Yuka Fukuoka

When I was an undergraduate, I majored in Service Design, and produced service blueprints and customer journey maps. I also produced rapid prototypes for hypothesis tests of services in both online and offline design of all fields, like graphics, web, user interface, product, print, 3D modeling and video. Afterwards, I entered a program that creates innovative ideas with a Design Thinking based on Tokyo University's Human-Centered Design concept. While working full-time, I also joined a journalism diploma program and researched about media and journalism to improve my logical thinking skill. This gave me the ability to design from the strategy; so much so that I did many collaborative projects with Tokyo University's students. It was an immense growth, given that I only had the capacity of materializing things up until that point.

After that, I joined the branding design department in Yahoo! Japan and designed over a hundred icons. Every day I would do very detailed pixel-level works, and I also established a guideline for icons. I was responsible for a wide range of designs, from posters to websites and apps. I also teamed up with engineers to participate in a total of six hackathons and won many prizes.

Then, I joined a program that seeks to solve complex social problems with the power of design. In the lectures I had colleagues of diverse nationalities and backgrounds. There I learned System Thinking and the method of finding leverage points by visualizing structures through mapping. Also, in order to do a logical concept making and obtain high-quality insights, I learned research methods from the very basics. In a project that aimed to decrease the smoking rate of the LGBTQ community, I visited LGBTQ centers and gay bars; in another project that aimed to bring the elderly and the young closer, I visited nursing homes, interviewed dozens of people and proposed solutions to professional bodies. I also won a prize in NYC Media Lab's Data Visualization category. I