📞 +1 218 503 1688 ✉️ [email protected] 🖍️ www.yanchen.me

Work Experience

Studio i61:3

Designer

Jan 2024 - Present | Remote

• Innovation Consulting: Guide clients in generating innovative ideas and train teams in design thinking and collaborative problem-solving.
• Product Design: Create intuitive digital interfaces and physical products that balance usability, aesthetics, and manufacturability.
• Brand & Identity Design: Develop cohesive brand identities with consistent visuals across all touchpoints.
• Experiential Design: Design immersive, multi-sensory experiences that engage the intended audience and foster interpersonal connections.

Conduit (Ark Foundation)

Founding Designer

Jul 2023 - May 2024 | Remote

*Conduit is a network built on hardware based layer 0 infrastructure, dedicated to decentralizing the internet.*

• Defined and implemented cohesive brand identity and guidelines, aligning visual elements across all touchpoints, and established a unified design language, harmonizing digital and physical assets to reinforce the brand's core values and aesthetics
• Designed and prototyped multiple iterations of UX/UI for mobile and desktop applications within a system of products for different users (consumer app, treasury platform, fund operator platform, merchant payment app), and built a design library to ensure consistency and efficiency in cross-platform design
• Designed and 3D modeled hardware product according to engineering requirements
• Designed ****websites optimized for user experience and brand storytelling and produced visually compelling social media assets to drive brand engagement
• Worked closely with cross-functional teams, including product, marketing, and engineering, to align design strategies with business objectives

Stadia Church Planting

Product Designer

Mar 2022 - Jun 2023 | Remote

*Stadia helps people start new churches that thrive, grow and multiply*

• Conduct user research with multiple stakeholders to glean insights, identify opportunities, and define product parameters
• Iteratively design, prototype, test, and work with development partner to implement a multi-stakeholder digital platform to help more people start new churches, and to help the church-planting ecosystem become more data-informed

LeadersAtlas

Product Designer & Program Consultant

Jul 2021 - Sep 2022 | Remote

*LeadersAtlas turns the skills & knowledge within a team into practical, peer-led workshops that address leadership priorities.*

• Productize consulting service offerings: ideate, design, prototype, and work with engineering team to implement
  1. an internal web app for program design & management, and
  2. a client facing web app to engage employees in and beyond LeadersAtlas workshops, and visualize key metrics on team health for client leader
  3. a chatbot to automate client interviews during session creation process
• Set up product development process from idea generation to implementation, and work with team to integrate with existing practices
• Design workshop activities and templates to plug and play across all client sessions with corresponding facilitation instructions and sample agendas

Flourish

Product Designer

May 2021 - Jan 2022 | Remote

*Flourish matches volunteers to opportunities based on their passions, skills, and schedule.*

• Conduct market research and user research to understand product context for all stakeholders and develop product roadmap as first designer
• Design, prototype and work with engineering team to implement mobile app that matches users with volunteer opportunities, and web app that enables volunteer-based organizations to manage opportunities & teams, integrating best practices, actionable insights, and impact measurement
• Conduct usability tests to uncover problems and opportunities, understand user needs more deeply, and iteratively improve product design

Purpose in Motion (PIM)

Program & Visual Designer, Project Manager

Jul 2020 - Feb 2022 | Remote

*PIM empowers young people with education, resources, and networks to become mission-driven leaders and effective changemakers.*

• Design a Tech for Good training program and global competition for 3000+ participants across 115 countries for a multinational technology company
• Develop virtual career prototyping programs, and workshop materials for 300+ students across 3 universities
• Curate social impact leaders to participate in training young people towards impact-driven careers
• Design program materials for localized, holistic, in-person learning experiences to complement online degrees for Infinity Campus

Design for Social Innovation

Founder

Mar 2017 - Dec 2020 | Beijing, London, San Francisco

*DSI is an open social impact platform to empower anyone, anywhere to use their skills for good.*

• Curated and ran 20+ webinars for 200+ people in three weeks for BlockCOVID, a virtual summit to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 on society, and created a mini accelerator with 20 mentors across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas
• Trained 300+ people ages 13-60+ on creative methods, lateral thinking, rapid prototyping, and diverse perspectives on global issues through in-person and virtual workshops with design, technology, business, and social sector experts
• Developed ideation game to enable broader participation in social impact, used by partner organizations in training workshops and recruiting events in Asia and Europe

Innopanda

Founding Team, Strategy & Design

Jan 2016 - Sept 2017 | Beijing, China

Innopanda was a talent collective that explored new ways of living and working through building independent ventures or within existing organizations.

• Identified business opportunities, prepared project proposals for Fortune 500, government, and startup incubator clients
• Designed and ran design thinking and agile workshops for product, strategy, and culture using Art of Hosting techniques
• Graphically harvested outcomes, synthesized data for reports

Blue Sky Lab

Founding Team, Project Manager & Product Designer

Apr 2016 - Aug 2017 | Changsha, China

*Blue Sky Lab, an Innopanda Venture, is a product development company for better health and environment with a focus on air, food, and water.*

• Defined platform direction and strategy with key stakeholders. Conducted co-design workshops, prototyped iterations of concept products based on user & market research
• Co-led cross functional team to take first product (ATMO Blue) from concept to market in 13 months with 5,000,000 RMB budget by establishing product development and manufacturing partnerships, defining product roadmap and tech specs with engineers and designers, designing mobile app over multiple iterations, and developing launch strategy.

Daimler China IT Innovation Lab

Founding Team, Project Manager

Apr 2015 - Dec 2015 | Beijing, China

I was hired by WeImpact to help set up Daimler China’s in-house experimental center and proto-incubator for new technologies and business applications, the precursor to Lab1886 in China.

• Managed tech research and ideation team for potential applications in business units across Daimler China
• Designed ideation process to increase company-wide engagement in new product development and innovative business applications
• Prototyped online and offline open innovation platforms over multiple sprints
• Supported design and strategy for process, tools, and visualizations to transparently manage innovation pipeline
• Worked with engineering teams to design and prototype digital products as a part of the lab’s service to internal clients

Lacebark International Education Group

Operations & Program Design

Mar 2014 - Mar 2015 | Beijing, China

Lacebark was a boutique education firm that aimed to fill in the gaps within the public education system in China through customizable and holistic learning experiences.

• Developed mentorship program, tutor/student evaluation, and individualized learning plans to prepare high school students across four Chinese cities for post-secondary studies abroad
• Managed curriculum, itinerary, and promotional materials for five experiential learning camps
• Built and managed a team of ten tutors and mentors, and systematized student intake process

Community Engagement

YWAM San Francisco

*YWAM San Francisco's mission is to engage the city with a loving God. Restoration Initiatives is a ministry of YWAM SF that exists to restore, empower, and serve the marginalized in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.*

Urban Community Discipleship Training School

November 2019 - September 2020 | San Francisco, USA