Hey there! I'm Alan, a former teacher hoping to make an impact in User Research! I am a people person, working to make sure that digital products prioritize the user experience first.
Portfolio entries include a News Corp externship investigating AI personalization, and app prototypes designed through the Springboard UX Design program.
News Corp · Nov 2025 · ✅ Verified by Extern
A News Corp externship exploring how AI personalization, recommendation systems, and conversational features are used in digital news experiences.
Springboard
For the first capstone project of the Springboard UX Design program, I designed a digital app prototype that allows users to plan outfits based off of the weather.
Springboard
Gram City is an app prototype that aims to help users find the most picture worthy places in a city. This includes tourist attractions, architecture, artwork and murals, etc.
Hey there! I'm Alan, a former teacher hoping to make an impact in User Research! I am a people person, working to make sure that digital products prioritize the user experience first.
I am a UX Researcher with a degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Merced. I've worked for the past 4 years in education and have 2 years of experience in User Research.
Externships
News Corp Digital Product AI Strategy Externship
Completed · Nov 2025
Experience
After School Teacher
Palo Alto Community Child Care · Sep 2022 - Jun 2026
UX/UI Designer
Think Round, Inc. · Apr 2024 - Nov 2024
Registered Behavior Technician
Kyo Autism Therapy, LLC · Nov 2021 - Sep 2022
Education
University of California, Merced
B.A. Cognitive Science · Class of 2021
Springboard
UX/UI Design Certificate · Class of 2024
Skills
✅ Verified by Extern
A News Corp externship exploring how AI personalization, recommendation systems, and conversational features are used in digital news experiences.
This externship examined AI-driven personalization across news sites and social platforms, combining a competitive audit with original Gen Z survey research. Work included audits of publishers and apps, a launched Google Form with 11 responses, quantitative charts and correlations, thematic coding of open answers, and a slide-ready summary of findings and feature recommendations.
I produced a competitive audit, launched and tracked a Google Form survey with 11 Gen Z responses, performed statistical and thematic analysis in Google Sheets, and recommended specific product features with supporting KPIs and charts.
Springboard
For the first capstone project of the Springboard UX Design program, I designed a digital app prototype that allows users to plan outfits based off of the weather.
For the first capstone project of the Springboard UX Design program, I designed a digital app prototype that allows users to plan outfits based off of the weather.
I planned and executed mixed methods research for CLOUDS, a weather-based outfit planning app concept. I designed a recruitment survey screening nine participants, and was able to uncover attitudes, behaviors, and pain points in fashion decision-making. I facilitated in-person and remote usability testing sessions, translating findings into nine recommendations improving task flow and satisfaction
Through my research, I learned that overdressing was a problem, users wanted to dress appropriately for different occasions, and that it’s hard to create outfits when users didn’t own certain types of clothing. Through usability testing, I learned that users wanted more options during setup, a tutorial would be helpful, and they wanted more organizational categories.
Springboard
Gram City is an app prototype that aims to help users find the most picture worthy places in a city. This includes tourist attractions, architecture, artwork and murals, etc.
Gram City is an app prototype that aims to help users find the most picture worthy places in a city. This includes tourist attractions, architecture, artwork and murals, etc.
I mapped user flows, explored competitor apps, and sketched potential solutions before storyboarding and prototyping a location-discovery feature. I tested the initial prototype with five users, gathering feedback on navigation, simplicity, and features like saved locations, user ratings, photos, and customizable sorting to guide future iterations.
My first design sprint challenged me to work quickly rather than perfect every detail. I learned to embrace iteration and focus on exploring ideas over polishing early sketches. In future sprints, I’ll spend less time refining Crazy 8s concepts and more time gathering research and user feedback to guide design decisions.
