Vannessa Wong

Experience

• 

  Design Consulting at Cornell

  Sept 2021 - Dec 2021

  Junior Designer, Consultant

  •Collaborated with a team of 3 product designers and 1 project manager to develop a tentative app about improving freshman experience in Cornell and exposing students to local Ithacan attractions. •Conducted 5+ user interviews to gather key requirements for Cornell underclassmen personas.•Developed brand + UI kits to create a playful yet instructive brand voice, backed by interview analyses.•Ensured successful user interaction via user testing.•Presented final prototypes in a design showcase to receive feedback and critique from other designers. Show less

• 

  Women In Computing At Cornell

  Jan 2022 - May 2022

  Girls Who Code Volunteer

  •Guided 20+ middle school students to learn Javascript through the Splash!at Cornell program by teaching them how to build a snow-scape and other winter-inspired drawings.

• 

  SciQuel

  Feb 2022 - Jul 2022

  •Collaborated with programmers and designers for both website and app development. Attended and led meetings twice a week for critiques on designs as ensuring smooth, timely development of features. •Managed the progress of the website development team of 10+ junior develops and designers. •Organized process improvement through Trello, Notion, G-Suite.•Created weekly presentations about design team updates and requests from interdisciplinary teams.•Facilitated weekly standups and biweekly sprint reviews to the team to mimic industry practices. SciQuel is a part of the Harvard Innovation Labs venture program. You can find the work-in-progress here: https://www.sciquel.org/auth/login Show less •Designed mockups for a web and mobile app that simplifies scientific research into digestible articles for all kinds of audiences and personas with varying scientific backgrounds.•Focused on customizing study preferences, iterating on flashcard, annotation + article saving features.•Contributed to presenting ideas and critiquing other designs in a design team of 10+ design students.•Spearheaded the synthesizing process of design work to achieve goals faster and in a timely manner.•Leveraged Figma to create user personalization pages and profile pages for mobile uses. Show less

  • Team Co-Lead

    May 2022 - Jul 2022

  • Product UI Designer

    Feb 2022 - May 2022
• 

  Cornell App Development (AppDev)

  Feb 2022 - May 2022

  Junior Designer

  •Authored a case study about increasing Apple Store's user traffic and introducing mood boards and new profile settings, reimagining the app's original intents. •Developed "Deja-Brew", a social app that connects students by their favorite coffee orders and organizes coffee chats, as the sole designer with 4 software developers in a two week hack challenge.•Acquired rapid prototype and mockup skills by implementing the basic design process and Figma skills.

• 

  Carousel

  Jul 2022 - Sept 2022

  Web UI Designer

  •Created 10+ web and app design mockups for a photography company using Figma.•Rapidly prototyped multiple user flows for a prospective mobile app looking to increase user traffic and improve reservation experience to optimize the photography booking process.

• 

  Cornell University

  Jan 2023 - Sept 2023

  •Iterated screens, logo, landing and login page with two other designers and a PM for an incoming startup e-commerce platform that focused on fashion retailers called Jur.•Focused on the saving feature and the home page branding of the website.•Iterated on different saving animation micro-interactions to allow user to understand Jur's user flows.•Worked with a team of 2 other designers to create the mockups for the visual design. •Collaborated with leads and stakeholders for biweekly standups, implementing their design feedback. Show less •Co-managed a team of 8 with bi-weekly deliverables, intertwining and maintaining communication between designers, artists and programmers for our metroidvania x platformer game, BubbleBound. •Employed technical writing skills by reviewing game documentation drafts, manuals and specifications.•Organized branding and advertising material through an animated trailer. •Co-conceptualized the game manual, art assets, character story design and obstacles in the game.•Managed conflict, particularly addressing miscommunication about game feature implementations. Show less

  • UX Designer (Jur)

    Oct 2022 - Sept 2023

  • Co-Project Manager & Designer (BubbleBound) (INFO 3152)

    Jan 2023 - May 2023
• 

  Medium Design Collective

  Feb 2023 - May 2023

  •Collaborated with Adaptive Rentals, a real-estate company in Ithaca that secures housing and synthesizes housing resources to the Cornell student body under the Praxis Brand Consulting branch. •Consulted early-stage research and in a team of 8•Developed mockups and prototypes for mobile and website mediums for their up-and-coming brand. •Focused on the housing option showcasing feature and iterated on housing selection interfaces.•Communicated ideas and designs and deign rationale backed by research to stakeholders for critique. Show less

  • Co-Lead for Outreach

    Apr 2023 - May 2023

  • UXR Design Consultant

    Feb 2023 - May 2023
• 

  IBM

  May 2023 - Oct 2023

  IBM Accelerate - Design

  •Familiarize myself with visual design, inclusive design, storytelling, UX and UXR concepts at an enterprise-scale in an 8 week program. Created the first IBM to student portfolio review community.•Engaged and networked with 5 cohorts of 500+ students in total and 10+ IBMer mentors.•Contributed to design critiques, working closely with a team of 10 under an IBM Design coach.•Developed foundational career skills by facilitating multiple portfolio and personal brand reflections. •Collaborated live with other designers through the Mural software, presenting my design decisions.My summer project was on creating a book design and possible app about improving the Accelerate program and providing more practice and hands-on work to solidify lecture topics. Conducted research and designed mockups for the idea in the 8 week process. Show less

• 

  Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science

  May 2023 - Dec 2023

  Teaching Assistant for Human-Computer Interaction Design (INFO 3450)

  •Initiated the first cohort of multiple Figma workshops with a team of 5+ students under Professor Gilly Leshed to teach Figma basics, prototyping and plugins to 70+ students for semester-long group projects.•Reviewed HCI, design processes + heuristic evaluations to ensure quality mentorship.•Held office hours, corresponded + supported students who struggled with design concepts.•Contributed to a lecture on design critiquing for the final stretch of the semester.•Reviewed documentation, user research synthesis reports + design justifications for quality assurance. Show less

• 

  AI-Learners

  Jun 2023 - Aug 2023

  UX Researcher and Outreach

  •Sought out children’s education opportunities centered around disabled students to improve turnover rate by curating informed research for our audience as a mathematics learning app. •Documented and authored 10+ detailed reports on summer events and programs around NYC. •Facilitated process improvement for outreach and attended staff meetings for outreach operations. •Connected with 20+ summer school programs, recruiting 10+ for further collaboration with AI-Learners. •Playtested and critiqued 10+ children's games on the AI-Learner's platform.•Organized and initiated a long term partnership with the New York Public Library and its 92 locations. Show less

• 

  Work With Indies

  Aug 2023 - Oct 2023

  Narrative Writer

  •Worked with a team of 6 writers in the Interactive Writing Circle of varying experiences to write individual interaction fiction games online under a mentor on Texturewriter. •Improved writing skill by enhancing selective word choice and scene development techniques.•Refined narrative design skills through my first project, learning dialogue synthesis and player choice.•Most stories were sent to IFComp, or the 2023 Interactive Fiction Competition.You can play my game here:https://texturewriter.com/play/vann_essa/ecnarodra/info Show less

• 

  Women In Computing At Cornell

  Aug 2023 - Dec 2023

  Mentor

  •Engaged students through multiple activities, both personal and professional to cultivate healthy work-life balance.•Co-mentored 3 underclassmen students about Cornell's engineering and design culture.

• 

  Cornell Digital Tech & Innovation

  Sept 2023 - now

  Product Designer

  •Develop website rebranding with 1000+ users via audits + re-imagining the application page. With standard design practice, focused on new features that foster equitable recruitment processes and accessible resource distribution under IDOL (database; Internal DTI Organizational Logic).•Attending weekly critique groups to receive and implement feedback, practicing design justification.•Volunteered at workshops for young students in the Tompkins Library in Ithaca to teach Figma basics.•Practiced creating components, implementing design systems, and designing hi-fi mockups. •User testing with 20+ students for re-iteration practices. Show less

• 

  Design Consulting at Cornell

  Sept 2023 - May 2024

  •Curated and created new presentations and lectures surrounding design-business best practices like storytelling, design justification + communication, designer-developer handoff and presentation skills.•Held weekly office hours to help navigate paired semester projects about different people problems. •Co-created the first iteration of critique groups to start building student's mindset for feedback.•Initiated a 1-1 system to foster more personalized learning catered for different beginner designers.•Documented handoffs for future educators, detailing reports for improvements based on observations. Show less •Coordinated with the New Member Education (NME) team of 4 to build a curriculum surrounding design concepts: ideation, data analysis, personas and career development skills to build their design career. •Mentored students about career skills like cold emailing, cover letters, interview practice, technical interview practice, resume polish and portfolio progress.•Lectured on UX Writing using flows from Nike's Nike by You brand and Slack's UX writing practices.•Strengthened the design community by organizing socials for new members.•Sifted through 70+ applicants for the club, engaging in the interviewing and recruitment process. Show less

  • Design-Business Educator

    Dec 2023 - May 2024

  • Design & Business Education TA

    Sept 2023 - Dec 2023
• 

  Cornell Engineering

  Nov 2023 - now

  •Partnered with 1 other researcher + faculty advisor to re-create course design for the spring semester, focusing on improving team management, course flow, feedback cycles and design support in game development.•Organized 15+ online and physical resources to compile an annotated bibliography about technical writing, game design workflow, engineering communications, team culture development and more. •Created agendas, documented minutes and attended weekly meetings to synthesize research.•Interviewed 10+ industry leaders and 12+ student teams, synthesizing their leadership experience. Show less •Collaborated closely with the Introduction to Games Design teaching team to facilitate the INFO3152 course and improve the class environment. •Led workshops with outside organizations to build stronger connections within the GDIAC (Game Design Initiative at Cornell) to emulate industry game design playtesting and stakeholder presentations.•Reviewed papers submitted by students about engineering documentation and presentation practice. •Developed strong relations with student teams to ensure healthy working environments. •Experimented and tested new material (Canvas modules, CATMEs, etc.) in the ENGRC course redesign. Show less

  • Project Management in Videogames Researcher (ENGRC 3340)

    May 2023 - now

  • Teaching Assistant for Communication for Game Development (ENGRC3152)

    Nov 2023 - May 2024
• 

  Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science

  May 2024 - now

  Teaching Assistant for Human-Computer Interaction Design

  •Continuing to build on the projects initiated last year to improve Figma workshops, design critique discussion sections and touch more on design branding and personal portfolios in lectures.

• 

  The Philadelphia Inquirer

  May 2024 - now

  Product Intern

  •Build on top of Inquirer's mobile apps, focusing on creating sustainable business for local journalism.Collaborate with a team of product managers, designers and engineers.•Learn more about product management principles and industry-standard design processes.