Kai Chang
UX Engineer, Data Visualization
San Francisco, California, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolKai Chang is a UX engineer and data visualization specialist with 15 years of experience building web-based interfaces for exploring complex datasets, currently driving visualization efforts at Google in San Francisco. They combine a strong front-end skillset in D3 and canvas with practical UX sensibilities developed at Stamen and in industry-focused roles, shipping interactive charts, high-density streaming visualizations, and internal tooling. Kai has a history of contributing to notable open-source projects—authoring parallel-coordinates visualizations and enhancements to the Leap Motion JS client—and has improved core D3 plugins used by the community. As an organizer of the Bay Area D3 user group, they bridge design, engineering, and community education through talks and tutorials. Their interdisciplinary academic background in astrophysics and cognitive science informs a methodical yet human-centered approach to data exploration. Colleagues know them for turning dense data into usable interfaces that reveal patterns without overwhelming users.
15 years of coding experience
5 years of employment as a software developer
BA, Astrophysics, Cognitive Science, Dance, BA, Astrophysics, Cognitive Science, Dance at University of Virginia
Stackoverflow
186reputation
16kreached
1answer
0questions
Github Skills (17)
data-visualizations10
javascript10
canvas2d10
canvas10
data-visualisation10
ui-design10
uid10
gesture-recognition10
front-end-development10
canvasjs10
html10
data-visualization10
d3js10
user-interface9
graph-algorithms9
Programming languages (6)
Github contributions (5)
syntagmatic/parallel-coordinates
Jun 2012 - Oct 2018
A d3-based parallel coordinates plot in canvas. This library is no longer actively developed.
Role in this project:
Front-end Developer
Front-end DeveloperContributions:181 commits, 7 PRs, 24 pushes in 6 years 5 months
Contributions summary:Kai primarily focused on developing the front-end aspects of the parallel coordinates visualization library. They implemented UI elements, including the basic chart structure, axes, and interactive features like reordering, brushing, and color customization. The user also incorporated styling changes through CSS. They integrated examples that show how to load and visualize data.
svgparallelcanvasplotparallel-coordinates-plot
d3/d3-plugins
Apr 2012 - Sep 2016
[DEPRECATED] A repository for sharing D3.js V3 plugins.
Role in this project:Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:30 commits, 1 push, 2 comments in 4 years 5 months
Contributions summary:Kai primarily focused on developing a data.graph module within the D3.js ecosystem. They implemented core functionalities such as node and link management, matrix conversion, and filtering capabilities. Furthermore, the user refactored and improved the module by renaming functions, exposing utility functions, and updating the code structure. This involved both modifying JavaScript code and creating HTML files for example usage.
d3-jssharingd3js
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