Hi, I'm Annette,
a Curious Designer

I started in AI Design, then shifted to Graphic Design halfway through.

My first two years were spent at Kookmin University in Seoul studying AI Design. My coursework there was highly analytical and technical — diving deep into UX theoretical study, design data research, coding, system development, and integrating AI into design workflows. It taught me how to structure complex systems, but I realized I wanted more direct control over how those systems actually looked and felt.

That led me to transfer to CalArts for Graphic Design. The curriculum here is focused heavily on hands-on projects, image-making, typography, and mastering visual hierarchy.

I made the move because I wanted both. Kookmin taught me the mechanics of user experience and system development, while CalArts gave me the craft to execute those ideas visually. I don't treat them as two separate skills — merging data-driven UX with rigorous visual craft is what defines my approach today.

Since 2024, I've been a Gen Z voice in Google's product research.

I've been a Global Youth Advisor for Google since January 2024, through Canvas 8. It's a mostly virtual role representing Gen Z perspectives: I give qualitative feedback on unreleased, AI-powered Google products, which helps the teams catch usability issues before launch.

Some of what I've taken part in:

• Agora Hills AI Shopping UX workshop, in person at Google's SF office 2025
• Google I/O Learning Squad 2026
• Payments & AI Panel 2026
• Aura Features Panel 2025–26

Being on the participant side of research keeps reminding me to test early and listen closely in my own projects.

It's my fastest collaborator, and I keep it on a short leash.

I design with AI in the loop, not at the wheel. It makes it cheap to build something rough, run it, and refine from what actually breaks, so I can try far more ideas before committing to one. Each tool has its own job:

• 
  ChatGPTBrainstorming early ideas, and quick help when my code breaks.
• 
  MidjourneyMoodboards and concept imagery while I'm finding a visual direction.
• 
  HiggsfieldGenerating images when an idea needs a visual to react to.
• 
  ClaudeMy coding partner for turning ideas into working prototypes.
• 
  GeminiBuilt into my Google Workspace, and my second opinion on the others.

The principle I keep landing on: AI proposes, people decide. It clears the busywork so I can spend my attention on the decisions that actually need a designer.

Go ahead, poke around.

Everything here lives on my desk. Drag things around, or pick one up to see why it's there.

Three things, and a lot of media to feed them.

I'm largely curious about three things:

1. 01
   AI & new technologyWhat's launching next, and what it changes about how we work.
2. 02
   PeopleWhy we act the way we do, and how our differences shape how we treat each other.
3. 03
   The world people live inCultures, communities, and current events: the societies people build together.

I feed all three by consuming vast amounts of media. I consider myself a media hoarder, and a fan of a lot of things:

• Film
• Baseball
• Rock
• Subculture
• K-pop
• the list goes on

My favorite directors include Park Chan-wook, Wong Kar-wai, and Luca Guadagnino. For the past two years, though, I've mostly been watching documentaries on Netflix. One of my favorites is Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, about The Jerry Springer Show.

What pulls me in every time is human drama and psychology. I'm always fascinated by how people interact with each other based on their differences, and how they create a new world or society between them.

It's the same habit I bring to design: I study people first, then work out what to make for them.

Four places, in order.

Born in New Jersey, raised in Seoul, then Frankfurt, now Los Angeles. Moving that often makes you a professional noticer — you spend your first months in a new country reading signage, menus, and the way people queue, just to work out the rules. I think that's where my curiosity about people and cultures started.

On a product team, still building the thing I designed.

I'm graduating from CalArts and heading for product design — ideally somewhere the work doesn't stop at handoff, where prototyping in code counts as designing rather than overstepping. I care most about the small interactions people repeat every day, and I'd rather ship something rough and fix it than present something perfect and theoretical.

Further out, I want to keep working where systems and craft meet, in products where how it feels matters as much as whether it works. Five years from now I'd like to be the designer a team trusts with the whole problem — the research, the form, and the build.

If that sounds like your team, say hello.