I ship the front-end
I write semantic HTML, CSS, and ARIA myself. Focus states, keyboard flows, and screen-reader behavior make it into production, because I build them, not just spec them.
A designer
with an eye
for detail
Hi! I am Michelle Chen
I'm a product and UX designer who ships the front end. I've delivered 15+ websites with engineers and PMs, including a WCAG 2.1 AA government cultural portal serving ~30 indigenous museums that passed full-site audits across ~850 pages with zero failures. I work where design specs meet production code — semantic HTML, accessible components, CMS templating — so the accessibility that gets designed actually gets built.
Featured work
I design accessible,
AI-driven web products.
Scan a receipt with AI + OCR, split the bill in seconds.
2× faster than the 4-minute competitor baseline — a fair split in under 2 minutes, with 94% more accurate scans.
One WCAG 2.1 AA home for 30 indigenous museums.
30 collections unified on one hand-coded government platform — shipped with zero accessibility audit failures.
Technician UI for an AI-assisted farm drone.
Payload diagnosis cut from 18 to 5 minutes — one drone replacing three, designed for 12-hour field shifts.
One WCAG 2.1 AA home for 30 indigenous museums.
30 collections unified on one hand-coded government platform — shipped with zero accessibility audit failures.
Technician UI for an AI-assisted farm drone.
Payload diagnosis cut from 18 to 5 minutes — one drone replacing three, designed for 12-hour field shifts.
Coming soon
A water education platform helping Arizonans make informed decisions.
In development — accessible water-education courses for communities, real estate professionals, and the public.
More work
Client work, class explorations, and side builds that shaped how I approach accessible web products.
What can I bring
Accessibility, real-world tested
I've hand-coded a live WCAG 2.1 AA government platform. With EAA and ADA Title II deadlines landing, I help teams ship compliance as working code, not a checklist.
A real bridge to engineering
I speak engineering's language: designs grounded in what's shippable, fewer dropped details, and a smoother handoff because there's less to hand off.
About
I design across web + mobile, ship front-end work, and collaborate closely with engineers. Hackathon award winner (2nd Place, RoseHack 2025 for Daily Moo Mood) and People's Choice · Endstar Game Maker Spark Challenge recipient. I care about community as a Student Adobe Ambassador at ASU and through Toastmasters.
Originally from Taiwan, I moved to Arizona in August 2024 for my M.S. in UX/HCI at Arizona State University (May 2026). I speak fluent Mandarin and am learning Japanese and German.
Education
May 2026
M.S. UX/HCI
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ · GPA 4.0/4.0
Work Experience
Jul 2026 – Present
UI/UX Designer at Ascenzi & Associates LLC
Leading the end-to-end website redesign for a new consulting platform—running client discovery to define goals, establishing the IA, visual identity, and scalable design system, then presenting concepts to stakeholders and building Figma wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes within WordPress/CMS constraints.
Jun 2025 – May 2026
UX/UI Designer at VisLab
Designed scalable, accessible UI for multi-tenant Drupal apps and an EdTech water-resource platform through research, prototyping, and close engineer collaboration.
Jun 2025 – May 2026
Student Adobe Ambassador at Adobe
Engaged in community-building initiatives to promote Adobe Express, developed communication skills through hands-on Adobe tools, and provided product feedback to improve user experience.
Oct 2023 – Sep 2024
UX/UI Designer at M-think Technology
Raised core task success rates 15% through analytics-driven UI iterations, modular component specs, and cross-platform QA before handoff.
Mar 2023 – Sep 2023
Interface Specialist (Volunteer) at Toastmasters International
Redesigned the organization website in Figma and HTML/CSS, improved mobile layout and visual hierarchy, and streamlined navigation to increase member engagement.