Hey there! Thanks for stopping by.
I’m Julie Cho (formerly Kim).

Current Focus: I'm a Senior Product Designer at U.S. Bank, tackling the challenge of transforming complex investment data into clear and engaging data visualizations for their investment services platform. This involves complex financial data, translating into actionable insights, and empowering users to make informed investment decisions.

Design Journey: Before U.S. Bank, I honed my skills in designing enterprise tools for the life insurance industry at Northwestern Mutual. Way before diving into annuities and investments, I was creating mobile app experiences at Samsung Electronics America. This diverse path has given me over years of experience crafting user-centered designs across digital and physical products.

Design Craft: Throughout my design career, l've had the privilege of collaborating with talented and passionate teams, all striving towards the same goal: creating world-class user experiences while achieving business objectives.

Design Philosophy: I believe the key to great product design lies in asking the right questions, not just having the perfect answers. This mindset and approach fosters a culture of exploration and leads to the most impactful solutions.

Personal Interests: Lately, when I am away from the keyboard, you might find me scaling a rock wall, channeling my inner tennis champion, or recharging with a second cup of coffee.

“Good design balances information with interaction in a way that is both elegant and empathetic.”

My Background

I started my career as an Industrial Designer, which allowed me to gain a great deal of experience solving real-world problems with a blend of art, technology, and science. In essence, UX design can be seen as an extension of industrial design principles towards creating user-centered experiences.

User Research

I firmly believe in taking a qualitative and quantitative research approach to each project to understand the reason behind a user’s behavior, before even considering design. This is crucial to gain a deep understanding of users' needs, behaviors, and pain points.

Product and UX Design

The user vantage point such as the look, feel, and usability of the product is what I’m primarily concerned with. I'm focused on the user interaction which involves research, observation, prototyping, and iterations. I like to prototype products across the entire design lifecycle with users and stakeholders. My favorite tools are Figma, Sketch, and Protopie!

Cognitive Science

I'm a huge proponent of consumer psychology and understanding how users think, behave, and interact with products (attitudinal vs behavioral). I believe in analyzing user behavior for an interaction science-backed approach.

Visual and UI Design

Due to my background, I'm a skilled visual designer with an eye for UI, graphics, typography, layout, and color. I prioritize design principles (balance, contrast, rhythm) and love building functional platforms and mobile products to pixel-perfection while infusing modern aesthetics and patterns.

Agile Methodology / Process

I believe in infusing agile processes and methodologies to my design process. I like to continuously gather user feedback throughout the design cycle, allowing me to iterate and plan for what’s feasible for MVP and prioritize enhancements in Phase 2.

Latest and greatest of 2024

  • Reading Books 📚

    Mindset: So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

    Design: Articulating Design Decisions by Tom Greever

  • Learning Things 🧠

    Sport: Learning to rock climb (one shaky handhold at a time)

    Software: Generative Al Coding on freecodecamp.org

  • Chasing Adventures 🏔

    Winter: Snowboarding quests for fresh powder (Vail, Park City, Killington)

    Summer: Hiking new trails (Banff, AB, Canada)

  • Obsessed With ❤️‍🔥

    Perfecting: Blueberry pies à la mode

    Story: Binge watching House of Dragon