doing market research, this article focuses on the continuity of images and text. The purpose is to find an effective form of conveying information in electronic picture books which also involves electronic publication, visual theory, children’s education and other psychology related topics.

Case Study of Interactive Graphics in Digital Media

November 2010 – October 2011

Funding from Student Research Training Program (SRTP), Beihang University

The relationship between images and texts of print media and digital media results from changes of information transference.