HyunJu Chappell, a former designer for The Washington Post, is an MFA graduate of ArtCenter College of Design's socially engaged Field program in Media Design Practices. HyunJu specializes in Human-Centered, collaborative and participatory design and research for the development of new strategies and technologies. For the private and public sectors, HyunJu offers services for product development and policy initiatives:  

• Qualitative Research: ethnography, co-design, surveys, interviews, and more
• User Research, product testing, refinement
• Workshop facilitation, program management
• Branding & Logo design
• Strategy: framing and insights, setting direction, evangelism
• Prototyping: rapid, early stage, digital, physical (3D printing, laser-cutting)
• Speculative, conceptual design (near-future)
• Visual Journalism, Editorial Design, Visual Design, Information Design
• Presentations, Exhibition & Installation
• Web design, content management (some HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Python)
• Team leadership: mentoring, coaching, multidisciplinary
• Partnership-building: strategic, resource-matching
• Social Media & print: awareness and publicity campaigns
• Learner of physical computing: Internet of Things, microcontrollers, sensors

HyunJu recently returned to the San Francisco Bay Area to be based there for full-time opportunities. She also works on contracts with local, national and international clients.

She is the founder and principal of Magna Citizen Studio, a consultancy providing design, research and strategy services to advance social engagement. In June, she was thrilled to assist the Field Innovation Team with a Drones in Disasters "Do-Tank" attended by representatives of the United Nations, Red Cross, and robotics researchers and companies from around the world. Other recent work includes an exhibit with the LA River Revitalization Corp., branding and logo development for a NewSpace startup, film education book publishing, and an advocacy campaign for the Adoptee Citizenship Act.

HyunJu thrives in fieldwork internationally and close to home. She has completed design research with youth in Uganda; young African leaders participating in an Obama administration initiative in Washington, D.C.; young men experiencing homelessness in East LA, public school teens in Pasadena, and residents living near the LA River. In Uganda, her independent fieldwork was hosted by UNICEF's Tech4Development Innovation Lab.

Through engagements with participants, she created novel, interactive objects and experiences that spurred dialogue, connection and civic engagement. The objects were then used in workshops, and brought about perception shifts and personal firsts. With these methods, her design practice seeks to expand access to opportunity and generate new approaches for addressing pressing challenges.

Contact HyunJu for opportunities to collaborate and to request her resume.
Thank you!

HyunJu's thrills have included:

• Riding a knife-sharpening bike in Uganda
• Programming a servo motor to dance
• Printing posters by hand on an old show bill letterpress
• Playing a theremin for the 1st time