Playground

Welcome to my ✨creative✨ world!

When I'm offline you can see me...

Emily Nguyen - offline

01 - Drawing

Drawing ✏️

During my free time, I like to draw weird creatures from my imagination and sometimes draw actual Disney characters because I'm a Disney fan. I color them in to make the drawings even more realistic and colorful.

Drawing - Disney character
Drawing - colored sketch
Drawing - Disney character sketch
Drawing - colored characters
Drawing - colorful scene
Drawing - imagination

02 - Photography

Taking photos 📷

Whenever I see a pretty sky, I pull out my phone to capture it and Photoshop it into a galaxy theme based on my mood. If I'm sad, the edits will lean towards dark purple. If it's a good day, I will edit it to a more pink or blue sky.

Sky photo - galaxy edit
Sky photo - pink sunset
Sky photo - blue clouds
Sky photo - dark purple edit
Sky photo - vivid colors
Sky photo - golden hour
Sky photo - moody tone
Sky photo - blue hour
Sky photo - wide landscape

03 - Fashion

Design clothes and styling dolls 👗

During my junior year of high school, I discovered a hidden talent in fashion design that led me to design clothes. This is my first design using a sewing machine and fabric bought from Joann. I started with the idea of a night fairy, began with a dress design sketch, and then found fabrics and materials. I am also very interested in styling clothes for my two dolls based on the occasion.

Fashion - dress design
Fashion - blue outfit
Fashion - doll styling
Fashion - doll with accessories
Fashion - K-pop doll outfit
Fashion - styled doll

04 - Illustration

Illustrate and Photoshop 🖌️

My interest in fantasy magical movies sparked my passion for creating imaginative, unrealistic designs using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. To refine these skills, I enrolled in a multimedia course, which helped me enhance my ability to create meaningful posters and artwork. For instance, I drew inspiration from Evian's water emphasizing the importance of water in bringing life to everything.

Illustration - Evian water artwork
Illustration - Disney poster
Illustration - NYT magazine piece
Illustration - surreal artwork
Illustration - Lumi poster
Illustration - GreenCity logo variants

05 - Writing

Human Factors Research Papers ✍️

My research into how we see, think, and feel—how it shapes the way I design.

Pre-attentive perceptual organization - abstract shapes triangle circle square

Pre-attentive, Early-Stage Perceptual Organization

Examining rapid pattern recognition in the brain's early processing stages, with a design case review

Cognitive skills - brain with gear mechanism illustration

Cognitive Skills

Exploring meta-cognitive regulation and its impact on human performance and design, with a design case review

Working memory - complex brain collage illustration

Working Memory, Load and Emotions

Analyzing the relationship between working memory, cognitive load, and design, with a focus on theories, limitations, and a design case review

06 - Mini Chef

Mini Chef 🍳

I cook based on how I feel. What started as late night cooking sessions turned into a food diary where every dish is tied to an emotion. Each dish comes with a color from my emotional palette, a hand-drawn sketch, and a simple recipe anyone can follow. Every feeling has a recipe.

Mini Chef - dish photo 1
Mini Chef - mentaiko dish
Mini Chef - emotional color palette

End-to-end product and UX designer crafting thoughtful digital experiences.

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