A little bit of this, and a dash of that.
I'm a senior product designer based in Palm Springs, California. I've worked in enterprise software, healthcare, the video game industry, and customer service (serving coffee is a rite of passage, and it pays off). That winding road is useful when the problems are complicated and people are involved.
The short version.
I started in the U.S. Army as a Korean linguist, then worked as a flight attendant and barista through undergrad. Those jobs were more about people than design. Video games got me through the design doors at LucasArts, where I moved from QA into junior systems and UI design. After a layoff sent me back to school for Video Game Art & Design, I freelanced across mobile game UIs, 3D architectural renderings, and illustrations for companies like Tapulous, Instagram, and The Weather Channel. My first full-time design role was at Walmart.com, building the first native iOS and Android apps. That led through AR hardware, CRM, enterprise platforms, and healthcare before landing at Oracle. Alongside all of it, I taught UX and interaction design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for over eight years. I stay close to interesting challenges.
Elective Complexity
Good design doesn't hide complexity. It surfaces it cleanly and then gets out of the way. I believe in giving users options they can actually see, understand, and choose from without ever being overwhelmed. The goal is a foundation that's easy to start with and built to support however deep someone wants to go. Let them explore their own capabilities, forge their own path, and decide how far down the rabbit hole they want to go. I just make sure the ladder is visible, stable, and on their terms.
Options to Clarity
I show up with three well-reasoned options, not one foregone conclusion. I come with research (sometimes doing it myself), understand the business case, work with stakeholders, account for tech and design debt, and land on a strategy that works in practice. Decisions stick better when the team makes them together.
Currently Into…
Not just a designer.
These are different ways of designing for people. Some sit outside design entirely, but each one shapes how I think, empathize, and show up to problems. The instincts I use in my day job come from these side quests.
Outpost111
A print-on-demand shop built on bad dad jokes, kitschy illustrations, and the firm belief that a good t-shirt can make a stranger's day. Running Outpost111 has been an education in designing an entire business from the ground up - brand, storefront, fulfillment, and a social media strategy I'm still learning. Also: the most humbling lesson in e-commerce margins.
Steel Gym
Picked this up during a career transition and never left. Tight-knit local gym, flat team culture, great people. Inspiring from a business and community design perspective. Still pick up shifts. There's a larger idea brewing here. More on that later.
Teaching
Eight years teaching UX and interaction design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Explaining something to someone who's never seen it forces you to find the holes in what you think you know. Also, my presentations got a lot better once I started using well-placed Spongebob GIFs instead of bullet points.
Game Design Roots
Got my start in the games industry before "UX" was a job title, working through QA testing, UI design, and mobile work before smartphones made that a real career. What stuck was thinking in systems: levels, rules, feedback loops, player progression. That's good training for design systems work.
Southwest Airlines
A few years serving people at 35,000 feet taught me more about empathy, real time problem solving, and reading a room than any design class. Working in service makes you a better designer and a better human.
U.S. Army
Serving in the U.S. Army taught me that the best teams are built on trust, shared understanding, and people who lead by example. That stuck with me long after I left.
Currently making.
When I'm not doing the day job, I'm usually building something else entirely.
Kitzi
A group activity app that blends quantum entanglement, a bunch of birds, a dash of magic eight ball energy, geocaching, and a little Wordle for good measure. People usually scratch their heads, then say "Oooohhhh! I get it."
• In Progress
Reya
A practical astrology app with enough humor and good design to keep itself honest, intuitive, grounded and entertaining. A friendly project that lives on your phone and on social media.
• In Progress
Paper Wars
A mobile strategy game inspired by old-school Command and Conquer, with hand-drawn animations and a similar gameplay loop. The project has been brewing since my undergrad years, and I'm finally putting energy into bringing it back to life.
• Brewing
Want to see the work?
Five case studies across design systems, enterprise software, healthcare, and conversational AI. The problems were hard, and that made it fun!