A variety of experiences influence user experience

As if a full-time job at Universal Music Group as a Visual Designer wouldn’t keep her occupied enough, Grace Kim (Media Studies, 2014) holds down a freelance gig as a User Experience Designer for prescription eyewear company John Ruvin & Co. — and is in school at University of California, San Diego, where she is set to receive a certificate in UX Design this May.

“I like to keep myself busy and love to learn new things,” said Kim.

Columbus College of Art & Design grads find success in many venues; Kim is finding success in several.

At Universal, she works on projects such as promotional and artist interview videos, billboard magazine ads, web development, socials, marketing presentations, and photo shoots for artists.

At John Ruvin & Co., Kim is creating a new website, anytimeglasses.com, directing the site’s design, and working with their engineering team to increase its user-friendliness.

This variety of experience is just the thing for Kim, who came to Columbus College of Art & Design from Vancouver, Canada as a Fine Arts student interested in ceramics and painting, a focus she ultimately shifted to design and film.

“I guess I wanted to tell stories through paintings, but wanted them to be even more narrative because even when I was a Fine Arts student, I kept creating mixed-media sculptures wanting them to move a certain way, act a certain way, and most importantly to tell a story. That’s when I took video and motion classes and quickly changed my profession,” Kim said.

She continued, “Some people ask me if I think I wasted my time doing ceramics, printmaking, and taking psychology classes but my background in fine arts and the electives I took at CCAD helped me a lot and made me more unique than the other candidates. Who would have believed I would work at a music entertainment company? Good thing that I took that history of music class at CCAD! Who knew I would study UX Design? Good thing that I took that psychology class at CCAD!”

Kim, who now lives and works in Santa Monica, California, said her professional life has been “quite the journey, and I am still looking forward to learning more and experiencing more areas in design.”

“Although my initial aspirations have changed drastically, I think being open to new experiences and always moving forward has helped greatly. Honestly, no one knows what the future holds so just buckle up and enjoy the ride,” she said.

Below, Kim shares some of her favorite independent works.

 

Bubbleman

 

 

Bubble Man from Grace Kim on Vimeo.

Bubbleman is a short film I filmed while I was still at CCAD. It’s about a girl who wants to get out of her ritual life and daydreams about bubbles that sends her worries away. Although it’s been almost three years, it is still my favorite piece because I have had so much fun creating it and I can see a bit of myself in the main character, which is comforting and nostalgic.

 

Anytime Glasses
anytimeglasses.com is a site that will be launching in mid-2017. It is my first UX job and I was responsible for the end-to-end design for this startup eyewear company. I directed the cross-platform designs (web, mobile web) as well as the visual designs (print, packaging, e-marketing, and promotional videos).

 

Maqoo

Maqoo is a clothing company based in Sweden. I made their first promotional video in 2014, and it was my first big gig just out of college. I learned so much about filming in Los Angeles and also hired another CCAD alum, Luke Sirimongkhon (Cinematic Arts, 2014), for the project. CCAD unite!

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