I’m an international student from Beijing, China. With the original intention of “learning advanced technologies and ideologies from the Western”, I came to UC Berkeley, and my college life here has enriched my worldview so much. I’m an Art Practice major and I minor in Disability Studies. As an artist, I mainly focus on ceramics and narrative digital art. In my art-creating process, I constantly think about how to improve my current methods to better serve the purpose, and sometimes new designs are born from it. The highly inclusive environment at Berkeley encouraged me to broadly explore my interests from not only an artistic but also a pragmatic perspective. I’m so grateful for everyone I met and everything I learned here.
Merging digital mastery with traditional artistry, I craft solutions that enhance everyday life, seamlessly blending artistic expression with practical functionality. My work champions innovation, aiming to infuse daily experiences with creativity and cultural depth.
I used to think of aesthetics and functionality as the core of a product. But now I realize that accessibility is also a key feature to make a product successful. Most of the products are visually pleasing and technically functional, but they are difficult to use. They take too much effort to manage the tasks they were designed for. They are not accessible enough. An accessible design should be convenient for everyone, not just people with special needs. They should favor people with or without four limbs, people with or without all five senses, and people with or without a phone (children and the elderly).
I’ve always been interested in product design and user experience since high school. Two years ago in the summer of 2023, I sprained my left ankle in the U.S. and I had to walk with a pair of crutches. I thought it would be a disaster for me because I’m an international student here and I live alone, while all my friends hadn’t come back from China yet during the summer holiday. But things turned out better than I expected as I explored lots of accessible public facilities. It was my first time to actually see these facilities. Thanks to them, I was able to navigate around on my own. But when I tried to think of a parallel back in China, I couldn’t recall seeing any people with disabilities on the street alone. They basically cannot go on the street alone, due to the lack of accessibility in most of the public spaces. This is not a good sign for the country and I want to contribute to improving it.
Please email me at catherineliu610@gmail.com