About
Jinsoo An
As a Product Design Lead, Jinsoo designs digital products by piecing together consumers' changing behaviors, emerging cultures and converging technologies.
His Strengths
Over 14 years of designing platforms of all shapes & sizes
Systematic thinker rooted in human-centered design
Hands-on, iterative & result-driven
Industry expert in design process & innovation practice
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 human interaction and emotion that offer purpose, meaning and sustainability. By continuously building this in-depth 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 dabble with cameras and audio gears.
Favorite Reads
Design Methods
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 practitioners such as Ann Pendleton-Jullian, David Rose, Anthony Dunne, and Steve Swink.
By strategically combining design perspectives and tool kits, teams gain significant leverage through clarity, insights and positioning. Best of all, this approach can be applied to virtually any consumer-oriented use cases regardless of demographics, medium, industry or application.
Parody
Many sites have poked fun of me. Here's my fav one. 😁
Modern Farmer, Horrible Technology Attempts to Ruin the Pleasure of Food