Aran is a UX and Visual Designer at Houzz, where her responsibilities span everything from creating digital products to crafting a visual language for the site. Outside of work, her favorite things to do include brunching with friends, caring for her houseplants, and taking in a bit of culture at the symphony or opera.
How did you get into design?
I originally studied fashion design in South Korea, where I’m from. There was one class where students had to develop their own fashion brand, including the name of the brand, the logo design, and the clothes. As I worked on the assignment, I realized that I enjoyed the graphic design aspects of developing the brand’s identity more than I enjoyed designing the clothes. I decided to move to New York to study graphic design, and I’ve been in love with the field ever since.
Where you do find inspiration?
People and culture inspire me. I like to travel to different countries and meet new people as often as I can. For example, I was recently in Shanghai – I really enjoyed just walking around the neighborhoods, and getting a feel for the areas of the country that tourists don’t typically visit. I get inspired by so many little things – restaurant signs, the menus on the tables, everything. I also like to see what the latest graphic design and home decor trends are in different countries.
What’s your favorite part of working at Houzz?
It’s similar to what inspires me – I really like that there are people of so many different cultures and backgrounds at Houzz. The members of our design team are all from different countries. I’ve learned how to say “Cheers” in Russian, Hebrew, Chinese, so many languages. We also come from different work backgrounds – some have very product-centric backgrounds, while others came from traditional advertising agencies. We learn a lot from each other because of our different experiences. I just love the diversity here.
What’s your approach to home decor?
I like to take items that are inexpensive and make them look high-end. While I admit that I tend to have expensive taste, I also know that this doesn’t mean that I have to buy pricey furniture and decor to have a beautiful home. It’s similar to fashion – it’s all about mixing high-end pieces with less expensive items to create a unique look. I love when people come to my home, and point at something they like, and I can say that I bought it for a surprisingly low price.
How do you use Houzz?
Houzz helped me remodel my parents’ new apartment in South Korea before I even joined the team here. My parents wanted to remodel their home, but didn’t know how to go about it. I stayed with them for three weeks, and helped my mom remodel the entire place. The contractors didn’t speak English, but with the Houzz app, they didn’t need to – I just showed them pictures of what we were thinking of on Houzz, and they got it. The pros we worked with all downloaded the app after that!
What’s your favorite thing you’ve worked on at Houzz?
It’s tough to choose! But if I had to pick something outside of our core products, it would be one of the early projects I worked on, redesigning the “About Houzz” section of our website, including the “Careers” and “Press Info” pages and the Houzz blog. I was new to Houzz at the time, and the project gave me a chance to learn a lot more about the company. For instance, in order to figure out how to design the press pages, I had to read all of the articles and press releases first. Because Houzz has so many international teams, I also needed to determine how best to organize the “Careers” page. Did it make sense to arrange openings by location, or by team? I loved figuring out answers to those questions.
Whenever we interview new people, it makes me feel good to know that they all probably looked at these pages, and applied for the position through a space that I created. I’m so glad to be a part of that process!