Why I design

Where it started

I grew up in Silicon Valley, surrounded by tech and wanting to be part of it. Before college, I taught myself graphic design and 3D art, and I put them to use wherever I saw a need: flyers for friends’ events, materials for school clubs, anything that wasn’t communicating as well as it could. When something could be better, I fixed it. That instinct soon spilled into the tech I used every day, like reworking my Android phone’s interface until it felt like mine.

Finding the bridge

After high school, I found the bridge: UI/UX design. I built my foundation in graphic design while also taking programming courses, and the two fit together better than I expected. Programming showed me how technology works under the hood, and design gave me a way to shape how it feels to the people using it. I wanted to bring both together to build tech that adds real value and actually helps people.

By the time I started at UC Davis for my B.A. in Design, I knew exactly where I was headed: UI/UX and product design. I sought out the campus product design clubs from day one, working on real projects to build my UX skills as fast as I could.

Where I am now

Today, my focus is on the UX side: understanding people before shaping pixels, and designing things that are clear first and memorable second. I’m comfortable taking ideas from research through to working code, and I use AI to get there faster, while making sure the decisions stay grounded in what users actually need. I’m continuing that growth as an M.S. student in Human-Computer Interaction at UCSC Silicon Valley.