About me 🙋🏻♀️
Si Hyun an
[see • h-y-uh-n • ah-n]
Ever since I can remember, I've been drawn to creativity. From doodling to scrapbooking, I've always loved making things that are beautiful to look at. Despite being told that pursuing art professionally wasn't practical, I found my way back to what I love: design.
What excites me most about product design isn't just making things look good, but solving real problems for people. I thrive on understanding what users need and creating designs that are not only functional but also a pleasure to use.
In my work, I believe in keeping things simple and practical. I'm all about questioning assumptions, learning from mistakes, and making sure that every design decision serves a purpose. Collaboration is key too—I love bouncing ideas off others and seeing where it takes us.
Outside of design, you'll find me solving interesting puzzles, creating accessories with pressed flowers, trying out new recipes, and enjoying quiet moments with my friends and 1-year-old corgi puppy.
My Design Philosophies ✨
Never Stop Asking
Assumptions are not inherently bad. However, they alone should not influence my design decisions. In order to seek clarity, I am always talking to users, stakeholders, and team members to answers my "why"s.
Nothing is Perfect
Technology, culture and people are always changing, which means design must always change. Designing solutions should be in a constant cycle of iteration, validating decisions at different stages of the design process.
Invisible Yet Functional
Good designs are invisible (like a ninja!). I avoid complicated and disruptive designs so that my designs can silently perform its intended function.
Balance Business and Users
Product design is never only for business or for users. I look at both needs in order to balance designs that will positively impact both sides.
Work Experience 👩🏻💻
JAN 2024 · JUN 2024 (contract)
UX/Product Designer
International
In my role as a UX/Product Designer at International, I was responsible for designing solutions that help truck and fleet dealers proactively manage repairs and maintenance for their customers.
FEB 2020 · FEB 2023
Product Designer
Reconstruct
In my role as a Product Designer at Reconstruct, I was responsible for leading the mobile app's design projects and upkeeping design system.
Education 🤓
AUG 2019 · JAN 2020
UI/UX Design
Designation / Flatiron School
During the bootcamp, I immersed myself in a 24-week design program, focused on collaborative UX projects for both hypothetical and real-life clients.
AUG 2013 · MAY 2018
Bachelor of Middle Grades Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Throughout my years at UIUC, I developed and taught middle grades math and science lessons by observing multiple local middle schools.
Testimonials ⭐️
"I've had the pleasure of working with Christina for the entire duration of her time at Reconstruct's design team. She fostered strong communication between the design and engineering teams and always delivered quality designs. She took the initiative to garner a proper understanding of customer needs and engineering constraints while factoring that into her design handoffs and conversations with other teams. Additionally, she took responsibility and owned multiple UX design flows that often required many iterations and maintained strong communication throughout all the design phases of many different products simultaneously. She also took the initiative to build out a more formalized design system in conjunction with the engineering team to streamline the design and implementation process to drive clarity from the design to the final product. I'm confident that she will continue delivering high-quality work and fostering a positive cross-team design culture wherever she goes next."
"I have known Christina since February of 2020 when she joined our team at Reconstruct as a product designer. Over these past 3 years, I have worked directly with Christina as a product manager in many projects and features. Christina is one of the best designers I ever worked with. She is very talented, passionate, and committed. She is a great team player and a pleasure to work with. Christina is a very creative person who always pays attention to details. She is skilled in design research and can get to the best workflow possible in a short time. She is definitely a great addition to any team."
"I had the pleasure working with Christina on a digital application development project for the past 6 months that required user interface and user experience design work she was responsible for. The project required creative design work tailored to feedback from customers and internal stakeholders working in an agile methodology with industry standard applications for tracking work and building prototypes for developer review/instruction. Christina proved to be a very creative person with an eagerness to learn from others and understand all the different perspectives of the people on the project which helped her better design and deliver successful prototypes. I was super impressed with her ability to understand how third-party application systems worked and to come up with prototypes that supported that design methodology. Christina was tasked with working on multiple teams on this project and did a great job of managing her workload and communicating to the teams her priorities and what designs would bring the most value to the project. Christina did a great job on this project, was easy to work with, conveyed her ideas in an easy-to-understand manner and delivered what was needed for the project to be successful during a crucial piloting period. I recommend Christina as a great resource for UI/UX design work."
"I have known Christina for seven months, during which time she worked as a UX Production Designer for our upcoming software launch. Though I only had the opportunity to work with Christina for a brief period, I have been consistently impressed with her attitude, character, and productivity. Christina is both very bright and driven. I am confident that she will devote herself to a position with your organization with a high degree of diligence. She is a quick learner and has shown the capability to research and understand our customer’s requirements and provide graphical solutions. I recommend Ms. An without reservation. I am confident that she will build positive relationships with your staff and customers."
