Chun Hon Chu (Andy)

Visual Communication - MA

Chun Hon Chu (Andy) completed his BA Visual Communication at BCU’s partner institute SHAPE in Hong Kong in 2017. After that, he came to the UK to start his MA in Visual Communication at BCU, focusing User Experience Design as a specialism during his studies. Here he will tell us more about how his studies at BCU have helped him progress in his career. 

What do you do for work?

I am a UX designer. In my opinion design is not about how fancy the product looks, it is about how the product works. I always believe that a product with good user experience can provide bigger impact and improve the lives of users. That is the passion that led me to work in this field.

Tell us about your journey after leaving BCU

After graduating, I went to Berlin to work for a design company for a year as a UX designer, gaining experience working on projects with Hugo Boss, Siemens, Lufthansa, Decathlon, and others. In 2019, I came back to Birmingham with my Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Visa to start-up my own business, Andy Chu Design Limited, providing user experience design services as a business.

Now I work for different companies in Birmingham, Berlin and Hong Kong to provide visual appearance, interaction, and user experience design. I am also an Associate mentor for MA Visual Communication and MSc User Experience at BCU. I give lectures and provide tutorial support for students who specialise in user experience design.

Why did you choose to study at BCU?

BCU’s way of helping students create their own design thinking process is innovative, and the course has a good balance of research and critical practice. Also, the support available for design projects and access to industry connections helped me build my own professional network. Even as a graduate, tutors have continued to offer me opportunities and professional contacts.

The results I got from studying at BCU were much more than I expected. Special thanks goes to my tutor Robert Sharl. The tasks and projects were challenging and this gave me the opportunity to learn from my mistakes and start to work in my profession during the course. After graduation, my professional skills and design process gave me a lot of confidence to work with different clients.

How has the higher education you obtained from Birmingham City University contributed to your career?

There were many opportunities for us to work on live projects with different organisations. This helped me make good connections with the people in the industry, build up my confidence, and allowed me to grow my UK network. As a graduate, tutors have continued to offer up opportunities and professional contacts.

What advice could you give to aspiring UX Designers and people who consider studying your major in the UK or elsewhere?

In UX design, we always do testing as we are not the users, and we don’t have all the answers. The same is true with your studies: if you never try and break out of your comfort zone, you’ll never know if there are any new opportunities for your career. I think university study is a great way for you to put aside your own perspective and knowledge, and find out if there are any better ways to improve your skills as a specialist. It also gives you the confidence and skills to communicate your UX Design expertise, and to demonstrate your professional process—not just your subjective ideas.