Phoebe Yu

Product design @ Stanford HCI. YouTubing (128K). prev @amazon @visa

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

What proper UXR actually looks like

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

Totally schemed with Ivan to align our posting schedules (i wish lol). Read this to learn more about what Notion actually is, today.

[Ivan Zhao @ivanhzhao]

https://t.co/qWccqiBCH0

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@jestonlu @brian_lovin @piamishra @nikhilville Thanks Jeston!!

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

What does Notion actually do today?

I went to their office and asked the people building it: why it changed, who it’s for now, and the design mistakes they learned the hard way.

Big thanks to @brian_lovin @piamishra and @nikhilville for partaking in this video!

Video: https://t.co/G40pteuU6P

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@juliafedorin @brian_lovin @piamishra @nikhilville Thank you Julia!!

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@nikhilville @brian_lovin @piamishra The true goat ^

[Billy Evans @per_asp3ra]

AMA

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

Don Norman snapping at his own company’s LinkedIn post is quite a mood.

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

Beautiful BC

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@BrandonWaselnuk Next step: decaf coffee

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@EnriTarta Clean

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

Western design says less is more. AMAP (the Google Maps of China) completely ignored that and won 360M daily active users.

Traffic light countdowns. Speed camera alerts before and after. Lane by lane guidance.

It feels less like a minimal app and more like driving with an experienced local.

Full breakdown on YouTube (link in bio)

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

In 2014, AMAP was losing to Baidu Maps (Google Maps of China). Then Alibaba put Yu Yongfu in charge.

He made 3 ballsy decisions to save the app:
1. No monetization for 3 years
2. Strip out all bloat back to pure navigation
3. Design solely for truck drivers

Full breakdown on YouTube.

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@joshuastarmer Double BAM!

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

Super digestible explanation of reinforcement learning. I was a complete noob going in. Now a fry-loving noob 🍟

https://t.co/IimL9DzogF

Bless your soul @joshuastarmer (StatQuest)

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

Why did Baidu Maps lose China to Amap?

Baidu ported desktop search to mobile. Amap built directly for mobile from day one.

A clip from my breakdown on how Amap won the mobile shift:

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

Some find super apps quite intuitive. Others find it janky. I've made videos about this but the divide is still there...it's time to revisit this topic. What specific questions about current Chinese apps, websites, software design, UI/UX would people be curious about? Think Wechat, Alipay, Rednote, Taobao etc.

[DHH @dhh]

As much as I respect Chinese-made AI models and hardware, I'm equally puzzled by how rough most of the software still is. Whether it's Wechat or Alipay or HarmonyOS. You'd think getting unique aesthetics, perfect fidelity, and great flows would be "easy", but clearly it is not.

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@dhh Rough in what sense? I see how the UI might not be the most "polished", but if the current flow and super-app-ness works for the majority of the people that it aims to serve, why change it?

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

@melvindvivas @dhh Ahh thanks for sharing Melvin!

[Phoebe Yu @phoebeyutbt]

TIL "bitmap" - the name of a style I've always gravitate towards, perhaps cuz I grew up gaming. Happy fall!