Three studies from inside a bank's Customer Journey & UX Design chapter — where the job was less about finding answers and more about getting the right people, from Gen Z students to line managers, into the same room long enough to ask better questions.
I grew up in Le'an, a small county in Jiangxi Province, trained as a finance and banking professional, and have spent the years since building a career across the Netherlands and China instead — first in payments, then in UX research, now in product and customer-facing roles. Living between two professional cultures taught me to notice what goes unsaid in a room, which turned out to be useful training for research.
Outside of research, I write — a diary practice since 2024 and a running Substack — and perform improv and stand-up, both of which sharpen the same muscle: reading a room, then finding the honest version of what's happening in it.
Each project here started with a stakeholder who had a hunch and no evidence — a declining Gen Z customer base, a shaky first day for new hires, a bank wondering what Web3 meant for anyone under 30. My part was building the research plan, running the sessions, and translating what people said into something a product team could act on.
Understanding what Gen Z actually wants from a bank
Business Accounts Team · Focus group study
The Business Accounts Team was losing young customers and needed to rebuild loyalty with Gen Z — but the usual desk research had already been exhausted, with no clear gap left to investigate. So instead of another report, we ran a co-creation study: bringing students aged 16–25 into the room to build solutions alongside us, not just describe problems to us.
"What are the real needs and expectations from Dutch students aged 16–25 from a bank?"
My role
I led the research end to end — planning, stakeholder management, data collection, analysis — working alongside a senior UX researcher and the product owner for young student accounts.
I kept the Head of Young Accounts and the marketing team close throughout, so the design team could move fast once the findings landed.
Approach
Two months of research, one week of analysis. I brought in agencies to help run the co-creation sessions — two 2.5-hour workshops with around 10 students — then led the analysis to pull out what actually mattered to them.
Impact
1comprehensive profile of customers aged 16–25, delivered with a short- and long-term roadmap for designers, business owners, and process managers
10students co-designing across two 2.5-hour sessions, not just interviewed
↑Visibility of UX Research as a practice inside the org — I became an internal ambassador for it
02
Fixing a new hire's first day at Payment
Payment Department · Onboarding research
New employees at the Payment department had one internal web page and no welcome day to speak of. The brief was to find out what the first day actually felt like for them — and to get five business line managers, several in senior positions, to agree on what to fix.
"To what extent does in-person guidance matter to our new employees at Payment department?" — a question that surfaced mid-interview and reshaped the study.
My role
I owned the whole arc: reframing the research problem, planning, running sessions, and analysis. The hardest part wasn't the research design — it was getting senior stakeholders to actually show up and stay engaged.
I worked with five business line managers to shape the research questions, then handed off into a consulting role once the roadmap was presented.
Approach
30-minute semi-structured interviews to gather context on new hires' challenges, paired with 30-minute behavioural observation — watching them navigate the actual onboarding site, task by task.
When "in-person guidance" came up unprompted in interviews, I followed with a survey to quantify how much it mattered.
i
Map the current processOne internal page, no welcome day, no introduction meeting.
ii
Run insight workshopsSessions with line managers to surface their challenges and priorities.
iii
Interview & observe new hiresQuantitative and qualitative inquiry into what onboarding actually meant to them.
iv
Review with stakeholdersFive line managers and designers reviewed findings and agreed on changes.
Impact
+20%improvement in new-hire satisfaction with onboarding
1new onboarding page, built directly with the design team from the findings
↗Report shared with other departments to shape their own onboarding
03
What banking looks like to a generation raised on the internet
Tech Lab · Web3 & metaverse research
Tech Lab was exploring blockchain, digital assets, and the metaverse as part of banking's future, and wanted to know how Gen Z — digital natives navigating a traditionally conservative industry — actually felt about it. The brief: imagine banking 50 years out, reimagined for people under 30.
The goal
Understand young perspectives on Web3 and the metaverse, introduce the concepts while gathering honest feedback, and explore how services like VR could broaden the bank's appeal to a younger demographic.
My role
I led the research — planning, execution, analysis — alongside a tech innovator and product designer, staying close to the Head of Product for Payment, Head of Operations, and several Product Owners throughout.
i
Market researchGrounding the study in where Web3 and banking actually intersect today.
ii
Persona developmentBuilt from direct engagement, not assumption.
iii
SurveyQuantifying attitudes toward VR, XR, and the metaverse.
iv
Journey mappingVisualising a future banking experience for under-30s.
v
Immersive VR sessionsHands-on sessions with young adults to gather real reactions, not hypotheticals.
Impact
New personasbuilt from hands-on VR sessions with adults under 30
1futuristic digital tool concept — a space to learn finance where young adults feel at home
AlignedHead of Product, Head of Operations, and Product Owners around one direction
Beyond research
The same curiosity, off the clock.
Writing
Always Love Sun
A running Substack on cross-cultural life — a Chinese woman living in the Netherlands — identity, and building an independent life abroad.
Two-plus years on stage. Reading a room in real time and finding the honest, funny version of what's happening in it — good training for a focus group, too.
Community
Building rooms for others
Organised events for 500+ members of the Jong Rabo network, co-ran a social project at Emily's Huis, and volunteered for IDFA and Cinemasia film festivals.
