Hello! I'm Jacqueline (she/her) ☺︎, a designer, creative technologist, and musician studying Computer Science and Game Design @USC ✌︎.
For many years, I thought I was going to study classical music — then music helped me rediscover my design practice.
My life has been a friendly tug of war between music and design
Thinking I might study classical music in college, I dedicated most open hours to practicing for auditions and performances and spent my summers learning new music. I put art and design to the side for when I had time.
And it paid off — I spent my last year in high school performing with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and touring Europe with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA — some of the very best experiences I’ve had in my life!
VIDEO
A video project i helped edit AND PERFORM IN! find me in the bottom left corner ↗
Creating my own thing and rediscovering design in the process
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I collaborated with friends to run a virtual fundraising concert, since we could not gather to perform in-person together. Wanting to challenge myself, I volunteered to take on the video editing and graphic design work to compile and promote our performance.
It was then that I remembered the joy creating an experience from the ground up and learning a new tool, plus the design eye and love for ideation I had tuned passively over the years.
FIG. 1
Our first homework assignment — thinking of 30 problems.
I discovered product design as a field as I was applying to college, and the rest is history!
I was stoked — it combined my love for craft, my interest in technology, as well as hope to create real world impact. In true musician fashion, my first stab at creating UI was imagining what a music practicing app would look like.
While I didn’t end up getting accepted into any of the design programs I applied to, it was a step in the right direction — a start to dedicating more time and energy towards my design work.