In early 2025, I started using Figma Make to prototype features for a Zoo Management Platform. It’s a tool for managing animal care, events, and information. At first, it was slower than expected. The results were inconsistent, and I kept rewriting prompts trying to get it right. It felt more like guessing than designing. I […]
I don’t know why I have such a strong attachment to sunflowers. Whenever I see them, my mind slows down and I find myself staring at them for a little while. Living in Saigon, where space is limited, most of what surrounds me are buildings, narrow sidewalks, and small parks. A field of flowers feels […]
This is my Bác 6 (Uncle 6th). He’s the 6th son in the family. My dad, his younger brother, is the 10th. I lived with his family from the time I was 16 until I was 21. He supported my education during those important years. Looking back, I now realize he was shaping my wandering-mind […]
The talk UX Research vs. Product Discovery: An Opportunity for UXR by Katherine caught my attention. It helped me clearly understand the differences between UX Research, Product Discovery, and Continuous Discovery. The 3 terms I’ve heard often but hadn’t fully distinguished throughout my career. What stood out most was how the speaker translated these concepts […]
In late September 2025, I spent 4 days in Hanoi catching up with Alex, a former colleague I hadn’t seen in 8 years. I wasn’t really in the mood to travel. I just wanted to meet him, take a walk together like we used to, and maybe capture a bit of Hanoi life through my […]
Job hunting in 2025 feels like staying-steady in a fast-moving stream to me. Since COVID, the job market keeps changing. Teams are smaller, and the scope of work has become broader. And now, everyone’s talking about AI. It’s exciting, but also confusing. In design, expectations have grown quickly. Companies no longer want someone who can […]
I first learned about Suno from a Facebook ad. I’m not a musician, and I’m not a native English speaker. I don’t know what a bridge or chorus should sound like. And that’s the reason why writing a song and composing music are such big challenges for me. But the idea of creating my own […]
I always enjoy the weeks leading up to Vietnam’s public holidays. Iconic red flags 🇻🇳 are used as decorations everywhere from the streets to digital products. They create a shared sense of celebration. I like how local apps take part in these moments, adding small seasonal badges and updating their UI themes. It makes the […]
I was born and grew up in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I spent a short period of my teenage years living abroad, and when I came back, things shifted. Even now, I often feel like a tourist in my own city. My understanding of Saigon has never felt deep enough, not enough to confidently […]
I had the chance to visit Lebadang Memory Space in Hue. I actually found it by chance while browsing Google Maps. It was my first time learning about this French-Vietnamese artist, Lê Bá Đảng, and his incredible works. My first impression of his art was how diverse, detailed, and creative it was. He often combined […]
I joined a Private Fitness and began training in March 2024 – not just to lose weight, but to build healthier habits and make exercise a part of my daily routine. During one of our recent sessions, my personal trainer, Bằng, brought up something unexpected. He shared his concern that AI might replace personal trainers. […]
I’m so grateful that I’m still in touch with my university friends. This post is for the friends who stood by me during some of my craziest times, who know me in ways most people don’t. They always bring positive energy to my problems. Imagine having friends who can turn any stressful difficulty into a […]
I came across a post called ‘UX/Product Designer – Midlevel rồi sao nữa?’, a workshop hosted by StayLab. ‘Rồi sao nữa?’ means ‘what’s next?’ in Vietnamese. I did-really-spend a few solid-minutes thinking about where I stand in my design career. I then skipped over the design-level part because it felt too complicated. BUT that phrase, ‘rồi […]
This Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), I wandered through the Trên Bến Dưới Thuyền flower market in District 8 and captured some beautiful afternoon photos. The market’s name means “On the wharf, under the boat”. The name reflects its location along the waterfront. Then, I walked back home from District 8 to District 6, passing […]
I attended the webinar on Making UX Research matter to the business, hosted by Stravito. The key takeaway was that presenting research clearly is challenging, especially when different people need different types of information. Besides learning how Stravito’s platform can help address these issues, I also gained insight into the importance of aligning research with the […]
I had an amazing time connecting with the design and product community at the UXVN Festival 2024. This year’s discussions were all about defining your value, exploring new-possibilities and stepping into leadership for designers. AI and cross-team collaboration were hot topics, sparking lots of conversations. Below are some highlights that I truly connected with from […]
It was a calm, windy afternoon. I sat on a couch behind a gentleman I call ‘Ba’ – the Southern Vietnamese word for Dad. We were at our local bank, taking care of some paperwork. Since we needed to stay in a queue due to COVID-19 precautions, we had to maintain some distance from each […]
I had the opportunity to visit the Mind & Machine art exhibition at the Vietnam Festival of Creativity and Design 2023, and one project that truly caught my attention was Sống Xa Ở Gần (Living Far Away, but Staying Nearby). This Augmented Reality (AR) map, created by Andrew Stiff and Becky Lu offers an interesting experience […]
Bringing Life to Digital Products was a session shared by Jon, hosted by the RANDSTAD UX Network & Community, focusing on the concept of ‘liveness’ in digital products. Jon emphasized the importance of observing the real world, like how people engage with physical objects and their environment. AND using those insights to create digital experiences […]
It was my escape to Tà Năng – Phan Dũng in February 2019. At the time, I was a lost soul, and fate led me to meet this remarkable gentleman during one of the most challenging periods of my life. This person, and the journey itself, inspired me to keep moving forward. My time-spent with […]