About.
Product Designer & Researcher

I design products by finding the real problem first.

I'm a product designer and UX researcher with a background in strategy consulting. I work best on problems that arrive undefined — finding what people need and what the business is solving for, then turning that into products that ship and move the numbers.

Get in touch → View resume ↓
Portrait of Hanna Yang
5+
Years
Product design, UX research & strategy
30+
Shipped projects
Discovery, conversion & personalization
40+
Research engagements
Fortune 500 & growth-stage clients
Wharton
B.S. Economics
Strategic Management & Consumer Psychology

My approach

01

Start with the real problem

I start upstream of the interface — understanding how people behave, what constrains the business, and what we're really trying to solve before designing a single screen.

02

Turn research into decisions

My research background means I don't stop at insights. I translate what we learn into clear product direction — what to build, what to prioritize, and what to leave behind.

03

Balance the user and the business

I'm drawn to solutions that work on both sides — experiences that feel effortless to use while moving the metrics the business is measured on.

04

Design for what ships

Ideas only matter once they're live. I sweat the details that get them there — clear flows, edge cases, empty and error states, a clean dev handoff, and iteration after launch.

How I got here

I studied Economics at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in Strategic Management and Consumer Psychology because I was fascinated by how people make decisions — and how businesses make decisions around them.

That curiosity led me into strategy consulting and UX research, where I helped Fortune 500 teams understand customers, evaluate product opportunities, and make evidence-based decisions.

Over time, I realized the part I loved most wasn't just identifying what should change — it was shaping the product experience itself. Today I bring that strategy and research foundation into product design, helping teams get from an undefined problem to a design they can build.

  1. Wharton
    Economics, strategy & decision psychology
  2. Strategy consulting
    Fortune 500 product & growth advisory
  3. UX research
    Mixed-method studies that shape direction
  4. Product design
    Owning problems end-to-end
  5. Shipped outcomes
    Experiences that move users and metrics

Experience

2024 — Present

Lead Product Designer & UX Researcher

55places (Neighborhoods.com)

Designing and researching marketplace experiences across discovery, search, personalization, and conversion. Partner with product, growth, engineering, and leadership to define opportunities, prototype solutions, and ship iterative improvements.

Product DesignUX ResearchMarketplaceGrowth
2024

Product Designer

Bento Studios

Designed a TikTok Shop analytics platform for an early-stage client, partnering with its founder to define the product through successive rounds of wireframing and prototyping. Also designed the brand and first website for a new catering business, which brought in four clients in its first month.

Product DesignPrototypingWeb
2021 — 2024

Partner, UX Researcher & Strategist

HawkPartners

Led qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method research for Fortune 500 clients across healthcare, financial services, technology, and consumer products. Translated customer insight into product, brand, and growth strategy.

UX ResearchStrategyHealthcareFortune 500
Summer 2020

Intern, Market Research & Consulting

HawkPartners

Worked across several client teams at once, from pharmaceutical marketing for Fortune 500 companies to go-to-market strategy for a health and beauty start-up, conducting qualitative and quantitative research and building the reports delivered to clients. It was the firm I'd later join full-time.

Market ResearchStrategy
Summer 2019

Intern, Customer Experience

Comcast

Supported the redesign of field-technician appointment scheduling and the company-wide implementation, which yielded more than $5M in expense savings.

Customer ExperienceOperations

Education

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
B.S. in Economics  ·  Summa Cum Laude
Concentrations in Strategic Management and Consumer Psychology
A foundation in business strategy, behavioral decision-making, and systems thinking — the lenses I still bring to product problems.

Selected partners & clients

Through product design, UX research, and strategy work, I've partnered with teams across healthcare, financial services, technology, real estate, and consumer products.

Outside the screen

Outside of design, you'll usually find me somewhere new — trekking Saharan dunes on camelback, drifting over ancient pyramids at dawn, hiking the Great Wall, or riding horseback through the Andes. Travel is where my curiosity runs loudest, and it feeds the same instinct that pulled me toward design: a fascination with people, places, and the choices that shape how we experience them.

Hot air balloons over the Teotihuacán pyramids at dawn
On the Great Wall of China
The clifftops of Santorini, Greece
A camel trek across the Saharan dunes
Horseback riding through the Andes
The ancient kasbahs of Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
Furong Ancient Town, China
Exploring Barcelona
At the Coachella music festival
Exploring Singapore

What I'm looking for

I'm looking for product teams where research, design, and business strategy have to come together. The teams I fit best trust designers early, partner closely with product and engineering, and stay close to what happens after launch. I'm especially drawn to consumer products that millions of people use every day — marketplace, social, and lifestyle apps that shape how we discover, connect, and spend our time. Having spent years researching healthcare alongside patients and physicians, I'd also love to bring that experience to a consumer health product working to improve real outcomes.

I'm authorized to work in both the US and Spain. Today I work US hours from Barcelona for a US team, so a remote US role is already how I operate. Roles in Barcelona interest me just as much.

Want to work together?

I'm always happy to connect about product design, research, strategy, or roles where the hard part is working out what the problem really is.

Email me → View resume ↓ LinkedIn ↗