Meet DigiHub Designer Nina Park

Name: Nina Park
Age: 24
Nationality: American
Study programme: MA Design for Play (Communication Design)
Current Title: UX/UI Designer

What is your educational and/or professional background?
I graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York with a BFA in Communication Design and Art Direction. I studied abroad in Copenhagen my third year, and after graduating from Pratt, I interned for a year at that same study abroad program in their Architecture & Design department.

What is your role in DigiHub?
I’m currently working as a UX/UI Designer on a large-scale project. While most of my tasks revolve around designing, my role also encompasses other tasks such as user research and conducting interviews.

Tell us about a DigiHub project – current or completed.
Our team is currently working on designing a multi-platform software for operators and administrators of an engineered vehicle that treats and maintains all types of grassy fields, from football pitches to golf courses. Our process has gone through several different stages of user and field research, prototype walkthroughs, and data analysis due to the project’s size, but nevertheless it has rewarding to watch us put the pieces together over time.

What can businesses gain from working with DigiHub?
I believe businesses will be able to gain unique design solutions and perspectives from DigiHub’s diverse group of young designers. We are not afraid of challenging conventional design and research practices, and businesses can expect to have a better understanding of their own company as a result.

What have you gained?
I’ve gained a lot more confidence in my knowledge and skills as a designer. Working with a real-life client has really helped me get out of the mindset of being a “student”, and pushed myself further to apply what I’ve learned and know into a professional setting.

What has surprised you the most about working in DigiHub?
I think what has surprised me most is the amount of responsibility and trust that DigiHub has given us young designers, and the amount that the clients have in us as well. It is extremely gratifying to know that our ideas and designs throughout the entire process actually matter.

What are you particularly interested in or inspired by at the moment?
A lot of my recent personal projects have been either critical or speculative; these types of spaces are particularly interesting to me because they provoke viewers into reflecting about our futures from a vastly different angle. I’ve also been (and always have been) inspired by our universe, and how our role as humans may shift over the decades and centuries as things like space tourism become ever more feasible.

What role do you think design and designers will play in the future?
It’s hard to say. There are many people (myself included) who believe that “design” is in everyone; we’re all capable of design thinking. But I think in the future, designers will largely play the role of researchers, producers, and most importantly, facilitators. I think design is leaning very heavily now into this direction of design facilitation and collaboration, which I hope will help bridge the many gaps within our communities, societies, and environments.

About DigiHub
DigiHub is a one-of-a-kind digital design venture run by Design School Kolding. It matches student assistants and senior designers with small and medium sized businesses to develop new digital services and products based on technological insight as well as design thinking, craAmanship and creaBvity. This involves understanding the needs of target users, cocreaBng and tesBng concepts, developing user-friendly digital products and service prototypes, and introducing products and services to new markets.