About Me

My name is Simon Kwok and I am an energetic and empathetic interaction designer who is eager to both teach and learn from others. Good design, I believe, is a result of thoughtful considerations of people, space and time. My area of interest in the interaction design field is in qualitative research, which I apply in creating design solutions and innovations that strongly connect with the targeted audiences. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, I am currently working in Hong Kong as an Information Architect and Researcher.

Background

I hold a Bachelor of Science degree from Simon Fraser University's Interactive Arts and Technology program. During my five years, I studied in Italy for two months where I learned about their history and culture and how it ties into their phenomenal success in design. The highlight of the study was the opportunity to interview prominent designers and companies including Danese's CEO and designer, Carlotta de Bevilaqua, (whom I interviewed), James Irvine and Stefano Boeri. Following that I held a co-op position in Research in Motion's User Experience Design team for one year designing, evaluating and redesigning software for the BlackBerry. I was the primary designer of their personas project as well as their documentation web portal overhaul project. Upon graduation, I worked for Team North designing interactive systems for a sustainable solar home which placed 4th out of 20 teams at the Solar Decathlon 2009 international competition. I am presently Information Architect and Researcher at HeathWallace HK Ltd. since January 2010.

My Kind of Interaction Design

Interaction designers excel at gathering and processing qualitative and quantitative data into useful information from which we use to inform design decisions of a project. We utilize an array of unique and diverse data gathering methods to capture in-depth qualitative data. The challenge then is to extract useful information from the overwhelming amounts of data that would undoubtedly be collected. The process involves many brainstorming sessions in which diagram models, sketches, lists and various other tools are used to help us communicate ideas in ways that words simply cannot. We then create artifacts packed with dense information including goals, values, and needs centered around the targeted audience. This can take the form of information models, personas, and collages. Finally these artifacts are used to help support decision in creating features, functionality or other aspects of a design whether it be a product, interface, service, or space. The process is never linear and never the same for any project, which makes being an interaction designer so fun and exciting.

The above blurb is my point of view. I chose to write it is because everyone I know in the interaction design field gets asked the question "What's interaction design??" and we all seem to have a different answer. The fact is the field can be quite broad and we each have a particular area that we've fallen in love with. However I believe that we all agree that our ultimate goal is to improve people's lives and experiences through good, thoughtful design.