Spotlight: Christopher (Kai) Wong

Kai on a hike

This spotlight was part of USERWEEKLY - a weekly email to understand what is happening in user research. It's the best way to keep up on trends, methodologies, insights across the industry, and meet new researchers. Each week, the newsletter captures the pulse of our community and answers a simple question: What mattered in User Research this week?

Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Kai Wong, a UX Specialist, Design Writer, and Data Visualization Advocate. I started in Healthcare UX, but have since transitioned into doing UXR and Design for Federal IT organizations. I write about UXR and Design weekly for the UX Collective publication on Medium, and also write about the intersection of Data and Design on Substack.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?
One piece of advice I would give to my younger self would be to learn the basics of analytics data, like KPIs and metrics. User research sometimes has a ‘last-mile’ problem, where it’s unclear how much research findings and design decisions can impact the business. It’s important to remember that UX can still be somewhat new, especially with low UX Maturity organizations. The ability to translate your findings into something more familiar, like analytics, can help your stakeholders understand what you’re saying.

What was the funniest/weirdest experience you had in a user study?
I’ve caused some of my participants to laugh by accident. I always use synonyms when my mind blanks on the word I’m looking for, but this led to an awkward exchange with a surgeon when I accidentally used the word “burn” instead of “cauterize”. He laughed a bit before telling me that they’re trying to help people, not hurt them.

How can people learn more about you and your work?
I write weekly on Medium on UXR, UX Design, and Data Visualization. I also run a Substack dedicated to writing about these subjects and improving my Data Visualization skills.

Thank you, Kai!