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Product Designer · UCSD Cognitive Science

The why
behind
the design

What I bring
Reasoning + AI velocity
I supply the big-picture thinking. AI moves the pixels.
Background
CogSci × CS × Marketing
UCSD · Design & Interaction specialization
Looking for
Internships & freelance
San Diego · Open to remote
About

I think in stories.
I design in systems.

I'm a 3rd-year Cognitive Science student at UCSD, specializing in Design & Interaction with minors in CS and Marketing. I approach design as a storyteller first — I care about the reasoning behind a decision, not just how it looks. I'm building at the intersection of human cognition and AI-assisted craft: I provide the strategic thinking, the "why," and the big picture. AI handles the execution speed.

3
Real projects shipped
3rd
Year at UCSD
1
Live stakeholder project

Selected Work

3 case studies · 1 WIP
[ Redesigned website screens ]
Case Study 02 · 2024 · Nonprofit · Design for America

Habitat for
Humanity

Website redesign — done through Design for America, not the foundation

Redesigned the site's information architecture and visual system to better serve two audiences that rarely overlap: donors and future homeowners. Learned a lot about designing for trust under real organizational constraints.

[ Vectea editor interface ]
Case Study 03 · 2024 · Design Tool

Vectea

AI-assisted image & vector editing app

Designing the design tool. Vectea is an AI-native editor for images and vectors — the challenge was making powerful AI features feel intuitive rather than intimidating. Focused on the mental model: what does a user expect AI to do, and when do they want control back?

Work in progress
Lightbridge Hospice Community Foundation
Website redesign · Real stakeholder · Real project · In progress
Coming soon
How I work

I ask why
before how

Most design problems aren't design problems. They're reasoning problems. I use AI to move fast on execution — so I can spend more time on the part that actually matters: understanding what we're solving and why it matters to a real person.

01
Find the real question

The brief is a starting point, not a brief. I dig into the user's context, the business's actual goal, and the gap between them. That gap is usually where the design lives.

02
Build the narrative

Before wireframes, I write the story: who is this person, what do they believe, what has to change? If I can't tell the story of a design decision, I don't have one yet.

03
AI accelerates execution

I use AI tools to prototype fast, generate variations, and stress-test ideas without getting stuck in Figma for a week. Speed of iteration is a design skill now.

04
Test against reality

Does it hold up when a real person touches it? Real feedback over internal assumptions, every time. I'd rather be wrong early than confident and wrong at launch.

[ Your photo here ]
Background

Always been
a storyteller

I'm a 3rd-year at UCSD studying Cognitive Science with a specialization in Design & Interaction, and minors in Computer Science and Marketing. I've always been a creative — someone who thinks in narratives, pushes on assumptions, and isn't afraid to try something weird to see if it works.

Design clicked because it sits at the intersection of everything I care about: how people think, how systems behave, and how to communicate an idea clearly. I'm actively building toward an AI-augmented design practice — I supply the strategic reasoning and the human insight. The tools handle the rest.

Outside of work: raving, Clash Royale, Taco Bell at 2am. I take those seriously too.

Design Product design, Interaction design, Visual design, Prototyping
Research User interviews, Usability testing, Cognitive walkthrough
AI tools Cursor, v0, Claude, Midjourney, Framer AI, ChatGPT
Tools Figma, Framer, Protopie, VS Code, Notion
Education UCSD · CogSci B.S. · Design & Interaction · CS minor · Marketing minor

Let's
make
something

Looking for internships, freelance projects, and collaborators who care about the reasoning as much as the result. If you have a problem worth solving, I want to hear it.