Two Recent Grads Poised to Make their Mark on User Interface Design

With the growing popularity of mobile devices and a stunning variety of entertainment options available on computers, user interface design has rapidly become more important. User interaction design focuses on the user’s experience and interaction for a website or platform.

Two recent Academy of Art University MFA Web Design & New Media grads are making an impact on this new and exciting field of design. David Shen was recently hired at Reputation, Inc (formerly Reputation Defender), and Jiyoung Son now works at Tapulous, a division of the Disney Interactive Media Group.

David Shen

David Shen
A pioneer in online reputation management solutions, Reputation offers users the ability to protect their personal information, monitor their image and more online. As a User Interface Designer, David works to make processes easy for users to complete.

“Good user interface design is an art, combining emotion and logic,” said David. “I’m really interested in eliminating complex tasks into simple flows.”

David credits Academy of Art University with assisting him in achieving his goals in school and beyond. “I truly appreciate all the instructors I met at Academy of Art University. Not only the Web Design & New Media instructors but also all the English tutors at the school,” he said.

Thesis Work by Jiyoung Son

Jiyoung Son
In the emerging market of mobile devices, Tapulous has made a name for itself with exciting and engaging games for the iPhone, among them the popular Tap Tap Revenge.

Jiyoung works on games from pre-production through to productions, creating prototypes, designing game interfaces and more. “Today’s new technology brings a large screen to a small device,” said Jiyoung. “In a very limited space, we have to find the best solution for better accessibility and usability.”

Thesis Work by Jiyoung Son

After working as a graphic designer for several years, Jiyoung decided to pursue a degree in Web Design & New Media because the field was more dynamic and had become very interesting to her.

At Academy of Art University, Jiyoung found instructors whose hands-on experience guided her in achieving her goals. She would like to one day share her experiences and knowledge with students in the classroom as well.

In the meantime, she offers this advice to current students who are following their dreams in art and design, “Just do what you like, and do your best.”