👋 Hi, I’m Gia
Between culture and code, I trace stories that deserve to be felt.
I’m a designer who starts with concepts that matter—often born from overlooked cultures, quiet rituals, or “strange” perspectives others might miss. I believe good design doesn’t just solve problems—it warms, connects, and respects the people it touches.
I specialize in XR, UX/UI, and interaction design, using tools like Unity, AI, and Adobe Suite to build experiences that blend technology with empathy. My work often explores how digital space can carry human temperature, especially in cultural storytelling and participatory experiences.
About Me
XR PROJECT
UX PROJECT
Others
Phone: 510-662-2330
Email: gia0105gia@gmail.com
MISINTERPRETATION TO RITUAL: RETHINKING TEA CULTURE
What if you could make tea with socks and coffee pots—and still feel deeply connected to tradition?
Misinterpretation to Ritual is an XR experience that reimagines Chinese tea culture through cross-cultural experimentation and playful storytelling.
Inspired by my upbringing in a tea-growing region of China, the project invites participants to enter virtual scenes—like nostalgic homes, offices, or campsites—where they craft their own rituals using everyday tools. Coffee filters become teaware, napkins become strainers, and mistakes become moments of meaning.
This isn’t a tutorial. It’s a cultural invitation—to explore how curiosity, memory, and care can keep traditions alive, even when the tools change.
SOCIAL CLOCK
VR Experience · Empathy-Driven Narrative · Social Commentary
What happens when parents measure your life by someone else’s timeline?
Social Clock is a VR experience that puts users in the shoes of a young adult caught between dreams and expectations. Designed for parents who struggle to understand their children's choices, this project simulates the emotional pressure of navigating career paths under cultural and financial stress. Through branching narratives, real-time interruptions, and personal messages from the past, the story reveals what it means to choose “stability” over self—and what it might cost.
An AR journey along the edge of San Francisco’s waterfront reveals a forgotten piece of history. Visitors arrive at a weathered stone marker—barely visible, barely remembered. But by scanning a nearby QR code, the past rises again.
Guided by the spectral voice of John, the last harpooner, users witness the urgency and danger of historic whaling—from the hunt to the belly of the beast. As the ocean retreats and a whale skeleton emerges, John returns—not seeking pity, but purpose. In a final conversation across centuries, he learns that whale oil has been replaced, and that his story now serves a new mission: conservation.
What was once a tale of survival becomes a call for preservation.
Reinterpret the emotional value of "gifts" through AR immersive kitchen experience, web interaction and physical gifts of butter rice cakes.
An interactive tea tour that brings warmth and visibility to overlooked tea farmers
This project redesigns the tea tourism experience in my hometown by turning it into a mobile-based treasure hunt driven by real soil pH data. Instead of focusing on smart agriculture or packaging upgrades, I chose to spotlight the human side of tea production—the farmers, the land, and the stories rarely seen.
Through fieldwork at local factories and conversations with tea workers, I designed a system where visitors learn by playing, discover the cultural value of selenium-rich tea, and understand the labor behind it. The goal was not just to promote tourism, but to create a warmer, more respectful way to connect outsiders with a community that's often overlooked.
An interaction and graphic design project exploring the emotional language of Nüshu culture
This project reinterprets the ancient women’s script Nüshu not just as a symbol of female consciousness, but as a medium of emotional care and private connection. Instead of focusing on its political or speculative interpretations, I use interaction and visual design to highlight the quiet warmth and enduring friendships that Nüshu once nurtured among women.
Through this work, I aim to express my belief that design should carry emotional temperature—gentle, attentive, and rooted in human connection.
Helping makeup novices find their personal color style and shop smarter
This app helps beginners in cosmetics quickly discover their seasonal color palette through an online test, then recommends matching products, DIY options, and nearby stores. By combining personal color theory with practical tools like swatch previews, product filters, and shared user feedback, it reduces trial-and-error and waste.
A speculative design project exposing how wellness devices might deceive us in the future
Based on real observations of how elders in my family were misled by ineffective health supplements, this project imagines a near-future service system where aging-related anxiety is exploited by fraudulent health tech. I created a fictional health care delivery scenario set 30 years from now, using speculative product design and storytelling to expose the emotional and economic manipulation behind the industry.
This project reflects my design values: critical thinking, empathy for vulnerable groups, and uncovering uncomfortable but urgent social issues through design fiction.
This virtual world draws inspiration from the Daoist parable Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream, where the boundary between dream and reality collapses. Set in a surreal Chinese dreamscape filled with mist, floating fish, and weightless mountains, users embody Avatars that question the nature of their identity — are they dreaming of being someone else, or is someone else dreaming of them?
Here, every movement, environment, and form reflects a fluid dialogue between "self" and "other," "reality" and "illusion."
This project creates a regional tea brand inspired by Ankang’s rich tea culture and natural landscape. Drawing from the image of a traditional tea-picking girl and iconic landmarks like Anlan Tower, the design blends heritage with a modern Guochao (New Chinese Style) aesthetic. Bold color contrasts and cultural motifs break away from conventional tea packaging, presenting a fresh and contemporary identity rooted in tradition.