AI watercolor of a rain-slick road at sunset, with power lines, traffic lights and orange sky reflected in the wet pavement.

UX researcher & designer

Tina Chao

B.S. in Information · University of Michigan

I find out what people actually need, then turn it into recommendations a business can act on. When I'm not researching, I write and record songs.

Looking for entry-level UX research roles · graduating May 2027

How this site works: my process is a highway with five mile markers, and each case study is an entrance onto it.

See my workthree case studies below How I work

Résumé ↗LinkedIn ↗

AI watercolor portrait of Tina smiling, in glasses and a white lace top, against a red brick wall.
hi, I'm Tina!

Selected work

Entrances

Three projects, each starting somewhere different. Every one began with listening before I designed anything.

in2being homepage concept: 'Your claims determine your design,' beside the nine stages in2being engages at.
Internship · 2026 in2being

From “clients are confused” to better questions at onboarding

Clients of this medical device consultancy didn't consistently understand what it could do, and often trusted its advice only after a misstep had cost them. I interviewed 12 people across the firm and found six kinds of client confusion. The team now uses those areas to guide its questions when onboarding new clients.

Role
UX research, strategy, interaction design
When
Internship · June to August 2026
Tools
Figma, FigJam, PowerPoint, AI-assisted prototyping
  • 16+ interviews with 12 people synthesized into a six-part taxonomy of client confusion
  • A nine-stage client journey tool, a working prototype with device-class and plain-English toggles
  • A usability plan with five participant segments and ten tasks, ready to run
Read the case study →
Persona card for Sophie Dyer, a University of Michigan junior studying Environmental Studies who doesn't own a car, shops wherever is most convenient, and wants to support local farms in ways that fit her routine.
Case study · 2025–26 Argus Farm Stop

Making a farm stop feel easier to choose

Argus had a strong local-food mission and 200+ Michigan farms and food producers on its shelves, but University of Michigan students weren't shopping there. We asked students why, and found that convenience, not price, quality, or even sustainability, shaped their grocery decisions most.

Role
UX researcher · team of 3
When
Class project · August to December 2025
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Canva, Miro, Zoom, WAVE, ChatGPT, Claude
  • 9 student interviews and 6 usability tests, synthesized in Miro into four patterns and a student persona
  • A website usability audit that I led independently, with an accessibility check and a competitor benchmark
  • Prioritized recommendations for Argus Farm Stop's marketing manager
Read the case study →
Persona of Sarah May, the Retired Philanthropist, with her biography, motivations, goals and frustrations.
Class project · 2024 LendMate Alum

Finding out what kind of alumni would actually lend to students

A peer-to-peer lending startup had a strong pitch for students and no validated picture of the alumni who would fund the loans. We interviewed 30 alumni instead of surveying them, and found two lender mindsets that one onboarding flow couldn't serve.

Role
UX researcher
When
Class project · February to April 2024
Tools
Miro, Canva
  • Two lender personas: the middle-aged investor and the retired philanthropist
  • Two journey maps, from first hearing about LendMate to looking back after lending
  • A mock investor pitch deck that framed the research as business value
Read the case study →

More work

Work in progress

  • UX CapstoneWebsite and curriculum information architecture for a School of Music, Theatre & Dance partnerIn progress
  • Study abroad appTeam project: an informational app for students planning to study abroadIn progress
  • ArtsEngine FEASTDesign for Participation research team: tea cards and a tea map for the World Wide Tea project siteIn progress

Process

The highway

These five signs are how I work. Each stop shows where it happened in one of my case studies, and each case study is its own drive, marked mile by mile.

  1. Mile 1Sit with the problemRead, ask, and resist the rush to a solution.

    On the roadAt in2being, the brief said clients didn't value the firm. Sitting with it showed they couldn't see how the work connected.

  2. Mile 2Listen to real peopleResearch from real voices, down to the details people mention in passing.

    On the roadFor LendMate we chose interviews over surveys, because we needed the stories behind the answers.

  3. Mile 3Find the insightThe one idea that keeps coming back, interview after interview, until I can say it in a sentence.

    On the road16+ interviews with 12 people kept circling the same six kinds of confusion. That became the in2being taxonomy.

  4. Mile 4Admit what I got wrongSay where my first read was off and what changed my mind.

    On the roadRecruiting LendMate alumni through our own networks skewed the sample. Next time I'd recruit wider, earlier.

  5. Mile 5Make it work for themNot what's impressive. Whether it works for the person it was made for.

    On the roadStudents already cared about shopping at Argus. So I didn't recommend more convincing. I recommended quicker reorders and clearer pickup, things that fit a busy week.

Watercolor city skyline at dusk with a few lit windows under an orange band of sky.

About

The short version

Hi, I'm Tina, a senior at the University of Michigan School of Information studying UX, with minors in Entrepreneurship and Music. Right now I'm interning at in2being, where I research how clients understand complex medtech work.

Most of my work lives in the gap between people: farmers and customers who can't visit, founders and the people they hope to serve, students and the alumni who might help them.

Away from a screen, I write songs, sing, and take photos of cute architecture, quiet nature and anything with a vintage feel.

  • Faith-driven
  • Community-first
Tina
AI watercolor of Tina smiling in a selfie high above an amusement park at sunset, with roller coasters behind her.
up high at golden hour

things I've made

From my Gallery

Graphic design, things I've built, drawings, paintings and photographs

See more →

Let's merge

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear about UX research roles, a project you're stuck on, or a song you can't get out of your head.

LinkedIn Résumé

Studio

After hours, I write songs

I write and record my own songs. Press play on one.

  1. Original single Kindle Cold Written and recorded by me. This one means a lot to me. Spotify ↗
  2. New recording Set Apart
  3. Original, in translation Evergreen A woman's last words, set to a melody. I reversed the translation to give them back to her family in her mother tongue. More music ↗Read the story
Press play on a song 0:00

what I play

  • Voice
  • Piano
  • Guitar
  • Guzheng
  • Cajón
  • Ocarina
  • Drum kit
AI watercolor of Tina singing into a microphone while playing a keyboard.
singing at the keys