About

Hello! I’m Wan-Ting Huang, a designer and illustrator based in Tokyo. Here is my path to the design industry:

I was born and raised in Taichung, Taiwan. Growing up, I knew I always enjoyed doing things involving creativity — arts and crafts, doodling, messing around with clunky digital painting programs in the early days. Though becoming a “designer” never came across my mind as subconsciously I always assumed design could not be a “real” job, probably due to the influence of the societal impression that it’s hard to make ends meet as a designer. I was very wrong. 🙂

Luckily, I ended up attending a comprehensive university that gives students a lot freedom to explore their interests. Besides my majors in Business & Finance, I had a chance to have a taste in many other areas like programming, psychology, and graphic design. I was really drawn to the potential of creating something by leveraging a wide skill set across multiple disciplines. All this explorations eventually led me to the discovery of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

In the spring of 2010, I came across a post on a Taiwanese study-abroad forum introducing HCI schools in the US. I was surprised and thrilled that the profession I had always perceived myself doing actually exists and it’s intended for people of diverse backgrounds. Under the support of my families and HCI alumni, I was grateful to get accepted to the HCI design program at Indiana University and embarked my journey to the US.

From then on, it sort of felt like hopping on a fast moving train that led me through spectacular views of scenery one after another, from Bloomington, San Francisco, Seattle, and now back in Asia. Whenever I had a chance to reflect, it still shocked me that I’ve been a designer in tech for over a decade. Currently, I’m based in Tokyo as a UX designer for digital products in the day time and an illustrator on the side. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next as the journey continues. I am thankful to be able to get to where I am today with many people’s help. I would love to help others find their passion and do what they love too! Feel free to reach out if you want to chat. (Contact info in the footer)