Let me tell you about Victoria…

She is a human-centered designer, strategist, and researcher. She is also a PhD student in Design Research at the Royal College of Art. She received both her BFA in Communication Design and MFA in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons School of Design.

Influenced by an appreciation for neatness and items with a calming effect and a touch of fun and excitement, many of Zhang’s projects revolve around community-building, self-care and well-being, healthcare, children, and non-profits. Research, sketching, and exploration constitute the initial steps of her design process as she strives to be an informed designer. Now she is delving deeper into the realm of design research. Through her research, she analyzes organizations and stakeholders, develops strategies to comprehend situations ripe for change, and explores user journeys to successfully implement positive outcomes through her new designs.

Recently, Zhang had the opportunity to redesign the Country Profile slides as a consultant for the Global Policy Forum during her United Nations summer program. This redesign facilitated more streamlined content navigation for member states and specialists seeking information from the states and the UN. This communication strategy enhances information distribution by presenting it in a viewer-friendly and easily readable format, enabling individuals to locate specific details quickly.

For most of her projects, she utilizes Adobe Creative Suite and Figma. However, as a multi-media creator, her curiosity for new tools prompts her to engage with programs such as Spark AR. Beyond design research, Zhang’s projects include:

  • Enhancing visual identities

  • Developing informatics

  • Improving interactive websites and presentation slides

  • Crafting original children’s storybooks

The creative process of each project holds more value than the outcome itself. She enjoys envisioning the types of interactions users will experience, and reflecting on a project’s progression motivates her to create an improved version.

Outside of the design space, she is interested in making homemade soaps. Here’s a link to a research paper Zhang did on the goodness of handmade soaps: https://parsons.edu/undergrad/student-work/victoria-zhang/