Designing values
Designing values
NAVER | Design | Kim Eun-jin
NAVER’s designers are categorized under the “product planning” job group. This means designers at NAVER go beyond adding visual aspects to the project to take part in planning the overall flow of user experience. Kim Eun-jin joined NAVER six years ago as a UX designer after finishing her doctoral studies in industrial design. She has been experiencing firsthand what “product planning” means as she took part in different projects, such as video search, design system implementation, and dictionary service renewal. And she is once again expanding her role from product planning to becoming a product owner, as she takes charge of the NAVER PC main page renewal project to direct the guardrails for the project.
When asked about the most difficult part of her work as a designer at NAVER, Kim Eun-jin brought up the words “social values.” Of course, designers may opt for displaying more flashy content on the main page to draw more users, but NAVER puts a lot of attention on whether the choices they make are valuable in the long term for the users, and whether they would bring about meaningful values in our society. Kim Eun-jin emphasizes that striking the right balance is the most difficult yet rewarding part of working as a designer. It is all about designing the values.
What made you choose NAVER?
I studied digital colors in graduate school. My research was about developing an algorithm capable of duplicating designers as they edit graphic factors or images when they are working on graphic design with designated key highlight colors or brand colors. In a way, you could say that I studied the methodology of how far computers can imitate or automate the designing process of human designers, rather than studying actual design. I found the process much entertaining, and decided to join NAVER because I thought this was where the newest GUI was being created.
Do you see why designers are categorized under the product planning job group at NAVER?
Instead of performing a specific role, designers at NAVER are responsible for defining a service flow and the entire process that enables the service to be implemented in terms of technology, visuals, and experience. I believe that’s why the work that designers do is grouped under product planning in NAVER.
At first, I thought my role was going to be mostly enhancing user experience by analyzing metrics rather than defining and creating something new because NAVER already has so many popular features. And I thought I was going to be great at it because I had studied analytical methodologies. But it turned out that the roles given to me were much more than that - it went beyond making the existing service better. I had to start everything from a blank slate instead of regarding the existing service as the de facto “correct” answer. I was tasked with designing everything from scratch, by thinking about what kind of usability and social values to incorporate into our service. I believe my role was expanded once more as a product owner when I became part of the main page renewal project, since my role here goes beyond designing user experience flow to develop the entire product cycle and the bigger direction. And it’s not just me; our entire team is challenged with continuously expanding our roles and domains.
Tell us about the PC main page renewal project that the Product Planning Team 1 is working on.
Our team is currently tasked with designing a “comprehensive NAVER experience.” This project aims to provide a seamlessly connected user experience across different devices, such as mobile, watch, and PC. Until now, the main page of NAVER was a page dedicated to displaying everything that the public was curious about in an organized manner. But now, our focus lies on each individual user - displaying a page full of “my” interests, and what “I” am curious about. We are trying to transform NAVER into a platform catering to each individual user, rather than displaying a uniform page for everyone. When users have saved their preferences somewhere on NAVER, such as subscribing to specific media outlets or adding shortcuts to their favorite services, we want those preferences to be incorporated seamlessly regardless of whether users are using NAVER on their smartwatch or mobile device - and this is the kind of user experience that we are currently designing.
Do you have a particular habit or routine that comes with the job?
I have at least three different accounts for each social media like Facebook or Instagram, even though I don’t use all of them frequently. I have different personas for each account, such as an account for following a bunch of other accounts and another account where I would not follow others as much. How each feature is activated is different for users who don’t open the app often and for heavy users. That’s why I have different accounts dedicated to each persona to try out different features and see how they work.
What motivates you to do better?
I would say having regrets. Having regrets about what I could have done better, even when I had done a fantastic job at my work. I believe people who hold this sense of regret always have more potential to do better and grow than those who never look back just because they have done a good job once. It’s one thing to have others tell me that I’ve done a good job and that it’s enough, but I do not think it’s a bad thing to set up my own standards and continue to have that sense of regret. I think that is the motivation that makes me want to get better.
