About
Jinsoo An
Product Design Lead
Jinsoo designs digital products by piecing together consumers' changing behaviors, emerging cultures and converging technologies.
Systematic thinker rooted in human-centered design
With product and UX design at his core, he has led a team of big and small in revamping, diversifying and scaling products and services in over 20 industries. By blending iterative design with systems thinking, he has successfully delivered intelligent design solutions and guided teams through mission critical projects.
Deep understanding of platform
For over 14 years, he has designed software and services for a wide range of devices—including mobile and IoT devices, wearables, smart TVs, games consoles, connected vehicles, and personal wellness products. With this knowledge, he orchestrates how all of individual products can work together as a system.
Hands-on & result-driven
He is actively driven to exceed industry standards—whether it involves articulating a design rational through guerrilla research or creating a "pixel-perfect" design system on Figma. Through this passion and relentless craftsmanship, his design has helped NFL increase mobile engagement as much as 500% for its 100M+ users and improve its app rating from 2 to 5 stars.
Expert in design process & innovation practice
He has supported a myriad of teams to overcome tough road blocks by employing a variety of design frameworks and processes. He often utilizes co-creation workshops and exercises to help untangle complexity and improve cross collaborations.
Areas of Focus
Product
Product Design
UX & Interaction Design
Concept Development
Design Process & Leadership
Product Management
Insight & Analysis
User Testing & Usability
Ethnographic Research
Risk Assessment
Planning & Strategy
Growth Strategy
Platform Integration
Foresight
Profiled On
Experience at a Glance
Years of Experience
Completed Projects
Fortune 500 Companies
Talks Given Worldwide
Industries
Honors & Awards
Notable Clients
Selected Honors & Awards
1st Place Winner & Team Lead
Hololens Hackathon, Microsoft, 2016
1st Place Winner & Team Lead
Extreme Wearables Designathon, Intel & ArtCenter College of Design, 2014
Best Brand Experience, Volkswagen VW.com
UX Awards, 2014
Mobile of the Day, Volkswagen SmileDrive App
FWA, 2013
Nominee, Pop Secret Poptopia & Pop Dongle
The Webby Awards, 2014
Professional Involvements
- Product Owner, Supply Chain Management
Food Lab Accelerator at Google (FLAG), 2019-2020 - Local Group Organizer of Los Angeles
Interaction Design Association (IxDA), 2011-2012 - Member, System Dynamic Society
- Member, EPIC
Bio
Prior to immigrating to California in 1995, Jinsoo was raised on a small family-owned farm in South Korea, just a few miles away from the DMZ.
He grew up tending fields and tinkering with home-brew games and gadget teardowns. There, he dreamed that one day he will use design and science to make the world a happier place.
Decades later, his passion gradually expanded into crafting experiences and services across 20 industries such as wellness, food, gaming, sports, consumer electronics, automotive and finance—reaching hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
After having received a myriad of global support and recognitions for Project Nourished, he continues to develop innovative solutions for the global crisis.
Values
Interest & Passion
He is interested in finding effective means of facilitating social interaction and emotion that offer purpose, meaning and sustainability. By continuously building this knowledge, he hopes to enhance human relations with a net-positive impact on society.
During his spare time, he loves inspiring people of all ages by speaking to them and educating them about the human condition of today and tomorrow. Some of reoccuring themes include food design, commensality, play, fandom, social isolation, aging, community reintegration and behavioral economics.
Periodically, he engages with local and global communities to strengthen public–private partnership to improve the role of technology in people’s lives.
He enjoys playing indie games and watching nostalgic films and TV commercials on YouTube. Sometimes he likes to dabbles with novel, antiquated cameras and audio gears.
Favorite Reads
Design Process
One of the most critical aspects of design is about reframing overlooked details abouts users, tools and environments.
To ensure that the most relevant insights are translated into success of team and product, Jinsoo leverages design frameworks and methods practiced by IDEO, Google and McKinsey as well as foundations developed by Ann Pendleton-Jullian, David Rose, Anthony Dunne, Steve Swink, Garry Crawford and Anthony Ulwick.
By strategically combining design perspectives and tool kits, teams gain significant leverage through clarity, insights and positioning they provide. Best of all, this approach can be applied to virtually any consumer-oriented use cases regardless of demographics, medium, industry or application.
Below are some of the approaches, methods and tools frequently incorporated in past projects on top of product and UX design foundation. The list spans from broad to narrow.
- Systems Thinking
- Design Thinking
- Lean Thinking
- Human-Centered Design
- Service Design
- Speculative / Critical Design
- Game Design
- Transgenerational Design
- Spatial Design
- Evidence-Based Design
- Agile / Scrum
- Cogntive Behaviorial Therapy
- Conditional Design
- Risk Management Plan
- PEST Analysis
- Value Opportunity Analysis
- Growth–Share Matrix
- Ishikawa Diagram