Personal Statement

Hi! I am Chaerim Jeong

Nice to meet you

PERSONAL PROFILE

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South Korean

Born on 1999.12.24 (Christmas Eve)

Attending Yonsei University, Class of 19

Majoring in Culture and Design Management, Information Interaction Design

UX Research, Branding, Sustainability, ESG, Service Design

Skills

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Adobe Illustrator ●●●●○

Adobe InDesign ●●●●○

Adobe Photoshop ●●●○○

Adobe XD ●●●○○

Adobe Premiere Pro ●●○○○

Figma ●●○○○

I am a South Korean student studying Culture and Design Management and Information Interaction Design at Underwood International College, Yonsei University. You can think of me as a person like while dough that can infinitely change its forms. I am very adaptable to any environment and circumstances that I get. I tend to get along well with other people. Basically, in any mold, I can fit myself into it!

Personal Background

I studied abroad for five years in California. At that time, I stayed at my aunt's house and lived with my two younger cousins. Since I finished elementary school and junior high school in America, I originally planned to graduate high school and attend US college. However, it was difficult for a young girl to live apart from my parents for a time, so I turned back to Korea to finish my high school education. I graduated from Cheongna Dalton School (CDS) as a class of 18. Having decided to stay with my parents in Korea, I did not prepare for US colleges; I only focused on Korean University admission processes.

Bittersweet teenage memories greatly influenced the way I am right now. Firstly, experiencing American culture at a young age allowed me to form an open mindset and grow independence in autonomously directing my future. Also it shaped my personality to be bright, sincere, and lovable. My mom says I have been an active kid who loves to set high goals and feel fulfilled as I achieve them. That is why the strict nature of Korean education was not easy for me to bear. I was always at or a little below average. It contradicted the high expectation that I set for myself, but I had no way to compete with classmates who have been receiving early private educations. Far from being an answer-chasing student, I could not help myself from feeling inferior to others. However, the turning point came as I newly started learning in the American context. It was the first time that the class environment encouraged me to raise questions and challenge me to solve unsolved questions. From there on, I moved away from rote memorization and started to assert my opinion and thoughts. Although this was not smooth as an English learner, the fact that I try and receive respect from others motivated me to strive even more. This daring attitude of tackling challenges remains inside of me, and it helps me a lot at some hesitating moments. In the meanwhile, the patience and embracement that the teachers showed me helped to sustain my effort. As a result, I became a supportive and keen person. The depth of understanding and the time that I catch people's thinking are above average, so I often feel that I have a specialization in building rapport and deeply empathizing with others. I usually utilize these abilities in doing user research and communicating in the business context.

Of course, my life in America was not always a bed of roses.

For the most part, I struggled a lot from living apart from my parents, especially my mom, when I most needed her. I also commonly encountered racism and discrimination, and the fact that people look down on me for being Asian discouraged me in many ways. However, the experience of coping with these problems taught me the importance of sustaining my confidence and fair manner. Independence is another thing that I value; I learned not to lean too much on something. However, I am still figuring out how to be cohesive in any circumstances as I found that I cannot succeed or live through purely on my own.

Dreams

Fun fact, I was not originally planning to major in design. I originally wanted to major in food and nutrition and become a clinical nutritionist because working in the hospital was one of my long dreams. However, the college admission results turned out to be not well.

My interest in design, social innovation, and sustainability rapidly grew after entering college. When taking the introductory courses of CDM and IID, the essence of branding and its business application came attractive at first, and the visual design and UX field that involves interaction with the users became the next. Then being part of Yonsei Model United Nations and a sustainable start-up group helped me realize that I enjoy carrying out projects related to sustainability and the environment. Lastly, working as an editorial designer, brand manager, project administrator, and UX assistant throughout my sophomore and junior years helped me realize that I am a designer rather than an artist. I find myself suggesting practical design solutions to the problems rather than abstract, overly ideal ways.

As of now, I wish to become a designer who brings positive changes to the world. Specifically, a designer who could make people's lives better and safe. I am figuring out how to break this big vision into small, manageable steps to make it feasible. However, I believe my previous working experiences and insightful traits will help me fulfilling the goal. Furthermore, I am happy to major in CDM and IID to acquire technical design skills and various methodologies to apply to many projects that I will undertake in the future.

Wish For This Semester

I wish to learn more about building user interaction occurring in the metaverse (online) context. The spread of metaverse we see now is so vast; metaverse is spread widely across academic and business fields. Therefore, I find this area to be essential knowledge for the future. Witnessing how COVID19 makes people dependent on technology, I thought the world I see after the pandemic would be different to the point where it is unpredictable while knowing how to design an digital experience will be essential at the same time.

It was last semester in the Information Architecture course that I first encountered metaverse. Honestly, my mind was resistant to the nature of metaverse at first because having a representative avatar of myself in the virtual field and communicating with others was so weird. I was also initially doubtful of the metaverse since I am an advocate of face-to-face human interaction. However, after witnessing the scale and impact of the metaverse in ZEPETO, Roblox, and other online platforms, the way I view metaverse changed. The netnography research that I conducted last semester was a great experience in identifying how shared reality can positively affect the sense of connectedness among players. Because this topic was challenging, I am half excited, half worried about the upcoming learning, but I look forward to it!

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About Me