How a Frontend Pioneer Built Ant Design and Shaped China’s UI Landscape

Yu Bo, now a researcher at Ant Financial leading the Experience Technology department, has guided the creation of widely used open‑source projects such as Ant Design, AntV, and Eggjs, making his team a coveted destination for Chinese frontend developers.

Career Journey

In 2006, while pursuing a combined master‑PhD program at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yu Bo faced a crossroads between academia and industry. Inspired by the rapid rise of QQ and Taobao, he left academia to join the software institute of the Academy, later moving to Hangzhou in 2008 to work for Taobao UED.

At Taobao, he co‑developed Kissy, the standard frontend stack for Taobao’s front‑end, and open‑sourced it on GitHub, where it became one of Alibaba’s most starred projects. He also launched Sea.js, a JavaScript module loader that aligned with the evolution of frontend engineering.

Leadership at Ant Financial

In 2012, Yu Bo joined Alipay’s frontend department, eventually staying on the backend‑focused team when the company shifted to mobile development. He later led the transformation of the frontend group into the Experience Technology department, emphasizing the importance of user experience in B‑to‑B products.

"If most domestic companies dissolve their UX departments, product experience would not be severely impacted. In China, UX often functions as graphic design, which I am reluctant to admit. Frontend remains a visual implementation role, and while it adds value, it is not the core value of the company."

Recognizing the untapped potential of backend‑oriented products, Yu Bo and his team began to explore the “blue ocean” of B‑to‑B frontend work, establishing systematic standards to improve development efficiency and product experience.

Experience‑Centric Philosophy

Yu Bo recruited designers to work alongside engineers, believing that good design goes beyond aesthetics to solve business problems. He cites Steve Jobs: “Design is not just about looks; it’s about usability.”

In the Experience Technology department, we evaluate growth on three dimensions: ability, passion, and thinking mode. The key is the "WHY‑HOW‑WHAT‑DO" framework; without clear WHY, execution (DO) cannot yield excellent results.

The team culture is described as “simple, free, and loving,” encouraging members to express their individuality and contribute to product innovation.

Management Approach

Yu Bo favors an “open‑source” style of management: asynchronous communication via internal issue trackers, minimal formal processes, and rapid 1‑3‑month experiments to validate ideas before scaling.

Four Core Focus Areas

Enterprise‑grade middle‑platform design systems, including Ant Design.

Frontend foundational technologies such as data visualization and graphics.

Engineering product direction, covering projects like Basement, Cloud Phoenix, and Jiuse Lu.

Innovative businesses, exemplified by Yuque.

Yu Bo believes that strong technology stems from solid business needs, and open‑source contributions keep the team vibrant and attract top talent.

He concludes that steady, practical work, rather than fleeting hype, is the path to genuine progress in the frontend field.