Design Work

Work-life balance matters 90% of the time. But what you do with that other 10% — whether you grind or coast — will determine your career trajectory.

Browse your wardrobe, build outfits (manually or with AI), save looks, and plan packing lists for trips. I finally built my version of Cher’s closet (with zero technical knowledge).

The last time I felt this excited to learn and experiment, I built a whole new career. Let’s see where AI takes me this time.

AI art has always felt empty, devoid of style and substance. But last month, ChatGPT raised the quality bar. So what now?

Cartoons, software, and the multitude of influences that brought design into my life.

Learning about new tools, meeting colleagues IRL, and spamming downtown San Francisco with thousands of lime green tote bags at the biggest, buzziest design conference in tech.

When I was starting out, tech jobs were so mysterious. Unless you hit up a career fair in college and worked an internship in Big Tech (both of which I missed because my career journey had its fair share of twists and turns), I had zero idea how people did it.

Lately my work has been less about the work work and more about people.

About 4 years ago, I started my first job as a product designer at thredUP. Here are some things I’ve learned during my time there.

Pushing the limits of a familiar design tool and playing with animation.

I owe my career to hackathons. For a new designer, they’re the perfect opportunity to learn, work with a team of people from different backgrounds, and use your design prowess to lead and present.

As art director of Studio Sophy, I want to ensure I’m always putting out content I’m proud of. I needed a set of well-documented guidelines.

They enrich my perspectives, expose me to diversity and new opinions, and allow me to look at life and the human experience in new fascinating ways.

Designing for social justice and learning data visualization.

At an annual Code for America-sponsored event that brings together volunteers to partner with local government and community groups, I completed a design audit of California’s benefits applications.