Selected work(s)

SNIIP

Norric

Wave

EBSCO

ArtWalk

Adler

Norric

Duration

Sep 2025 ~ Dec 2025

Role

UI/UX Design intern

For

AI driven DDQ Saas platform

Collaborators

Joshua Park, Kyuri Kim, Shinhye Park, Laura Ahn, Jenn Choi, Robin

Under NDA

Overview

Norric: AI workflow in finance industry that automates manual grunt works and eliminates technical bottlenecks

My Role

UI/UX Intern

As a UI/UX intern at Norric, I designed landing pages for pretotyping phases of the company. I mainly worked on establishing brand visuals in slide decks and visual resources. Additionally, I revitalized company's due diligence questionnaire product driven by LLM AI that allows various levels of investors to streamline their investing strategies and decision making.

SNIIP

Duration

Spring 2022 ~ Summer 2023

Role

Product Designer

For

An accessible, diverse, and legal manga reader · Kick starter funding

Collaborators

Gaby Ruiz, Vicky Wang

01

Overview

SNIIP: A Hub of Manga Contents

With $2000 in funding, SNIIP revamped manga reading for Western audiences on a mobile platform, prioritizing accessibility, diverse content, and overcoming streaming and legal challenges.

My Role

Product Design Intern

With two designers, I co-led interface designs, new product features, user research, and design systems. I collaborated closely with developers from Oracle and UC San Diego asynchronously to ship features such as, customized libraries, algorithmic feed, and purchase method.

High Level Problem / Challenge

Manga Readers face the lack of a reliable and accessible platform

Why is this an important problem to address?

Many Manga websites are illegal, and they often crash
Intrusive ads disturb reading experiences with no accessibility on mobile
Only 10% of Manga is exported to western market due to lack of host platforms
There is less chance for both the artists and readers to provide and consume in the market

Final Solution

Mobile Manga Platform

Introducing SNIIP, a personalized, faster, and accessible manga platform

Onboarding

Picking Genres

Onboarding lets users choose favorite genres for personalized manga suggestions on the homepage.

Saving & Subscribing

Personal Libraries

Users can add/delete manga in libraries, creating multiple categories based on their preferences.

Exploring

Reading and Author Pages

Explore manga authors and their works on the author page. Leave comments at the end of each episode to share thoughts on the stories.

Searching

Browsing Manga

App showcases manga via genre rankings, personalized suggestions, and daily/weekly top picks.

02

Research

Define, Narrow, and Explore

High Level Problem

Manga Publishing in Japan in Western Countries

Huge gaps in the updates of episodes
Unfamiliarity with digital tools among publishers
Lack of artists due to requirements of long training and expertise
Illegal exports of manga into western countries through snapshots
Lack of editors to translate the manga

How Can We Question

How do we attract more readers and artists in the scene?

Let more opportunities for small hidden authors to create Manga
Open up interactions between authors and readers
Make the updates more frequent to keep users engaged
Co-create values for publishers, artists, and readers

Formal Research

Competitive Research

Five platforms struggled with connectivity and lacked personalized manga content leading to a static and disengaging user experience.

	M Manga	T MangaToon	S Saga	A Anime+	P Plus
Loyalty	✕	✕	○	○	✕
Community	✕	○	✕	○	✕
Customization	✕	✕	✕	○	✕
Competition	✕	○	✕	○	○
Translation	✕	✕	✕	✕	○

Primary Research

Semi-structured Interviews, Surveys

Utilizing Zoom interviews and Google surveys, our primary research focused on understanding the preferences and experiences of manga readers in college, both online and offline. Additionally manga publishers were interviewed.

Reading Frequency

Daily

68%

Weekly

20%

Monthly

8%

Rarely

4%

Pain Points

Ads

82%

Updates

74%

Legality

61%

Community

45%

Platform Usage

Mobile 59%

Desktop 25%

Tablet 16%

Preferred Genre

Action 44%

Romance 30%

Fantasy 26%

Insights

Main Insights from Interviews

Through extensive interviews, we gained valuable insights into the challenges and pain points experienced by current manga enthusiasts using mobile and desktop platforms.

Users want to be able to directly communicate with creators

"Users want to be able to freely communicate with each other when they enter the virtual space."

"I want to simply go to a site, select manga, and start reading it."

Users want a stable platform without legal issues and visibility issues

"I don't want to go to suspicious sites with a bunch of ads... I wish I could view manga just like I check weather on my phone."

"A lot of mangas are imported into western platforms through illegal downloading."

"My phone keeps getting alerts while I am reading manga... I wish I could watch manga without interruptions of weird caution messages."

"Users want a stable platform without legalization and stability issues."

Users would like to get feature updates to find who liked or followed their posts

"Manga has a very irregular update terms in between episodes... I wish it was easier to follow up."

"I do not want to miss out on manga updates since these authors update manga without notifying the market or the readers beforehand."

"The existing platforms do not feel personalized enough to give me updates on manga I like... they feel like platforms that simply put all available manga together."

"Watching manga is such a hassle if you don't own a hardcopy. It takes a lot of effort to find an intact chapter online."

Users want clear categorized layouts so they can access better

"There are not enough filters that could separate the groupings of manga. This makes the platforms less personalized."

"Existing manga/cartoon platforms feel very limited in terms of genre updated."

"Users want clear categories and genres that they can access better."

Defining Scope

Narrowing the Problem Space

Having identified user pain points, our team expanded the scope to delve into the root causes. This broader investigation revealed that the issues stemmed from the following underlying problems.

Problem 01

Untapped Content

Many lucrative manga contents remain untapped in the Western market

Problem 02

Limited Access

Limited platforms for accessible and stable manga reading

How Can We Question

How Can We make a mobile manga reading platform that...

Does not crash
Eliminates intrusive advertisements
Allows legal distribution of contents

03

Design Process

Ideating, testing, and iterating

Prototyping

User Flow

Beyond functionality, we devised a User Flow map with icons and diverse in our prototypes — crucial for a functional end product.

Users land on the home feed with personalized genre suggestions from onboarding

Search and explore paths branch off the home screen with genre filters

Save to library flow allows quick bookmarking from any manga detail page

Author pages connect from manga detail and surface other works by the creator

User Test: Contextual Inquiry

User Test #1

We Zoom-tested manga users, pinpointing micro-pain points: complex search and messy libraries. Adapted our prototype for a more user-friendly manga experience.

"Search was too hard to find — I didn't realize there was a search bar at the top."

"My library felt cluttered. I couldn't tell which list was which."

"I wanted to see the author's other works right away but had to navigate back."

"The genre tags on the home page helped me find new manga faster."

"I liked how the reading page felt clean — no interruptions while reading."

"Adding to library should be one tap from the reader view."

User Test: Contextual Inquiry

User Test #2

In the second round, we refined our prototype using the Wizard of Oz technique in Figma. Users verbally shared thoughts as they interacted, providing insights on the evolving design.

"The library categorization now makes sense — I can create my own shelves."

"Manga page feels more breathable. The chapter list is easy to navigate."

"I wish I could see my friend's activity and what they're reading."

"Author page helps me discover more from creators I like."

"The genre ranking on the search page helped me explore beyond my usual genres."

"Onboarding was fun — picking genres felt like setting up my own profile."

User Testing

Manga Page

Better Space Utilization
Resizing Components
Adding a summary overlay

User Testing

Library Page

Edited Add Button
Avoided pixel crowding
Less Color for highlights — shrunk main header, changed blue highlight to grey to better indicate hierarchy
Made the space more breathable
Replaced the labelling with an icon

Before

After

04

Final Designs

Onboarding

Gamified steps to sign up, pick genres, and create an account

Recommended Searching

Continue reading, see your series, discover recommendations, and explore rankings

Manga & Author Page

View ratings and likes, subscribe, discover authors, and share with your friends

Reading & Commenting

Read, comment and interact on episodes where you left off

Personalized Library

Create your collections, search and add manga

Takeaways

Taking a Step Back

Reflections + Takeaways

Team Communication

Communicating my designs to team designers who have no idea on what I am working was difficult. This had to be done through a clean demo presentation showing an end to end user experience.

What's next?

Developing these changes

Since my designs only exist as possible areas to be developed, I would like to see these designs being tested and brought into real products so that I can conduct usability testings and quantitative data from actual tractions.

WAVE

Duration

Fall 2021 ~ Spring 2022

Role

Product Designer

For

National YMCA

Collaborators

Spoorthi Cherivirala, Avani Guduri, Chelsea Tang

Overview

WAVE: boosting youth participation in the community through mentorship

A mobile platform that facilitates connections between youth and their peers, allowing them to launch or join projects they are interested in with partnerships with organizations, mentors, and professionals.

My Role

UX designer / researcher

First time designing UI interfaces, I learned while making progresses in collecting user insights through UX research methods such as contextual inquiry. Interacting prototypes on Figma also developed my understanding of how design systems work across platforms.

01

Overview

Main features and their purposes

High Level Problem / Challenge

Youth changemakers* struggle to find community programs of their interest

Why is this an important problem to address?

— Lack of connections with peers and program officials at Y

— Lack of knowledge and experience

— Community spirit and belonging

— Developing an altruistic and humanitarian mindset at an early age

— Youth wants more experience in preparation for next levels of education

The Intervention / Solution

Profile Matching App to connect with peers and launch projects

Youth can start building projects with areas of interest

Pick Areas of Interests for Projects

Organization Information

Youth can connect with other changemakers

Networking with Other Changemakers

Individual Profile Page

Share stories about impacts with the WAVE community

Home Feed with Trending Projects

Filtering the Search for Projects and Peers

02

Research

Define, Narrow, and Explore

Defining Scope

Narrowing the Problem Scope

— Lack of peers that share similar passions

— Program is not well organized

— Parents/guardians want to shelter their children from seeing issues within their community

— Students are not interested or involved in community programs

— Children don't feel like they can make a difference, the lack of empowerment leading to a lack of involvement

— Lack of awareness among youth about community programs

— Youth feel overwhelmed by the act of starting community engagement or program

How can we.....

Make students feel like it's their program, give them initiative and a sense of ownership?

Keep youth informed of the impact of their work?

Connect peers with similar interests?

Connect the interests of youth to tangible community programs/organizations?

Increase access to transportation/resources for youth to continue practicing in programs?

Summary

Research Synthesis Overview

Panel with National YMCA

Changemakers often stop YMCA programs because of financial issues

Secondary Research Articles

Cascading effect, no adult intervention, significance of positive feedbacks

Secondary Research Articles

Encourage youth changemaking by showing students the impact of their own volunteering works

How might we help students connect with peers with mutual interests...

In a more accessible way with adequate resources and guidance?

To form positive reinforcements in projects?

While minimizing adult interventions?

Intervention / Ideating

Brainstorming Possible Solutions

Podcast Website — Spread news of youth organizing and launching their own projects to other young initiators.

Digital Feedback — Update youth with information on what impacts their activities resulted in to facilitate a prolonged commitment.

Newsletter — Educate youth on socio-economic issues to grow awareness of needs for community programs.

One-day Community — Program / Event aims to promote and encourage youth participation in communities.

✦ Profile Matching App — Facilitate networking between young changemakers to build impacts on communities collectively.

Intervention / Ideating

Why Application?

— Phone is the most familiar device to youth

— LinkedIn and HandShake exist for older professionals, not for youth

— YMCA relies on word of mouth and social media solely

Age 10

71%

of children have a phone

Age 12

91%

of children have a phone

Age 14

42%

of children have a phone

Common sense media

03

Design Process

Ideating, testing, and iterating

Prototyping

Architecture

Before jumping into low fidelity sketching, we were sketching rough layouts on a whiteboard with labels and annotations for functions and pages.

Prototyping

User Flow

We have laid out first few paths of user flows between large pages that appear on the navigation bar. This helped us to visualize what was on the whiteboard a lot more clearly for future low fidelity wireframing.

Branding

Tone & Manner

The lines symbolize the passage of time and the inevitability of change, reflecting progress and transformation. Visually resembling waves, they represent the idea of “making waves”—a metaphor for creating impact, particularly by youth. Additionally, as lines connect two points, they also convey the notion of connection and unity between individuals, emphasizing relationships and shared journeys.

Poppins

SF UI Display

YMCA Changemakers

SF Pro

YMCA Changemakers

Font Sizes24 - poppins16 - sf ui display13 - sf ui display

Wireframing

Low Fidelity Wireframes

04

Final Designs

Onboarding Page

Introduce yourself and your interests

Chat Page

Chat with other changemakers to grow connections

Networking Page

Discover new changemakers and ask to connect

Organization Page

Learn about organizations connect or follow

Profile Page

Learn about changemakers' backgrounds, interests, and activities

Project Feed

Organize your projects and see recommended ones

Project Page

Learn about project details and request to join

Launching Projects

Launch your own projects and attract changemakers

Takeaways

Take Aways

Taking a Step Back

Reflections + Takeaways

Adopt a Listener Attitude

Insights cannot be gained without listening to the users. Be empathetic and listen attentively.

Designing involves research

From background research to interviewing, research is necessary to validate designs.

Taking a Step Back

What's next steps?

Launching, Testing, Marketing

With the prototype ready, we planned further user testing to find market fit and move toward full development. For marketing, we created an email template aimed at young changemakers. Sending it to local YMCAs would help us better understand their networking challenges and how they make an impact.

EBSCO

Duration

Jun 2024 ~ Aug 2024

Role

Product Designer

For

Project Management and UXR&D team

Collaborators

David Oliva, Jiaxi Y.
Wendee Fiorillo, Sarah Lambe,
Ryan Walter

Under NDA

OVERVIEW

EBSCO: Energizing the niche of researchers seeking convenient, precise research tools.

Personalizing opportunities for interfaces of EBSCO's academic journal searching tool for users with varying levels of research purposes.

MY ROLE

Product Design Intern

As a PM intern in UXD team, I was in charge of revitalizing user interfaces of EBSCO products with UX designers and researchers mainly while communicating with many senior product managers at EBSCO information services.

ARTWALK

Duration

Spring 2024

Role

HCI Researcher / Designer

For

Mixed reality landmark/art viewing experience while walking in real life

Collaborators

Minsung Kang, Julianna Bolivar, Adrian Schmidt

Overview

ArtWalk: Discovering hidden beauty in the streets

ArtWalk operates on Apple Vision Pro and discovers architecture, directions towards landmarks and public art. It combines smart glasses with asynchronous user comments through IoT networks to enable a mixed-reality art experience while walking in real life.

My Role

HCI Researcher / Designer

With two designers, I co-led interface designs, new product features, user research, and design systems. I collaborated closely with developers from Oracle and UC San Diego asynchronously to ship features.

Iteration 1

Movie Scenario

From these interviews, we were able to distinguish what improvements should be made to make a more easily accessible, customizable, interactive, and less time-consuming experience.

Iteration 2

Movie Scenario 2

We researched different spatial computing platforms, finding issues like slow and complex VR experiences, compatibility issues, and user understanding gaps.

Final Design

Discovering Landmarks

The final design of my VR product makes landmarks easy to see and access for everyone. It supports open access to information, so more people can learn about public spaces. It also lets users add their own comments and recordings to enrich the experience.

Recording Audio

The audio recording feature lets everyone easily record and listen to messages at landmarks. It supports open access, so anyone can hear the recordings. It also encourages community input, allowing users to contribute sounds and stories to public spaces.

Adding Comments

The final design lets everyone easily see and share comments on landmarks. It supports open information, so all users can learn from each other. It also encourages community input, allowing anyone to contribute to the collective knowledge of a place.

Prototyping the Projection

Aims to be equally perceptible and available to all users Believes in open access to information Encourages community contributions to the database

Accessibility

Taking a Step Back

Reflections + Takeaways

Startup working environment

Interning at a startup was a very intensive process especially when I had very little experience with UX design processes. It was hard controlling my work pace along with other passionate full time team members.

What's next steps?

Participating in an art fair to demonstrate ARtWalk to a broader audience and gather real-world feedback on the mixed-reality experience.

ADLER

Duration

Summer 2022

Role

Product Designer

For

3D virtual space for creative content sharing

Collaborators

Naryeong Kim, Seongjun Jo

Overview

Adler: 3D virtual art gallery

An online hub for artists and creators to showcase and promote their unique contents and artworks through immersive 3D virtual spaces.

My Role

Product Design Intern

With two designers, I co-led interface designs, new product features, user research, and design systems. I collaborated closely with developers from Oracle and UC San Diego asynchronously to ship features.

01. Overview

Main features and their purposes

End Product

3D SNS Gallery

The Beta version can be summarized as an application compatible with desktop and mobile settings where users can create virtual 3D galleries and promote contents of their choice.

02. Research

Define, Narrow, and Explore

Organizing Research

User Research

From these interviews, we were able to distinguish what improvements should be made to make a more easily accessible, customizable, interactive, and less time-consuming uploading process.

Non-Artists

Art appreciators and viewers who want to explore and experience virtual galleries without creating content.

Artists

Content creators and artists who want to promote and showcase their work in an accessible online space.

Market Analysis

Competitive Research

We researched different 3D platforms, finding issues like slow and complex VR experiences, compatibility issues, and user understanding gaps.

Insights

Main Insights from Interviews

Through interviews, we gleaned key insights into the challenges faced by artists and content creators using the space for promotions.

Users want to edit the space easily while and after uploading contents

Users want more functionalities with faster loading time

Users want to communicate with each other online as if they are in real life

Users want to avoid limitations of device types for the service

Defining Scope

Narrowing the Problem Space

After uncovering user pain points, we investigated and found that these issues stem from specific underlying problems.

Technical issues make it hard to improve loading speed while displaying high quality 3D modelling
Visualizing all the 3D and 2D contents takes a long time — complex meshes take longer to render
Modellings are exported as 3D meshes instead of codes
With other user interactions, 3D models take a lot of time to load
Lack of varieties in the types of uploaded contents in the gallery spaces
Only allows users to upload photos; no videos or music — constraints due to reducing loading speed
Existing platforms include too many features apart from 3D modelling
The categories of works are not defined clearly
Users lose motivation to keep using the service — retention rate is low
User interactions are minimal; the current service still includes a lot of bugs

Synthesizing 1)

Stakeholder Mapping

We categorized users: primary — artists and content creators; secondary — art appreciators; tertiary — collaborating marketers.

Primary

Artists and content creators interested in promoting their works online in an accessible way. Also gallerists or collectors restricted by money and time constraints.

Secondary

Art appreciators who would like to view works of their favorite artists online. Individuals in virtual reality who would like to view contents in an immersive environment.

Tertiary

Marketers doing research on artists to collaborate with.

Synthesizing 2)

Personas

For our main target user — a content creator in a broad scheme — we pinpointed key pain points: the need to showcase work virtually, and the need for social connections around their work.

Personas / Target Audience

Motivation

Passion for content creation, marketing, and sharing their art, with a strong interest in merging technology and creativity.

Pain Points

Struggle to reach wider audiences and connect with followers; looking for better ways to showcase work through virtual reality.

Expectations

A secure, realistic virtual gallery that's easy to use and personalized for self-expression.

How might we allow users to...

Feel comfortable to speak in a public 3D gallery? Express themselves with a new function in a 3D gallery? Check what genres and categories are available to see what is trending?

03. Design Process

Ideating, testing, and iterating

Wireframing

Low-Fidelity Prototype

04. Final Designs

Space Feed

The space feed lets users view their created spaces, including post descriptions, recommended spaces, and currently active spaces.

Profile & Space Title

Profile of the user, space title, and brief description of the page

Recommendations & Options

Other users recommended for friend requests; dropdown menu with options to hide, block, or unfollow

Navigation Bar

Nav bar at the top to allow searching for other spaces and the self profile

Playmode

The play mode allows users to experience an immersive 3D space by entering the space and controlling the viewpoint and the perspective.

3D Space & Controls

Three.js space where users can see inside a 3D virtual gallery; tags to switch the 3D setting to a 2D space

Live Chatting

Live chatting space indicating participants and messages posted while observing the space

Creator Profile

Profile of the creator, influencer tag, and option to expand the space into full-screen

Profile

The profile shows all spaces created by a user, allows reordering them, and includes a follow/unfollow button on others' profiles.

Profile & 3D Switch

The user's profile with a button to switch to a 3D space and option to make a friend request

Filter Tabs

Tab bar to choose among: My Space (saved), Like Space (liked by user)

Space Thumbnails

Thumbnails with space title, creation date, like/dislike option, and total likes and mentions

2D Gallery

The 2D gallery lets users view photos in a flat layout, with an option to switch to a grid design for desktop or phone viewing.

Side Nav Bar

Side navigation for browsing and switching layouts

Profile of the User

Shows the user's profile alongside the 2D gallery

Gallery Title

Title of the 2D gallery as well as the creator profile

Mobile Settings

The team developed a control mechanism for mobile access to the 3D gallery on compact screens.

Live Chat Swipe

Live chatting background tab opens and closes on swipe; indicates number of participants and their profile pictures

Profile Controls

Profile down bar to achieve on/off control of BGM; dropdown menus for additional settings

Taking a Step Back

Reflections + Takeaways

Startup working environment

Interning at a startup was a very intensive process especially when I had very little experience with UX design processes. It was hard controlling my work pace along with other passionate full time team members.

What's next steps?

Participating in an art fair to showcase Adler to a broader audience and gather real-world feedback from artists and collectors.

VIBE /CODING!

Interactive cover

choose your character pick a card to start drawing

Brush Library

Sketching

âœï¸ Pencil

â—¾ Charcoal

Inking

ðŸ–Š Fineliner

ðŸ– Marker

Painting

ðŸ’§ Watercolor

ðŸŽ¨ Oil Paint

Airbrush

â—Ž Soft Airbrush

â— Hard Airbrush

Layers

AI Decorate

Describe a decoration and it'll be drawn onto your character — undo anytime, then keep going with the brush.

Color

H S B