Jess Lee

What Program did you graduate from and when?

Graphic Design, 2014
 

What is your current title or role? (ie. freelance designer, art practitioner, etc.)

Interaction Designer at Google

Why did you choose to attend OCAD U?

Coming out of high school, I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of path I wanted to take, but I knew I wanted to do something related to art and design. At the time, I had a portfolio filled with a bit of everything, including painting, sculpture, graphic design, web design, and even jewelry design. I wanted the freedom and opportunity to explore the breadth before going in-depth.  OCAD U, out of the other art schools in Toronto, gave me the opportunity to explore a wide variety of disciplines and mediums before finding the one I am truly interested in. 
 

Please briefly describe your current job/practice.

I am a Senior Designer at Google, designing AR experiences on the Google Lens team.
 

How did you get started in your career? 

I applied to hundreds and hundreds of jobs all over, and since I was able to dabble in various disciplines at OCAD U, I actually made multiple versions of my portfolio and tailored the types of work for different companies. My first few internships were actually mostly print design jobs since my best work actually came out of my print and packaging design classes in school. 

I had a personal interest in making websites, I loved tweaking stylesheets on various blogging platforms in the late 90s to early 00s, from Xanga to Neopets to Livejournal to Tumblr, and loved interactivity and the delightfulness that came with humans interacting with computer interfaces. That being said, I naturally had a version of my portfolio with a focus on web and mobile design, with a focus on small delightful interactions. I didn’t think anyone would notice such minor details, but when I received an interview email from Teehan+Lax, a renowned product design studio in Toronto now acquired by Facebook, I knew this was something I truly enjoyed spending hours doing without complaint. (Feels like there’s a theme going on here - casting a wide net but eventually finding the right path! Just like the reason why I picked a school with a wide variety of art and design disciplines.) 
 

What were your policies regarding internships, volunteering, and paid work?

When you’re first starting out, volunteering for small passion projects to build your portfolio is something I would recommend doing for a valuable return of your talent and time. Internships are extremely valuable, but it’s a two-way street, you’re there to learn and absorb knowledge as well as contribute and participate, try to find an internship that you feel like mentorship is prioritized and is something you truly feel like you can contribute to. At the end of the day, there are many projects and opportunities out there you can do, balance out your priorities and timebox projects, weigh out all the pros and cons of every project you’re about to take on. I’m still learning how to do this as well.
 

What do you enjoy most about your work? What is the most challenging aspect of your work?

I enjoy dabbling in a new space like immersive experiences and working alongside with the most amazing and talented people in the world sitting right next to me, to build products that have never been built before. The most challenging aspect is also a blessing, there are challenges working with a lot of people, smart people, communication skills are an extremely crucial skill to have equipped.
 

What skills or relationships developed at OCAD U helped you participate in your field? Is there anything you would have done differently?

A lot of the most fundamental typography and graphic design classes helped set the base of my design skills that can be applied everywhere. The one class that changed my whole career was motion design and animation. Some other more memorable classes I remember taking were the electives related to aesthetics, psychology, and consumer behaviour classes helped me understand how humans think and behave. At the time, the digital futures program was not yet established, there were limited classes related to interactivity and digital-focused. If I had the chance to go back, I would’ve wanted to minor in Industrial Design, working with hardware and materials is something I wish I explored.

The relationships I developed at OCAD U definitely helped me continue to be aware of the broader creative industry. I keep up with updates from classmates who stayed in the print graphic design field, classmates who ended up in a broader creative spectrum like starting their own fashion brands, extremely talented illustrators getting published in international newspapers, classmates who even ended up in creative writing. Being in Silicon Valley feels like a bubble, it feels inspiring and humbling to see others excelling in their respective creative areas.
 

What are the key responsibilities you maintain for your practice? 

My day-to-day includes conceptualizing, researching, prototyping, executing, and most importantly, communicating with cross-functional disciplines to help design and build experiences that are useful and beautiful for everyone.
 

What are your personal and professional goals for the coming years?

Personally, I would love to maintain a healthy work/life balance, practice more self-care and meditation, putting my health and wellbeing first. 
Professionally, perhaps venture down the path of balancing between managing people and continuing to contribute to designing and crafting experiences.