Jennifer (Doyeon) Kim’s website is a cornucopia of her artistic creativity, from product design to visual art to e-textiles and “ecopia” (such as faux succulent arrangements) to shirt designs and matchbook designs on a page labeled “Fun!”
She is a full-on product designer at 17.
Last year, she earned the international Red Dot Next Gen Winner in Medical Devices & Technology award for an easy-to-use monitoring device that transmits light through the tip of a finger to read glucose levels. Called GLIP, it can be personalized with different colors and customizable interfaces for diabetes patients of all ages.
Kim fell in love with product design while working on a hearing aid with what her website describes as “bold contemporary designs” that incorporate traditional concepts from her Korean heritage. She named it the ME É, which roughly translates to “beautiful ear” in Korean.
“Through ME É,” Kim wrote in her Artist of the Year statement, “I saw how designing products could be my form of personalized empowerment and advocacy.”
Kim teaches art to children with autism. She aims to make the products she’s designed with them in mind interactive: the “JOYDIAL” desk accessory to help them focus and the “SENSORI” e-textile wearable modular scarf for physical and tactile engagement.
These were concepts she created on her own initiative, not as projects for her classes at Orange County School of the Arts.
“None of them for school?” asked Steven J. Brittan, president and CEO at Laguna College of Art and Design. “How old are you?”
Kim puts in a lot of research and collaborates with engineers on her products. She also incorporates input from intended users.
She was inspired by and worked with her young art students on JOYDIAL. That experience sparked more exploration resulting in the SENSORI scarf.
Her philosophy: “Designing not for them but with.”
A senior, Kim found out 10 minutes after her interview that she has been accepted to Cornell University in New York. She will start there in the fall and plans to study fiber science and apparel design.
Wherever she goes, Kim’s focus will be on assistive technology.
She told the judges, “I want to take art to another level to foster interaction with my products.”
Her work and her focus inspired Dana Herkelrath, chair of graphic design and digital media at Laguna College of Art and Design: “Jennifer Kim is an incredible person who I hope saves us all.”
Media Arts finalists
In addition to Artist of the Year, the judges named four finalists from the 16 semifinalists who submitted work in animation, digital drawing and illustration, digital mixed media, game art, graphic design and photography.
Shiloh Ahrens, Division 1: Ahrens is in her third year of photography at Beckman High. As a digital photographer, she’s attracted to mementos of the past. Forgotten objects and relics along the side of the road catch her eye, like the old barn with peeling paint that made her call out on a road trip, “Hey, Dad. Stop the car.” Her curiosity and observation impressed the judges, along with the skills she has at 16. A junior, she’s eager to study architecture and photography in college.
Ash Chiou, Division 1: He walked in and delivered a casual greeting. “Hey, guys.” But his work in digital illustration and game art has serious intentions. His sci-fi retelling of the Greek mythology tale of Icarus with a Korean twist helped him explore his own heritage. Maybe he’ll pitch it someday as an animated feature or series. Chiou, 18, has struggled with his identity – both gender and ethnicity. “Animation,” he wrote, “was my way of coming to terms with my blurry identity.” A senior at Orange County School of the Arts, Chiou wants to study animation in college.
Jasmine Diep, Division 1: After ignoring several hundred popups in her YouTube feed, Diep finally clicked on an ad for the ibisPaint app. That’s what got her started in drawing. She was in sixth grade. Now a senior at Orange County School of the Arts, Diep, 18, focuses on 2D animation and digital illustration. An arm injury last year prevented her from drawing for several months. It’s still not entirely healed so she will take a gap year after graduation to prep for her college applications.
Keven Morales, Division 2: He wants a career in sports photography. And Morales is already being contacted by local high schools to shoot prep sports. Sometimes he gets paid; sometimes he doesn’t. “I just do it for the passion,” he told the judges. His work deserves monetary reward, they told Morales, who is 17 and a junior at Buena Park High. He credits the teacher whose class he took as a sophomore for setting him on his career and artistic path: “He truly believed that I could be great from the start, even when I didn’t believe in myself.”
The judges
Special thanks to the judges who helped evaluate students this year.
The judges who evaluated the 102 media arts nominees and chose the 16 semifinalists were:
- Randy Au, Orange County School of the Arts
- David Block, El Dorado High School
- Mauro Cardoza, Valencia High School
- Andrew Cortez, Orange County School of the Arts
- Jeanette Crow, Foothill High School
- Valeria Duque, Rosary Academy
- Heide Janssen, Executive Producer, Artist of the Year
- Heather Kim, Foothill High School
- Jane Klammer, Orange Lutheran High School
- Kim Lee, Atelier Creative Art
- Gigi Manning, Beckman High School
- Joanne Ramirez, Katella High School
- Lauren Tipping, Beckman High School
- Suzanne Williamson, Westminster High School
The judges who interviewed the semifinalists and chose the four finalists and the Artist of the Year were:
- Steven J. Brittan, President & CEO, Laguna College of Art and Design
- Eric Chimenti, Associate Professor, Chapman University
- Frances Fuller, Graphic Designer, Orange County Museum of Art
- Dana Herkelrath, Graphic Design & Digital Media Department Chair, Laguna College of Art and Design
- Heide Janssen, Executive Producer, Artist of the Year
Division 1 students have had more than three years of media arts training in school and/or privately. Division 2 students have had less than three years.
