Young Ae Kim Dr.

Young Ae Kim is a professor, researcher, and award-winning designer exploring how design can help people understand, connect, and imagine new possibilities. Bringing together industrial design, graphic design, UX/UI, and human factors psychology, she investigates how emotion, perception, and technology shape experiences—from navigating unfamiliar spaces to interpreting complex information.

Her collaborations with Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Nike, New Balance, Baskin-Robbins, and Citibank connect scholarly inquiry with global professional practice. She brings that experience into a research-informed learning environment where students ask meaningful questions, experiment across media, and develop their creative voices through collaborative projects and international exchange.

Her interests span emotional UX/UI, wayfinding and mental mapping, data visualization, immersive media, and AI-supported creativity. She welcomes students and collaborators interested in connecting creative exploration with human-centered research to develop thoughtful, inclusive experiences across physical and digital worlds.

PRIMARY TEACHING AREAS
+ Emotional UX & UI Design
+ Wayfinding, Mental Mapping & Human-Centered Experiences
+ Data Visualization, Information Architecture & Interactive Design
+ Immersive Experience Design
+ Graphic Design & Visual Communication

ADDITIONAL AREAS
+ Sustainable Package Design
+ Brand Strategy and Campaign

Young Ae Kim investigates how design helps people understand complex information, navigate unfamiliar environments, and feel confident and supported in their interactions. Grounded in graphic design and human factors psychology, her research connects emotional UX & UI, wayfinding and mental mapping, data visualization, information architecture, and immersive experiences. These areas share a focus on how visual and spatial cues shape perception, emotional response, and the mental models people use to make decisions.

Her interest in artificial intelligence builds on this foundation by exploring how intelligent interfaces, adaptive information displays, and immersive guidance might respond to users’ changing needs. She explores how these systems can support orientation, clarify complex information, and provide reassurance while preserving users’ control. Across physical, digital, and AI-mediated environments, her research examines how design can make experiences more understandable, emotionally responsive, and inclusive.

Citations listed below are presented in a standardized, modified format for display purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the preferred style and conventions of the faculty member or discipline.

Martin, Rebecca M., Zhang, Weiwei, Peterson, Gregory R., Li, Qiuwen, and Kim, Young Ae. Affective statistics: influence of visual designs on the interpretation of public health data, 2878-2895. Vol. 45, Iss. 12 London: Behaviour & Information Technology, 2025. (DOI: 10.1080/0144929x.2025.2598611)
Huggins, A A., Baird, C L., Briggs, M, Laskowitz, S, Hussain, A, Fouda, S, Haswell, C, Sun, D, Salminen, L E., Jahanshad, N, Thomopoulos, S I., Veltman, D J., Frijling, J L., Olff, M, van Zuiden, M, Koch SBJ, Nawjin, L, , Zhu, Y, Li , G, Stein, D J., Ipser, J, Seedat, S, du Plessis, S, van den Heuvel, L L., Suarez-Jimenez, B, Zhu, X, Kim, YoungAe, He, X, Zilcha-Mano, S, Lazarov, A, Neria, Y, Stevens, J S., Ressler, K J., Jovanovic, T, van Rooij SJH, Fani, N, Hudson, A R., Mueller, S C., Sierk, A, Manthey, A, Walter, H, Daniels, J K., Schmahl, C, Herzog, J I., Říha, P, Rektor, I, Lebois LAM, Kaufman, M L., Olson, E A., Baker, J T., Rosso, I M., King, A P., Liberzon, I, Angstadt, M, Davenport, N D., Sponheim, S R., Disner, S G., Straube, T, Hofmann, D, Qi, R, Lu, G M., Baugh, Lee A., Forster, Gina, Simons, Raluca, Simons, Jeffrey, Magnotta, V A., Fercho, K A., Maron-Katz, A, Etkin, A, Cotton, A S., O'Leary, E N., Xie, H, Wang, X, Quidé, Y, El-Hage, W, Lissek, S, Berg, H, Bruce, S, Cisler, J, Ross, M, Herringa, R J., Grupe, D W., Nitschke, J B., Davidson, R J., Larson, Chris, deRoon-Cassini, T A., Tomas, C W., Fitzgerald, J M., Blackford, J U., Olatunji, B O., Kremen, W S., Lyons, M J., Franz, C E., Gordon, E M., May, G, Nelson, S M., Abdallah, C G., Levy, I, Harpaz-Rotem, I, Krystal, J H., Dennis, E L., Tate, D F., Cifu, D X., Walker, W C., Wilde, E A., Harding, I H., Kerestes, R, Thompson, P M., and Morey, R. Smaller total and subregional cerebellar volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder: a mega-analysis by the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD workgroup., 611-623. Vol. 29, Iss. 3 Molecular psychiatry, 2024. (DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02352-0)
Kim, YoungAe. UDA Webinar 2023 Vol. 5 of 6. Vol. 5 of 6 United Design Alliance, 2023.
Kim, YoungAe, Grame, Robert , and Hsu, Ginnie. ABOUT OUR DISCIPLINE NOW REFLECTING UPON DESIGN MANIFESTOS “THREE INDIVIDUAL’S THOUGHTS ON THE IMPACT OF DESIGN MANIFESTOS WITHIN EDUCATION AND OUR PROFESSION. In Our Discipline Now 2022, editors Robert Hower. Vol. 2022 UDA About Our Discipline Now United Design Alliance (UDA), 2022.
Kim, YoungAe, and Li, Qiuwen. Happiness Participatory Media: Cultural Differences in Happiness on Instagram. In Advances in Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design , pp 394-402. Springer, Cham, 2020.
Kim, YoungAe, and Li, Qiuwen. Reconstructing Social Identity Through Physical Attractiveness. In Advances in Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design , pp. 385-393. Springer, Cham, 2020.
Kim, YoungAe, and Li, Qiuwen. Analysis of Facial Emotion Recognition in Video Chatting. Human-Centered Design: Collaborative Design and Emotional Intelligence. In Advances in Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design , pp. 217-226. Vol. vol. 790 Springer, Cham, 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94601-6)
Kim, YoungAe. Emotional Evidence: Influences on Happiness from the Frequent Positive Visual Exposure. In Advances in Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design , pp 227–237. Iss. 978-3-319-94600-9 Springer, Cham, 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94601-6_24)
Kim, YoungAe. Emotion Displays in public: a comparison between Asia & North America. Vol. 8th International Conference on Applied Human Factor and Ergonomics Los Angeles, CA: Springer, 2017.

Kim, YoungAe, Designing Together: Collaboration, Shared Perspectives, and Creative Problem-Solving. Presented at the 2026 Concordia University, Quebec, Canada. (July 09, 2026)
Kim, YoungAe, Packaging Place: Connecting Brand Identity, Local Culture, and the Coffee Experience. Presented at the 2026 CHIBA × USD INTERNATIONAL DESIGN WORKSHOP, Tokyo, Japan. (May 25, 2026)
Kim, YoungAe, Creativity in the Age of AI. Presented at the 2026 South Dakota Arts Conference & Arts Leadership Institute, Rapid City. (April 26, 2026)
Kim, YoungAe, Bringing Human-Centered Design to Digital Marketing. Presented at the DigiMarCon West 2026, Los Angeles, California. (April 02, 2026)
Kim, YoungAe, Knedler, Cory, and Henrichs, Cody, Creativity in The Aage of AI. Presented at the 2025 SDCAA/SDAEA Conference, Aberdeen, SD. (October 10, 2025)
Kim, YoungAe, Unlock Your Creativity & Uplevel Your Typography: 3D and Non-Font Experiments with Midjourney. Presented at the TypeThursday LA: Connect, Learn and Grow with Fellow Designers, Los Angeles, CA. (July 31, 2025)
Kim, YoungAe, Designing the Next Interaction: UX & UI in a Changing World. Presented at the 2024 AAF Student Day, Sioux Falls. (October 01, 2024)
Kim, YoungAe, Information Design in Moving Contents. Presented at the California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, United States. (April 16, 2024)
Kim, YoungAe, Emotional Influence with Conversational Icon Designs. Presented at the UDA Webinar 2023 Vol. 5 of 6, Virtual. (October 27, 2023)
Kim, YoungAe, Peterson, Gregory, Martin, Rebecca , Zhang, Weiwei, and Li, Qiuwen, The Color of Data: Relation of COVID-19 Statistical Display Mode to Content Interpretation and Emotional Salience. Presented at the Easter South Dakota Research Symposium, Sanford Center - Corporate Office, Sioux Falls, SD, USA. (June 14, 2023)
Kim, YoungAe, Emotional User Experience Design from Physical Space to Virtual Space and Mixed Reality. Presented at the Meet the Expert, Korea. (June 2023)
Kim, YoungAe, Big Data Visualization of COVID-19 Using AR. Presented at the Industrial Design with Big Data, Daejeon. (December 27, 2022)
Kim, YoungAe, Li, Qiuwen, Beam, Brian, and Horvath, Andrea, Emotional Expression on Social Media through Virtual Reality: Cultural Differences on Instagram. Presented at the SIGGRAPH AISA 2021 Extended Reality (XR) Exhibition, Japan. (September 2021)
Kim, YoungAe, Graphic Design App in classroom . Presented at the SDAEA (South Dakota Art Education Association) Conference, Brandon, SD. (October 07, 2016)
Kim, YoungAe, and , Positive Visceral Design. Presented at the International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics, Olando, FL. (July 29, 2016)
Kim, YoungAe, Emotional Evidence . Presented at the International Urban Media Design Conference, Beijing, China. (June 20, 2016)
Kim, YoungAe, Preparing Future Designers with Critical Design Thinking from the Impact of New the Technological Shifting. Presented at the The Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE), Honolulu, HI. (January 04, 2016)
Knedler, Cory, Kim, YoungAe, and , The Next Leader as Critical Thinkers. Presented at the 2016 Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI. (January 03, 2016)
Kim, YoungAe, Graphic Design Essential Techniques. Presented at the SDAEA (South Dakota Art Education Association) Conference, Vermillion, SD. (October 09, 2015)
Kim, YoungAe, Design Approach for the Development of Metropolitan Public Transportation. Presented at the Metropolitan Public Transportation, Japan, China. (July 2015)
Kim, YoungAe, Creative work and Teaching.... Presented at the OTA 2015-Day of OTA conference: Collaborative network for region’s creative class, South Dakota. (June 30, 2015)
Kim, YoungAe, Preparing Future Designers with critical design Thinking from the impact of the new technological shifting.. Presented at the UCDA Design Education Summit, National Design Educator Conference, Brookings, SD. (May 18, 2015)
Kim, YoungAe, Design Approach for the Development of Metropolitan Public Transportation. Presented at the CHI 2015 Crossings, Seoul, Korea. (April 19, 2015)
Kim, YoungAe, "The Power of Perception. Presented at the ASD, Las Vegas, Nevada. (August 2014)
Kim, YoungAe, The Moment of Truth. Presented at the SDRS - Seoul Design Research Society at Seoul, Seoul, Korea. (July 2014)
Kim, YoungAe, "Seeing Invisible". Presented at the DRS - Design Research Society Annual Conference, Umea, Sweden. (June 2014)
Kim, YoungAe, Seeing Invisible. Presented at the IUMDW - International Urban Media Design, Seoul, Korea. (June 2014)
Kim, YoungAe, "The Magical Moment of Adaptation". Presented at the SB-Sustainable Brands Conference, San Diego, California. (June 2014)
Kim, YoungAe, SCIENCE + DESIGN. Presented at the The International Conference on Intelligent Information Processing and Knowldge Managment (ICIIPKM), Beijin, China. (July 2013)
Kim, YoungAe, Beautiful Data Visualization. Presented at the Design Habit, Vermillion, SD. (June 2013)
Kim, YoungAe, Science GEOMETRY. Presented at the The International Urban Media Design Workshop (IUMDW), Seoul, Korea. (June 2013)
Kim, YoungAe, IMPERFECT BEAUTY. Presented at the The Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE), Honolulu, HI. (January 2013)
Kim, YoungAe, Think right: responsibility driven sustainable design education. Presented at the The Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE), Honolulu, HI. (January 2013)
Kim, YoungAe, Design for Touch. Presented at the SDCAA, Brookings, SD. (October 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, Power of Interactive Brand Promotion. Presented at the ASD, Las Vegas, Nevada. (August 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, Creating Green. Presented at the Design Research Society (DRS), Bangkok, Thailand. (July 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Presented at the Design Habit, Vermillion, SD. (June 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, Design for Touch. Presented at the International Urban Media Workshop (IUMW), Seoul, Korea. (June 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, Beautiful Interactive Design. Presented at the Future of Web Design, London, United Kingdom. (May 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, Portfolio. Presented at the Portfolio Design, Savannah, GA. (May 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, New Overload: Day One. Presented at the UCDA Design Education Summit, Blacksburg, Virginia. (May 2012)
Kim, YoungAe, Design Habit & USD MFA Program. Presented at the Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, IA, USA. (November 2011)
Kim, YoungAe, Trademark. Presented at the Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, IA, USA. (November 2011)
Kim, YoungAe, Imperfect Beauty. Presented at the Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA, USA. (November 2011)
Kim, YoungAe, Design Strategic Plan. Presented at the Four Season, Los Angeles, CA. (July 2011)
Kim, YoungAe, Creativity in Digital Era. Presented at the Seesaw Design Group, New York, NY. (July 2011)
Kim, YoungAe, Are you Ready?. Presented at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA. (June 2011)
Kim, YoungAe, Brand Gap. Presented at the Four Season, Los Angeles, CA, USA. (July 16, 2010)
Kim, YoungAe, What is Service Design?. Presented at the Design Habit, Vermillion, SD, USA. (June 16, 2010)
Kim, YoungAe, Design Process. Presented at the Seoul Design Innovator Course, Seoul, Korea. (May 28, 2010)
Kim, YoungAe, Getting the right idea VS getting the idea right . Presented at the Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. (May 24, 2010)
Kim, YoungAe, More than Logic . Presented at the Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea. (May 20, 2010)
Kim, YoungAe, Web Creative . Presented at the KIPFA Web Award Korea, Seoul, Korea. (May 12, 2010)

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