Q&A with Grace Phang, Lead UX Researcher, Medidata Solutions; Adjunct Professor/Head of UX Research, New York Institute of Technology
Editor’s note: Nancy Cox is the founder of Research Story Consulting and former CPG corporate researcher. Her work and play include words, sketch pads, cooking (not baking) and the occasional sock puppet.
Passions, hobbies, healthy distractions and even guilty pleasures – discover how the research community plays and how that plays out in their work life. In the Venn diagram of work and play, what happens when work and play overlap? Research colleagues share their work and play stories in this interview series by Nancy Cox.
Hello to Grace Phang, lead UX researcher, Medidata Solutions, and adjunct professor/head of UX research, New York Institute of Technology
What is the “play” in your life?
During college, my sister and I started making hats for ourselves. We didn’t have formal training, but we had inspiration from international travel, fashion magazines and watching pop culture. At first it was just hot glue and putting things around headbands. When we wore the hats, people asked, “Where did you get your hats?”
I was still in college, but my sister started selling our hats on Etsy. We started with butterfly hats, which are still our signature hats. We do butterfly hats in many different colors, different sizes. Our largest has a few hundred butterflies so you’re almost in a butterfly cloud. I describe our hats as fun and even surreal. Our hats are designed to make people feel happy.
A few years ago, I created the Fab Hatters website to build the business. We’ve scaled by partnering with different brands such as jewelry companies, but we’ve stayed true to what I like about our hats – our hats are one-size-fits-all. Ninety percent of what’s on our site is one-size-fits-all. Which is different than most fashion. It’s an inclusive form of fashion.
I have two different processes for designing a hat. The first process starts with creative inspiration. What am I seeing? What’s an event that’s happening? That inspires me to start sketching. Then I think about materials, researching at various stores. From my sketch, my sister makes the hats in our home studio.
The second process is designing a custom order. That starts on our website with a mini-survey so I understand the vision, goal and budget for the hat. It’s like the requester is part of a mini UX study. While it is more expensive to create a custom or extravagant hat, I can usually provide two options that work within their requirements.
Both processes also work together. An example is the Pride headband hat that looks like rainbow bacon. This hat shows my inspiration from many diverse communities and my love of breakfast foods. We collaborated with a celebrity stylist to design this hat. Typically, a stylist’s name is on an order, so we didn’t know we were making hats for Katy Perry. Perry wore this hat in her video for the Can’t Cancel Pride event. Another hat we made for Perry was a flowerpot hat that looked like a cute top hat.
Most clients want a hat for an occasion such as the Kentucky Derby, a wedding, an event where you want to make a dramatic impact. There’s definite seasonality with a spike in May and again starting prior to Halloween through all the end-of-year parties. We occasionally make fun hats for dogs and horses! We’ve also made couples’ hats. There was a couple where she wore an oyster hat with her head as the pearl and the man wore an oyster platter hat. That was fun!
How has your play influenced your research work?
I work on a custom hat order in the same way I work with stakeholders – understanding their needs and requirements. Offering options. Custom hat designing has helped me to align expectations, especially on deadlines. Also, as a business owner with a website, I understand the decisions made in the background of a UX experience. Why certain KPIs are important. I put my business hat on.
I’ve also experienced how a business and leadership roles evolve. While I still do sketches, my Fab Hatters work is now less hands-on. I do more business management and promotions, such as going to events. I appreciate the demands on stakeholders’ time especially as I balance research work, teaching UX research and hat designing.
I set boundaries and I timebox. What hours do I devote to work, the hat business and teaching? Communication is key with all your teams. My advice is to not be afraid to ask for help. You might be pleasantly surprised how team members respond. Team members welcome an opportunity to grow by taking on different parts of a project.
What would you tell readers who want to know more about your area of play?
It’s great when researchers have side interests! That brings your authenticity to any job. If you’re interested in fashion design, don’t question too much if you have the right skills or materials. Sketch ideas with just paper and a pen. Create prototypes and start small. I’ve seen great hats made of simple things like papier mâché, even toilet paper rolls. It’s like iterating on a minimally viable product. You can always expand. For example, I’m doing an event to try out in-person retail.
If you’ve ever wondered about wearing a hat – try wearing a hat for an hour. You can always take it off. Think about the occasion – wear a hat to something fun like a dinner. Wherever I wear a hat, people want to talk to me. Wear a hat to networking events, conferences or parties. You’ll be that person everyone wants to talk to!
All photos in this article were provided by Grace Phang of Fab Hatters.
