About me
Hi! I’m Nick and I’m a product designer. A second generation Filipino American, I was born in Los Angeles and live in Vancouver, Canada.
When I’m not designing, I’m usually at my home PC gaming station with my headset on, joining my friends for any online game from Civilization to Overwatch to Minecraft. When I do leave the house, I’m usually trying out new restaurants or venturing into the world of looseleaf teas (currently in my Tieguanyin tea era!).
How I design
I design with everyone. Design doesn’t just happen in Figma; in fact, I think design happens most often in conversations. Design is also persuading stakeholders for research resources, or discussing with engineering to figure out the most feasible solution.
I design for everyone. In the world of product design, we often say we strive to “design with empathy”. To me, this means empathizing with users’ whole identities. As a gay person of colour, and a child of immigrants, I understand how different groups of people can interact with technology in different ways.
Why I design
In university, I thought I was going to be an economist. I took government internships where I researched and analyzed policy. It was intellectually stimulating, but slow and theoretical work with almost nothing tangible to show for it.
But with product design, I can have that immediate impact. I started volunteering at student clubs to make posters or build Weebly websites, and I quickly found a part-time job as a graphic designer. That’s where I first worked with professional UX designers.
I discovered that UX was everything I was looking for: it took my academic curiosity in research and understanding human behaviour, and translated that into actionable designs that could make an immediate difference in people's lives.