Interview with Chengcheng Hou

Chengcheng Hou ("CH") interviewed on Thursday, 29 May.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

CH : I’m a senior product designer with a background in digital health and systems thinking. I studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York and have since worked across wellness, telehealth, and clinical operations. At Tia, I led the design of our electronic medical record system (TLC), used by over 42,000 patients across the U.S., and developed tools that reduce care team burnout while improving patient outcomes. I also mentor emerging designers through ADPList and Project Alpaca.

How did you become a designer?

CH : I’ve always been curious about how things work—and how they could work better. In school, I realized design wasn’t just about making things beautiful, but about making systems more humane. I studied interaction design at SVA and began building tools that bridged empathy and complexity. Healthcare design gave me the opportunity to use those skills to solve high-stakes, real-world problems. What started as an interest in storytelling and interfaces became a commitment to designing for care.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

CH : My top priorities are: Clarity – making the complex understandable. Empathy – centering the lived experience of users, especially in high-stress environments like healthcare. Sustainability – designing scalable systems, not just single screens. I start projects with workshops or interviews to uncover pain points. I rely heavily on Figma, user testing, and stakeholder reviews. My style balances minimalist clarity with subtle personality—clean interfaces with just enough warmth to feel human.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

CH : When I’m designing, I feel focused, engaged, and often energized by discovery. I love the “click” moment—when messy problems start to untangle into elegant solutions. It’s fulfilling to know the work will reduce someone’s cognitive load or improve their workflow. The pleasure comes from alignment: when user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility all intersect in one thoughtful solution.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

CH : Being biracial—half Chinese and half Mongolian—taught me early on to navigate and reconcile different perspectives. That cultural awareness shaped how I listen and design for diverse users. Outside of design, I practice photography, which sharpened my eye for composition and timing. My interest in psychology helps me understand user behavior. All of this—combined with my experience in healthcare—makes me deeply attuned to the emotional and functional layers of design.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

CH : I’m focused on building more equitable and emotionally intelligent health technologies. My growth path includes deepening my skills in AI-driven design, pursuing graduate education in design engineering, and eventually launching my own studio focused on care systems. My dream project is an open-source, AI-assisted mental health tool that’s accessible globally—something that combines clinical credibility with emotional resonance, designed to scale across cultures and languages.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

CH : Don’t obsess over being the most talented—focus on being the most curious. Learn to tell the story behind your work, not just show the screens. Ask great questions, stay close to the problem, and always design with context. I also advise joining communities, whether that’s ADPList, meetups, or mentorship groups. You’ll learn more from conversation than any tutorial.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

CH : Never stop auditing your biases. Listen more than you speak. Design not just for usability but for lasting usefulness. One tip I live by: the best solutions often come from reframing the problem, not polishing the interface. And if your design isn’t solving a meaningful need—it’s decoration.

What is your day to day look like?

CH : I usually start my morning reviewing Slack and Notion updates from clinical stakeholders. Mornings are for focused design work—Figma explorations, system diagramming, writing specs. Afternoons are for collaboration—user interviews, async reviews, cross-functional meetings. I end my day writing reflections or iterating based on team feedback. What makes me happiest? When someone says, “This just made my job easier.”

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

CH : I follow trends lightly—more out of curiosity than adherence. I track shifts in interaction design, data visualization, and AI through newsletters, Medium, and conferences like Config and Interaction. But I don’t chase aesthetics. I focus on timeless clarity over timely decoration. Great design should age well and adapt easily.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

CH : Good design reduces friction and increases clarity—it should feel inevitable. I know something is well designed when users don’t have to think about it, but they feel supported by it. I look for emotional alignment and functional flow. Common mistakes? Designing for edge cases as the norm or over-prioritizing visual flair over usability. Good design is invisible—but deeply felt.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

CH : A design is ready when it solves the right problem with clarity, and further iterations produce diminishing returns. I always document what we didn’t include and why—that’s part of readiness too. You never stop improving, but readiness is about confidence, not perfection. I know it’s successful when it saves time, drives adoption, or brings a real sigh of relief from the user.

What is your biggest design work?

CH : My biggest design work is the Tia Life Chart (TLC)—an electronic medical record system I led that unified mental, physical, and reproductive health in one timeline. It reduced documentation time by 44%, helped scale patient care across the U.S., and changed how providers experience their tools. It wasn’t just a UI project—it was a systems transformation rooted in empathy. I’m proud it’s now used by over 42,000 patients and a wide range of clinical staff.

Who is your favourite designer?

CH : I admire Kenya Hara for his work on emptiness and sensory design, and Giorgia Lupi for turning data into poetry. I’d love to talk to Dieter Rams about restraint and ethics, and to Paola Antonelli about design’s role in shaping cultural discourse. These are people who elevate design beyond screens or objects—into thinking and systems.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

CH : I live in New York, in Bed-Stuy—a place constantly in transition, which mirrors how I see design: always evolving. Being half Chinese and half Mongolian shaped my sense of contrast, nuance, and cultural empathy. I believe good design is incremental—it shapes how we experience health, identity, and trust every day. Outside of work, I shoot street photography and document urban change, which keeps me rooted in observation and storytelling.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

CH : I believe in collaborative clarity. I work best in environments where mutual respect, curiosity, and autonomy coexist. I value teammates who challenge ideas, not people—who lead with questions, not ego. In healthcare design especially, the stakes are high, so I prioritize thoughtful pacing over rushed decisions. I believe a good designer listens more than they speak, aligns cross-functional goals, and doesn’t just deliver screens—but outcomes.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

CH : Mentorship is core to my practice. I’ve mentored over 100 designers through ADPList and Project Alpaca, a non-profit helping under-resourced NYC college students break into tech. I also share frameworks and open-source design thinking tools to democratize access to product strategy. Design changed my life—and I try to pass that forward by making the path more visible and inclusive for others.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

CH : Winning the A’ Design Award validated the impact of my work beyond the healthcare space—it amplified the voices of patients and providers we designed for. Three key benefits: Visibility – it brought global attention to our EMR redesign, which otherwise lives behind the scenes. Credibility – it strengthened how I advocate for design in executive conversations. Community – it connected me to designers across industries tackling equally complex challenges. Being named Designer of the Day is a huge honor—and a reminder that thoughtful, behind-the-scenes systems deserve the spotlight too.

Chengcheng Hou Profile