Product Designer · Ho Chi Minh City

I design scalable systems and strip away bias to solve complex problems.

Cao Ngoc Hong Phuc — "Zoe"

Guided by user behavior data, built with structural precision. Eight years moving between food-tech, fintech and data platforms — currently looking for the next system worth untangling.

How I think

Three anchors, before any project.

🧩

System-First

Rebuilding broken, fragmented component ecosystems into scalable design systems — so the next feature doesn't have to start from zero.

📊

Data-Driven

Designing past personal bias by relying heavily on user behavior analytics, not on what feels right in the moment.

🌐

Complex SaaS Simplifier

Translating intricate data visualisations, cloud infrastructure, and logistics into seamless, human interfaces.

Selected work

Three problems, recorded like data entries.

FCI SmartCloud — mockup
Product Design · 2022–2024

FCI SmartCloud

  • The Problem: Features were built in isolation; no shared sitemap or component logic.
  • The System Change: Rebuilt the sitemap and design system from the live product, not the docs.
  • The Data Metric: Hackathon Winner, FPT Corporation; shipped the product's 1st mobile app.
Data Suite — mockup
Product Design · 2022–2024

Data Suite

  • The Problem: Charts and reports felt inconsistent; no shared visual language for data.
  • The System Change: Built the design system from the ground up, covering charts, reports, and modelling tools.
  • The Data Metric: Unified visual language reused across MAjust and every subsequent reporting module.
Pizza Hut Digital — mockup
UX/UI Design · 2018–2022

Pizza Hut Digital Ventures

  • The Problem: Order flows that worked in one Asian market quietly broke in another.
  • The System Change: Researched market-specific behavior before designing the new Master App.
  • The Data Metric: Cross-market order flow consistency, shipped across all markets.
Mindset & thinking

Optimizing the Complex: FCI SmartCloud / Data Suite

A balanced, cautious investigation into a fragmented data platform — read the way I actually worked through it, not just the final screens.

01 / The Baseline

The "before" system

Before, each feature was built separately, and the components used on the product were not always consistent. The sitemap on file didn't match the product people were actually using.

I started by mapping the live product, not the documentation — the gap between the two was the real brief.
02 / The Hypothesis & Research

Looking at it from more than one seat

I reviewed it as a user trying to finish a report, as an engineer maintaining components, and as a business owner needing the data to be trusted. User behavior research on the old reports and cloud tools showed people working around the inconsistency rather than asking us to fix it — a sign the problem had been silently tolerated, not solved.

03 / De-biasing the Process

When the data disagreed with me

I assumed the report-builder needed a denser, more "powerful" layout to feel credible to enterprise users. Usage data showed the opposite: the simpler test layout had faster task completion and fewer abandoned reports. I adapted the design to the simpler version, even though it looked less "feature-rich" at first glance.

04 / System Architecture

Rebuilding the sitemap and component logic

I rebuilt the sitemap around how data actually flows through the product, then defined tokens and components to be inheritable — so a future feature could reuse a chart pattern instead of reinventing it. This is the part of the work that doesn't show up in a screenshot but is the reason later features shipped faster.

05 / The Outcome

Results, not just screens

A unified ecosystem across SmartCloud and Data Suite, the product's first mobile app shipped, and a design system stable enough to be inherited by later teams — plus a Hackathon win along the way.

About & philosophy

A translator, before a designer.

I studied Translation and Interpretation before moving into design — it's why I default to viewing a problem from more than one seat. Translating between two languages and translating complex technical logic into a human interface aren't so different.

HUFLIT — Translation & Interpretation Google UX Design ARENA Multimedia YOUIX — UI/UX
"When I have free time, I often come up with ideas for 'if I'm unemployed in the future' and explore niche hobbies. I am a mother to a little son, a continuous runner against the waves of change, and a designer who trusts data over assumptions."
The journey so far

Each role taught me a different way to be careful.

Product Design

Oct 2022 — Nov 2024
FCI SmartCloud — FCI, HCMC

A cloud-services product (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS) where every feature had been built in isolation, by different teams, at different times.

The thinking

The product worked, but it didn't feel like one product. My first move wasn't a redesign — it was rebuilding the sitemap and user flow against what actually existed, so any decision after that was grounded in the real thing, not the documentation of it.

What I did
  • Rebuilt the sitemap and user flow from the live product, exposing where components had drifted apart.
  • Rebuilt the design system to be inheritable, and fixed components that were quietly broken in production.
  • Designed the product's first mobile app.
  • Won FPT Corporation's internal Hackathon.

Product Design

Oct 2022 — Feb 2024
Data Suite — FCI, HCMC

An all-in-one data platform meant to help enterprises make decisions with accuracy, not just speed.

The thinking

Data products are easy to make confusing — every chart feels important to someone. I treated the design system as the real deliverable: get the visual language for data right once, and every report after that becomes easier to trust at a glance.

What I did
  • Built the design system from the ground up.
  • Designed data visualisation for charts and reports, plus the report-building and data-modelling tools themselves.
  • Designed MAjust, software supporting tax data collection across subsidiaries.

UX/UI Design

Jul 2018 — Mar 2022
Pizza Hut Digital Ventures — YUM, HCMC

Speeding up Pizza Hut's growth across Asian markets through data-driven, people-first product decisions.

The thinking

Order flows that work in one market quietly break in another — payment habits, trust in delivery, even how people queue are different. I spent more time researching those differences than designing around them, so the "consistent" flow we shipped was consistent in outcome, not just in layout.

What I did
  • Supported the build of the new Master App for all markets.
  • Researched and proposed solutions for a consistent order flow across diverse Asian markets.

UI & Graphic Design

Apr 2016 — Jul 2018
Glite, HCMC

Outsourced design for F&B chains, with Pizza Hut as the largest and most demanding client.

The thinking

This was where I learned that "urgent" and "important" aren't the same thing, and that a designer who can tell the difference, case by case, earns the client's trust faster than one who just works fast.

What I did
  • Designed the core apps for the Pizza Hut chain: POS, KDS, Dine-In, and the Driver App.
  • Supported clients case by case, including under urgent timelines.
Toolkit

What I bring to a team.

Ways of working
Time Management Critical Thinking Prototyping User Empathy Product Design Problem Solving Information Architecture Growth Mindset
Tools
Figma Sketch Zeplin Miro Jira Monday Adobe Suite
Education & certificates

How I got here.

HUFLIT University

Bachelor in Translation and Interpretation

ARENA Multimedia Center

Certificate in Branding Design, Web Design, Film Editing & 3D Character Modeling

YOUIX — Design & Technology Education

Certificate in UI Global Style, UX Component, Advanced UI/UX

Coursera

UX Design Certificate — Google Course

Let's talk

Open to new roles and new problems to untangle.

If you're building something that needs someone careful with the details and curious about the data — I'd like to hear about it.