Bheumsoo Kyle Kim / Industrial Designer
"Less, but better."
-Dieter Rams
The most famous industrial designer, referred to this quote.
Minimalistic designers Dieter Rams and Naoto Fukasawa influenced
Bheumsoo's design philosophy and values.
He believes the design should be intuitive and effective.
Thus, designers must make people understand the design without thinking and confusion
Born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1991. Graduated from Purdue University Industrial Design in 2020. In the same year, he joined the Industrial Design Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
It was a total of 3 years, including teaching assistant.
Working as an intern at GE Appliances, a Haier Company, for a year influence
d his design philosophy by allowing him to experience both the perspective of an industrial designer and that of the user.
He realized that user-centered design is essential in enhancing the relationship between products and users, as well as between companies and consumers.
Education
2020- 2024
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA
- Industrial Design, Masters of Fine Art
- Teaching Assistant
- 1 year internship at GE Appliance, a Haier company
2016 - 2020
Purdue University, Indiana, USA
- Industrial Design, Bachelor of Fine Art
Work Experience
06.2023 - 05.2024
GE Appliances, a Haier company
- Participated in interdisciplinary projects such as ID, UI/UX, and Accessibility design.
- Preliminary research on the UI design of the GEA app "Smart HQ" and unique UX design research with GEA home appliances
a. Customized setting design for each GE home appliance user through the Smart HQ app
b. Personalization of home appliances by setting home appliances according to personal tastes and purposes, transforming them into
personal/customized home appliances
- GEA consumer/user testing, user experience research
a. Observation of users' real-life detergent container interactions and design concepts to enhance usability
b. Positive response after user testing after designing the next-generation detergent container for GE drum washing machines
- Product concept design for GEA home appliance energy efficiency 'Net-Zero' project/Exhibition at 2024 KBIS Show
a. Lead the project from initiation to product prototype production based on product concept and company design system
07.2019 - 08.2019
20 Plus / Design Consulting Agency
- Analyzed social design trends to determine what CMF can be applied to design.
- Physically disassembled a targeted product one by one to understand the product's structure and to see how designers manage space inside the product.
- Studied the legal standards of the market and derived a concept that did not go against the law.
- Came up with the concept sketches that the client requested to target the specific market.
- Researched the defined target to understand their behaviors and extrapolated pain points and problems based on their behaviors and culture.
- Analyzed the location and environment where targets would mainly use the product. According to the analyzed data, defined CMF to apply.
Teaching Experience (Graduate Teaching Assistant)
1 Semester
ARTD 201 - Industrial Design I (Studio Class)
- Taught students why is important to have a defined target in the design process.
- Assisted students infer keywords from their inspiration.
- Helped students to understand why the mood board is important and how to build it to visually communicate with the audience.
- Taught students to expand their perspectives from general to specific in the diverging phase of the design process by drawing a mindmap. Recording the thinking process is helpful for beginners to trace their logic.
1 Semester
ARTD 448 - Professional Design Practice
- Reviewed students' portfolios together and advised them to enhance their portfolios.
- Taught students how to make an order of design process in the projects. Finding the main points of the concept and reordering the process page to convey the design story logically.
- Advised students to highlight the key sketches to visually inform the audience about their design development.
- Modified some students' use of fonts. Inappropriate font size will distract the flow of the design story.
- Advised students to keep consistent layouts and fonts for the audience. Consistent layouts and fonts increase the legibility and the quality of the portfolio.
- Advised students to use context renderings to make the reader fully understand their concept to complete their projects.
2 Semesters
ARTD 426 - Product Innovation
- Helped students to find pain points or problems from their chosen topic.
- Based on the lecture, Need, Form, and Technology, helped students to think about what their defined target needed and what kind of form students wanted to design to satisfy the user experience.
- Advised students to think from the user's perspective towards their concept. Learning empathy.
Awards
2024
Korea Design Exhibition(대한민국디자인전람회), Korea Institute of Design (KIDP)(한국디자인진흥원)
- Special Prize (특선): Project 'Airpurio'
Project 'ELO'
- Winner Prize (입선): Project 'DITTO - AN IMMERSIVE VR DEVICE'
2022
KODIA Global iT Design Award, Republic of Korea
- Gold Prize: Project 'Airpurio' and project 'ELO'
2019
International Industrial Design Competition "Channel Cup", China
- Finalist
- Problem solving design for hearing impaired people when they are alone in the home
- Designed the smart door lock that connects with the app "Trinity".
Trinity is an app designed for hard-of-hearing people to use daily.
It provides a 'Voice into text' function so that hearing impaired people can use it daily to communicate efficiently with people.
2019
International Glass Bottle Design Competition, Sponsored by Bruni Glass, Italy
- Finalist
2018
- Inspired by the 'Tulip blossom'. Every wine contains a fragrance that indicates a drink made from fruit.
- Designed the bottle that represents the floral fragrance of the wine. Additionally, it gives extra grip when people pour
International Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition, Sponsored by EAC, USA
- Student class 3rd place
- Foldable wheel barrow design using aluminum material as a body frame
- Advantage of aluminum(long-durability, water-resistant, lightweight) enhances the durability and the performance of the wheelbarrow
- Firmly woven fabric container in the wheelbarrow allows the wheelbarrow to fold in half
- Folded wheelbarrow is easier to store in the garage where it has limited space