// UX Designer · Researcher · Educator — Portland, OR

Good design should let
everyone in.

I'm Michelle Xiong. For nearly a decade I worked in higher education — advising students through every step of their journey, teaching classrooms of eighty, and digging through the data to find the people the system was quietly leaving behind.

I design the way I advised: listen first, map the whole journey, and build something people can actually use.

See selected work →
10+ Years in higher ed
80 Students per lecture
04 Sole-designer case studies
01 — Perspective

I've been the user.

A decade inside higher education means I design for students, advisors, and staff as someone who has sat in all three chairs.

02 — Approach

I think in systems.

Advising taught me to see the whole journey, not just the screen in front of me. I look for where people fall through, and design the path that catches them.

03 — Principle

I design for access.

Inclusive, accessible design isn't a box I check at the end. Several people in my family are color blind — so for me, it's personal.

Selected work

// Four projects that show how I work — shipping a product end to end, turning research into change, and redesigning processes and experiences that were quietly failing students.

// Service design · systems redesign · higher education · 2017–2021

Redesigning the Advising Experience

San Diego State University — Lead Academic Advisor & Lecturer

Liberal Studies had a reputation as the hardest major to navigate on campus — it wasn't, it was just prescribed. I inherited a paper filing cabinet, five days of handoff, and a 600-student caseload, and rebuilt the advising experience end to end: infrastructure, access, and belonging, all at once.

Service design Journey mapping Systems redesign Education
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Students seated together at a Liberal Studies registration workshop, working through course planning as a group
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Michelle Xiong celebrating with three graduating Liberal Studies students in cap and gown at an SDSU commencement ceremony, one holding her diploma and another wearing a flower lei.
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// Service design · process redesign · higher education · 2017–2021

From Warning Email to Accountability Loop

San Diego State University — Lead Academic Advisor & Lecturer

A warning email tells a struggling student they're in trouble — it doesn't teach them what to do differently, and nobody was checking whether they did. I redesigned academic probation intervention at SDSU end to end, from how the data reached me to what accountability looked like once a student was "helped," returning an estimated 92% of participating students to good standing.

Service design Process redesign Data analysis Education
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// Academic advising · institutional research · 2011–2021

How three years of data and student stories ended a policy that was harming students

San Diego State University — Senior Academic Advisor & Researcher

A three-year, phased mixed-methods investigation into a math placement policy at San Diego State University — from advisor-level observation to institutional policy change.

User research Journey mapping Service design Data analysis Education
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Research poster summarizing the Data Champions transcript analysis of math placement outcomes
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Fresh Asian specialty produce — chilies, Thai eggplant, grapefruit, lemongrass, garlic, red onion, and cucumber laid out on a wooden cutting board
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// End-to-end · e-commerce · accessibility

ABIRC Marketplace

Asian Business Institute & Resource Center — Sole UX Designer & Web Manager

I designed and launched ABIRC's first online marketplace and rebuilt their main website — giving local Asian-owned small businesses new visibility, and giving vendors, community members, and staff something far easier to use. I owned it end to end: research, usability testing, user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity UI — plus moving grant applications, vendor registration, and event sign-ups online so the team could stop drowning in paperwork.

User research Usability testing E-commerce Design systems Figma
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I came to UX from ten years in classrooms and advising offices.

That background isn't a detour on the way to design. It's the whole point. It's why I listen before I sketch, why I think in journeys, and why the first question I ask is always: who is this leaving out?

More about how I work →