Shirley Xu | Design Engineer

A miniature studio diorama holding Shirley's work: two monitors, a wizard hat, a sketchbook, a glass prism, and a phone.

Design engineer

Welcome to my space.

I design software for the people who use it, and then I build it. Everything on this desk is something I made. Pick one to open it.

On the desk

Each of these started with someone I wanted to make something easier for.

Case studies

Rendomat

For people making motion graphics with generative tools who still want to direct, refine and control the result.

A visual editor for videos and carousels. I designed one scene model, so an edit carries across every format and the export stays editable in After Effects.

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GoInvo Website

For the writers and designers at GoInvo, so they can publish their own work.

A publishing platform for GoInvo's website, with reusable layouts and its own experiment tracking. I led the rebuild.

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Mental Health Barriers

To help people see what stands between someone and mental-health treatment.

Two prototypes built from my team's interviews: guided conversations about everyday barriers, and a building you explore to see which initiatives address them.

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Writrospect

For neurodivergent people who want a planner that changes with them, and only when they say so.

A journal and planning app that connects reflections, goals and plans. I designed a review step, so an AI suggestion becomes a saved change only after you approve it.

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Phylactory

For players who love factory games and strategy games and rarely get both in one.

A fantasy factory game crossed with real-time strategy. I designed and built the prototype at Tomeato Studios: the game systems, the engine and the pixel art.

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Treechi

For anyone looking after code that people and AI agents wrote together, who wants to see it clearly before changing it.

A visual workbench that brings a codebase, its history and its tasks into one place. I designed connected components, traceable decisions and clear draft states, so a change is easy to inspect before it is kept.

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Other work

GlaciasA glass effect for interfaces, built on WebGL2. The distortion, blur and color fringing follow each shape's outline, so glass buttons and panels keep their form.Case study

About

I listen first, then build something people can try.

I started in escalation engineering at Dell EMC, then made games, then earned a master’s in bioinformatics. At GoInvo I design and build for healthcare and government. When I’m not designing software, I draw.

Wunderkammer, an illustration by Shirley Xu — Wunderkammer, Flower Girl, Fall LeavesMore drawings

Flower Girl, an illustration by Shirley Xu — Wunderkammer, Flower Girl, Fall LeavesMore drawings

Contact

Working on something? Say hi.

I'm looking for a design engineering role that covers research, interaction design and prototypes people can try. Tell me what your team is making.

sxShirley Xu

Welcome to my space.

On the desk

Case studies

Rendomat

GoInvo Website

Mental Health Barriers

Writrospect

Phylactory

Treechi

Other work

About

Contact