Taken by Rhea Manocha at Wilmeth Active Learning Center at Purdue University, 2017

Good design doesn't have to be simple — it has to be clear.

I'm Nicholas Wong, a UX designer based in the Chicago area (Naperville, Illinois).

I spent five years at Northrop Grumman designing complex operator interfaces — embedded directly with engineering teams, running research with real users in demanding field environments, and translating what I found into interfaces where clarity genuinely mattered. That work taught me to conduct rigorous user research under real constraints, make hard tradeoffs between information density and usability, and communicate design decisions to engineers and stakeholders who don't always speak the language of design.

Before Northrop Grumman, I studied UX Design at Purdue University, where I worked on sponsored research and design projects with Microsoft Research, Ford Motor Company, and others. My capstone research — studying how academic researchers discover and navigate scholarly literature — informed the redesign of Microsoft Academic 3.0.

Most recently, I've been freelancing through MOOD, a Chicago-based technology consultancy, delivering end-to-end UX design and research for consumer and B2B web clients.

I'm an Eagle Scout, which probably explains my instinct toward thoroughness. Outside of work I play and write music, game, and watch too much TV.

 
 
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Clients & Collaborators

MOOD Technology Consultancy
Northrop Grumman
Ford Motor Company
Microsoft Research
Crema
Cerner
Brake Supply Co.
Purdue University: School of Construction Management