A good design tells a good story.

Through the many years of designing and making, I've learned that, whether it's a poster, a book cover, a social tile, an interface, or even a simple sign-up form, it all comes down to storytelling. It's all about connecting with the other person or user, guiding them through a carefully choreographed stops and activities to a gratifying finale, whether it’s a happy ending or a successful completion of a simple form.

Here, you will find some of the stories I've told in the past as a creator, designer, and a team member. I hope you will enjoy them.

I was born in St. Louis, and grew up in Chicago, Seoul, and New York.

I studied physics in college.

I switched to design because I was spending more time on presentation than experimentation.

I started as an illustrator and graphic designer.

I love riding my old road bike, walking around with a camera, or drawing strange things.

Wonil is a personification of what Duo means. He builds bonds. He has hopscotched across disciplines (Sites and Software) teams (Brand, Digital, Product, Marketing) mediums (Animation, UX, Illustration) to contribute widely to IBM Design Language, Carbon and IBM.com all.

For a short time, we discussed Wonil playing a pivotal position on my team. We quickly determined that he was already spiritually on the brand team, and the impact and influence we needed him to make most was from right where he was.

My impression of Wonil has been an opinionated (softspoken) nose-down type of creative with a proper designer work ethic. That hasn’t changed a bit. But a year after I met him, his leadership and voice really stood out to me when we were gathered together in Austin again, one year after we kicked off Duo. He has since then been given more and more responsibility and produced palpable results.

I will go so far as to say that 9 times out of 10 I can tell when Wonil has or has not been involved in a product or project, which is one of the highest compliments I think a designer in particular can be given.

I always appreciate how Wonil connects day-to-day design challenges to the higher order strategy that our division and company are moving towards.

This is evident in his work on DGC’s Digital Design System team where he is the owner of the IBM.com Style Model, the Carbon Expressive theme, and the overall creative framework for our syndicated IBM.com design platform.

Wonil ties his creative direction and human centric approaches to the NPS, conversion metrics, and sometimes revenue numbers that are expected at the division level. Wonil and his teams power the engines that allow multiple divisions to achieve their business outcomes. This is accomplished through close connections and relationships Wonil has built with practitioners, division CMOs, and other leaders across the business.”

Wonil and I worked together as design leaders within Digital Growth and Commerce. I can say definitively that he set the standard that all of us within the organization hoped to live up to.

He has a talent for thinking strategically while also maintaining a sharp eye on execution and the details that are fundamental to all great digital experiences.

As a craftsman, Wonil is the consummate “full stack” designer who can scale up from an initial vision and user experience to branded, pixel-perfect visual design to deep-level technical discussions and collaboration with developers. As a Design Lead, Wonil gives clear direction and is specific yet kind and generous in his critique. As a storyteller, he is is inspiring and remarkably skillful at aligning people to a plan that they come to believe in. Finally, as a member of the DGC leadership, he is constantly pushing to make the organization a better place to work. Whether being actively involved in creating a culture that makes designers feel valued to staffing in smart and effective ways to successfully addressing personnel issues to mentoring others, he is an extremely capable, forthright, and stabilizing voice in the room. It has been an honor to work alongside Wonil.

Over the past five years I have worked very closely with Wonil on the IBM Digital Growth and Commerce design team. Much of our work together has been about envisioning the future of IBM’s digital experience through end to end user journeys and IBM.com template-focused design efforts. Wonil has been a strong leader in the evolution of the IBM Design Language and Carbon Design System. He has brought this vision into every project that he has touched and guided me as an early adopter on many of them. Most recently, we have collaborated on creating an inventory of design components with a core focus on the success of both our customers and internal users.

As a design lead, Wonil is always there to inspire. He is a rapid ideator and constantly looks to push the boundaries and find new creative solutions.

He knows when to take a step back to orient our design teams around a larger strategy. He is a constant support system for our designers and has continuously advocated for the importance of design craft and process. Wonil’s curiosity and design expertise in a vast range of subjects including visual design, illustration, motion design, and front-end development make him a valued contributor to any project and a mentor to our entire design team.