Dig into essential user needs, craft intuitive and seamless experiences.
Master of Integrated Product Design @ University Of Pennsylvania
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Sculpting Ideas Into Masterpieces
Value Proposition
Dig into essential user needs, craft intuitive and seamless experiences.Dig into essential user needs,
Reframe Problems from First Principles
Observe Signal in Chaos
Learn Systems at Speed
Translate Complexity into Clarity
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Amtrak
Before They Ask
First-time traveler experience
A UX research and design project that challenged Amtrak's definition of "first-time traveler" and designed a proactive guidance system to turn one-time riders into loyal customers.
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CONTEXT
Client project (with Amtrak, UPenn)
Led a team of 4 across research, problem framing, and designIndependently iterated the UX after project completion
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RESEARCH & REFRAME
We observed travelers at 30th St. Station, interviewed Amtrak staff, and uncovered one key insight: "first-time traveler" is a behavior, not an identity, anyone unfamiliar enough to feel lost counts.
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DESIGN
The team designed a hybrid system across three aspects: proactive app guides, physical signage, and indoor navigation. I later independently iterated a more complete UX flow, from booking through trip end.
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REFLECTION
What leading this project taught me about redefining the problem before solving it.
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Spotify
Music Discovery & the Cold Start Problem
From 114k songs to a platform intervention: A data analysis of 114,000 Spotify tracks and a decision-support tool that helps curators surface overlooked music before it disappears.
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CONTEXT
Academic project (CIS 5450, UPenn) Led full analysis
Product extension developed independently
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DATA INSIGHTS
Three findings from 114,000 tracks: individual audio features don't predict popularity; the useful signal lives in how features combine; genre structurally shapes exposure.
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PROBLEM FRAMING
A discovery problem, not a quality problem. New tracks enter a cold start loop with no mechanism to escape without human intervention.
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DESIGN SOLUTION
Track Promotion Advisor, an internal tool that proactively surfaces high-potential cold-start tracks to editorial curators, backed by data analysis.
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REFLECTION
What this project revealed about the space between data analysis and product thinking.
Let’s Work
Together!
EMAIL: irisyan@seas.upenn.edu
WECHAT: YDC702023356YDC
PHONE: +86 159-0096-7311 , +1 (445) 900-8551
LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/danchang-iris-yan-845534210
Any voice is welcomed!