Hi, I'm Ning Zhang, a creator who shoots, edits, designs, and builds.
I make photos and videos, design graphics, websites, and digital products, and use AI-assisted coding to build my own tools. I like starting with an idea and working out how to make it real.
I am currently looking for content creation and digital media roles in Canada, especially roles focused on photo and video content for social media.
This is how I found my way into creative work.
My creative journey
2015–2024 · Learning to understand and communicate
Before moving into design and media, I spent nine years as a patent agent and legal advisor in Beijing. I started at patent agencies and later worked for internet and software companies.
I worked with product managers, UX designers, engineers, and researchers. I had to understand unfamiliar technologies quickly and explain them in plain language. Details mattered. I also handled patents related to interfaces and interaction design, which gave me an early look at how digital products are made.
In 2023, I led work on the search experience, interface, and information structure for an internal patent database at a video game company. It was my first hands-on UX and interface design project.
2024–2025 · Trying different ways to create
In my free time, I was already taking photos, making digital images, and experimenting with AI art. Some of this work appeared in an exhibition and a photography magazine.
After moving to Canada, I studied Interactive Media Design at Algonquin College. My courses covered photography, video production, web development, UX design, and visual communication. Trying all of them made me realize that I did not want to choose only one kind of creative work.
Outside class, I worked with local groups, community events, and video creators in Ottawa. From 2024 to 2025, I photographed events such as "Let's Bring Ottawa Onchain!" and the Ottawa Chinatown New Year Parade. I also made video content with a YouTuber friend based in Ottawa and created the Anti-Telecom Fraud Awareness Video for the Canadian Federation of Chinese Students. For the student band Insomiac Sparrows, I designed a logo and website, took promotional photos, and Insomiac Sparrows.
The work changed from project to project. Sometimes I was behind a camera. Other times I was editing footage or laying out a website. I liked that variety. Those works helped me meet people in different communities and become more comfortable working with others in Canada.
2025–2026 · Making clear learning content
At Algonquin College, I joined the R3 Project and used my design, multimedia, and communication skills in a professional setting.
I worked full time as an E-learning Multimedia Developer Co-op from September to December 2025. From January to April 2026, I continued part time as an E-learning Assistant. I was part of the college's Change Management team, which was preparing staff for a new Student Information System. My job was to turn complex administrative tasks into training content that people could follow.
I built interactive Adobe Captivate simulations for 23 SIS functions and created five Quick Guides. I also reviewed content, made QA updates, and suggested interface changes for a related Game Centre webpage. Later, I trained two new co-op students to make Captivate simulations and Quick Guides.
This was careful production work. The content had to stay accurate and consistent, even when details changed. I became more comfortable handling feedback and keeping track of many small updates. It was also my first full-time professional role in Canada.
2025–Present · Building with AI
While studying, I started using AI-assisted coding tools to turn my ideas into working products. For me, vibe coding means describing what I want to make, trying the working version, and adjusting it until it does what I need.
SubLime Captions came from a problem I saw while helping a YouTuber friend with videos. Speech recognition tools could make subtitle files, but checking and translating them often took a full day for one video.
I designed and built an AI-assisted platform for editing and translating subtitles. It gives creators a faster way to work with subtitle files while leaving the final decisions to them. The project began as a small prototype and grew into a full web application through testing and revision.
One question kept coming up as I worked on it: what should the AI handle, and what should stay under the user's control? I replaced several forms and settings with one natural language instruction box. I also added side-by-side comparison, selective processing, manual editing, and version recovery so people could check the AI's work and correct it.
The project started with video production, then pulled me into product design, web design, and coding. Building it made me comfortable calling myself a creator, not only a designer.
Today
I have finished my studies in Interactive Media Design. Creator is the word that best fits the work I want to do now.
Depending on the project, I might shoot and edit a video, design a graphic or website, or build a small digital tool. I still rely on habits from my earlier career: research the subject, understand how it works, and explain it clearly.
I am looking for content creation and digital media roles in Canada, including roles that involve making content for social media. I am especially interested in hands-on work where I can photograph, film, edit, and design the finished piece. I also want to keep making personal work and learning new tools.
2024: My AI-Generated Artwork "Embrace," featured in the August issue of Portrait Photography Magazine.
2023: My AI-generated imagery piece "Lover" was exhibited in "Cabinet of Curiosities: Artistic Explorations in the Era of Web3, Metaverse, and AIGC" at the Forward Art Gallery in Changsha.
2024: I photographed event "Let's Bring Ottawa Onchain!"
2025: I photographed Ottawa Chinatown New Year Parade
2024: Filming an interview video for my YouTuber friend.
