Research
Observe real behavior and understand context before deciding what to build.
About me
Curious by default.
Curious by default.
Human at heart.
I’m Ruohan, a product designer at TikTok Search and an MS student in Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington.
Outside design, I’m a photographer, vlogger, and storyteller. I love capturing the quiet moments that reveal how people interact with the world—the same curiosity that shapes my design work.
TikTok Search · Product Designer
UW · MS in HCDE
Photographer · Storyteller
My path
Across systems and stories.
My path has moved through interaction design, mobility, educational AI, and search—always grounded in understanding how people make decisions in real contexts.
Design philosophy
Understand people before designing for them.
I begin by exploring how people think, behave, and decide. Those insights help me frame the right problem before moving into ideas and prototypes. Through iteration and close collaboration with product managers and engineers, I translate complex needs into clear, approachable experiences.
Systems
Turn complexity into patterns that can scale across products and edge cases.
Storytelling
Make insights understandable so teams can align, decide, and move forward together.
From my lens
The details I stop for.
Photography trains me to notice atmosphere, gestures, and small interactions—the details that often become the starting point for better design questions.
Let’s make something thoughtful.
I’m always happy to talk about AI, search, human behavior, photography, or a question you cannot stop thinking about.
ruohli@uw.edu ↗