About Zoe
Kia Ora, I'm Zoe. I'm a designer drawn to research, with a passion for understanding how people interact with the world via digital products, and how these mediums can enable people in their daily lives.
Specialisations include user experience research, prototyping, illustration, and user centered design. In 2018 I completed a Master of Human Interface Technology in 2018 which investigated user experience and serious game principles relating to the design of a game for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. I’m driven by wanting to understand user goals and recommend or co-design solutions to complex problems.
You can find me on Linked In & Instragram:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-platt-young
Research Lab: https://www.hitlabnz.org/index.php/project/exploring-game-based-vr-tools-for-youth-social-anxiety/
Qualifications and Certifications
[2020-ongoing] Doctor of Philosophy in Human Interface Technology. Thesis title “Exploring Design and User Experience of Game-Based Tools for Adolescent Social Anxiety“. Human Interface Technology Lab, Faculty of Engineering, University of Canterbury.
My thesis explores the design features which show promise for engagement with youth who experience social anxiety. Existing tech-based supports are identified and reviewed for their design aspects and interviews conducted with technology professionals, clinicians and support staff who work with young people experiencing social anxiety, and adults with lived experience of social anxiety in an adapted form of participatory design. Recommendations and design guidance for future game-based mental health supports, and themes exploring lived experience perspectives are the main contributions of the project.
[2019] Master Of Human Interface Technology. Thesis title “Design Recommendations for a Digital Social Skills Game for Deaf Students“. College of Engineering, University of Canterbury.
My thesis used human-centered design methodology to assist in the design of a game prototype for a cultural-linguistic group, with the aim of augmenting social communication strategies. It employed qualitative analysis methods such as focus groups, co-design sessions and semi-structured interviews to develop personas and scenarios. Artefacts produced were validated with stakeholders representative of the eventual users of the designed product.
[2019] What is Data Science? Completed as part of the IBM Professional Certification in Data Science.
[2019] Google Analytics For Beginners. Google.
[2018] Gamification - Creating Addictive User Experiences. The Interaction Design Foundation. March 2018.
[2015] Front End Web Development (CSS and HTML, introduction to some UX principles, some Javascript), General Assembly, Melbourne, Australia.
[2012] Bachelor of Design Innovation, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Major: Culture and Context Design. Minor: Sociology.
My Major of Culture and Context was predominantly concerned with a consideration of the use context of a design and of the end users of design, and included papers in photography for design, design ethnography (wherein ethnographic practices such as observational field studies were introduced), design history and analysis of the role of design in creating, embodying, and disseminating meaning and ideology.
Within my Minor of Sociology, my primary research interests were social change processes and ideology of social movements, sociology of knowledge and individual research into emergent visual and multi-media social movements such as culture jamming.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-platt-young
See creative examples from the design section of this site.