Hello, I'm Judy!

Hey there, I'm Judy!

I'm a Product Designer based in San Francisco. As a first-generation Chinese American, I grew up navigating cultural nuances and diverse perspectives—experiences that drive my passion for designing inclusive digital products. My background in Cognitive Science and Psychology, combined with over 3 years of startup experience, allows me to craft design solutions that resonate with users.In my most recent role as Product Designer, Team Lead at Fiveable—an edtech startup dedicated to supporting student success—I collaborated with cross-functional teams to deliver accessible, engaging learning experiences, transforming user insights into intuitive, functional designs. Earlier in my journey, my apprenticeship at BRIDGEGOOD ignited my career in UX and deepened my commitment to designing for social good.

• View my resume

Outside of work, I love...

🌎 Traveling the world & experiencing different cultures Thailand, China, Japan are in the photos 📸👉🏽🍳 Trying new food, espescially new cuisines and experimenting with unique flavors (I'm not a picky eater)🐰 Hanging out with my bunny, who is my world!🎨 Attending design events – I like to stay inspired by attending events like the Figma Conference and online events (ie. ADP List meetups/events).

Overview

Timeline
4 weeksRole
Lead DesignerTeam
Engineer
Head of ProductTools
Figma
AmplitudeResponsibilities
Product Strategy
User Research
UX Design
UI Design
Prototyping
Engineering Collaboration

Empowering mothers to navigate GDM

I wanted to challenge myself to solve a real-world problem under tight deadlines so I joined the UX Result Designathon. Out of three challenges, I was immediately drawn to the one about Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) because I’ve seen how difficult pregnancy can be, and adding a condition like GDM would only make it harder for new moms.The problem was presented directly by Tony Ma, CEO of Benten Technologies, who is passionate about this issue. Then, I teamed up with three other like-minded individuals.

Why is it so hard for mothers to stick to the necessary lifestyle changes, and how can design make this process easier?

Overview

Timeline
48 hoursRole
Lead DesignerTeam
2 UX Designers & DeveloperTools
FigmaResponsibilities
Product Strategy
User Research
UX Design
UI Design
Prototyping

Empowering mothers to navigate GDM

I wanted to challenge myself to solve a real-world problem under tight deadlines so I joined the UX Result Designathon. Out of three challenges, I was immediately drawn to the one about Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) because I’ve seen how difficult pregnancy can be, and adding a condition like GDM would only make it harder for new moms.The problem was presented directly by Tony Ma, CEO of Benten Technologies, who is passionate about this issue. Then, I teamed up with three other like-minded individuals.

Why is it so hard for mothers to stick to the necessary lifestyle changes, and how can design make this process easier?

Design Process

Creating a strategic game plan

With such a tight deadline of 48 hours, I jumped in and mapped out a game plan to keep things moving and organized. I streamlined the design process by overlapping tasks to save time—like combining research with defining the challenge and product goals, and pairing ideation with branding. Tasks were assigned according to each team member's strengths, and I encouraged the team to experiment and step outside their comfort zones.

My focus was to work on food logging features and taking on logo design. In the end, we worked together to deliver high-fidelity designs, prototypes, and presentation slide deck to showcase our solutions to the CEO.

Research & Insights

Understanding our users (GDM Mothers)

Insights from medical journals

Gestational diabetes can feel overwhelming, especially for newly diagnosed moms. It requires lifestyle changes, such as recording blood sugar levels and recording meals.

Learning from competitors

To better understand what was out there, we analyzed competitors like Glucose Buddy, MyFitnessPal, and Fitbit. Personally, I focused on MyFitnessPal, as I was a regular user and wanted to see if any of its features could support gestational diabetes.

I summarized all the findings into a chart and documented the metrics.None of the apps are designed for gestational diabetes, despite offering health and meal tracking. Common issues include tedious meal logging, lack of blood sugar tracking, and limited ways to share data with healthcare providers—highlighting a gap in solutions tailored to GDM.Metrics:

Disclaimer: The photos above are placeholder images and do not represent the actual interview participants. All participants' identities and personal details have been kept confidential.

Interviewing GDM Mothers

Participants: 3 GDM mothers

Questions:

Interview Insights & Quotes:

Refining the problem

We decided to focus on meal logging since it’s the main pain point for managing blood sugar and a primary challenge for GDM mothers. We should also address the lack of motivation, community, knowledge, and recipes to make the process less overwhelming and more supportive.

User Persona

Meet Amelia—a GDM mother

We synthesized our research insights and mapped struggles and needs to ensure our design directly addresses them for Amelia, a first-time mother with gestational diabetes (GDM).

Defining goals

Turning a burden into a habit

We chose to develop a mobile app for on-the-go convenience. We started with a rapid brainstorming session to generate ideas:

Food tracking

Motivation & rewards

Education

Ideation

Initial sketching & wireframing

Next, I started sketching out initial wireframes, exploring screens like the dashboard, food logging, social and community features, as well as educational content.

User flow

Food logging pathways

As a team, we mapped out the food-logging pathways and realized they would be extensive.

Feedback session

Feedback meeting with the CEO

We started to face a roadblock so I took the initiative to set up a meeting with the CEO for a feedback session. He was excited about our app concept, highlighting how it stood out from other teams by directly addressing the core challenges. He then shared the following feedback:

User flow revised

Streamlined food-logging pathways

We streamlined the user experience by prioritizing efficient methods like barcode scanning or photo capture over manual forms of entry, consolidating repetitive actions into reusable components, and reducing decision points by enabling food logging without upfront meal type specification or inferring meal types based on time of day.

Wireframes revised

Addressing feedback from the CEO

Branding

Setting the tone for the brand

To maintain consistency and to resonate with our target audience of mothers, we selected the following inspiration words for our branding: soft, feminine, and comfort.

Color palette

Typography

Nunito’s rounded style aligns with the brand’s tone while ensuring strong readability.

Dashboard

The dashboard shows a summary of your daily logged meals, tracks carb goals and blood sugar levels, and recommends GDM-friendly recipes to try.

Food-logging

Log your daily meals effortlessly by snapping a photo or scanning a barcode, and it’ll automatically calculate and save the nutritional information.

GDM Education

The Learn Tab has helpful guides on managing nutrition, tracking blood sugar, learning about GDM, and exercise tips.

Profile

Stores key medical details, like existing conditions and health information, to help personalize your care.

Learnings & Reflection

What I learned

Measuring and defining success

To gauge effectiveness, we would focus on tracking the following metrics: