We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jackie Vu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jackie below.

Jackie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve been working on is “Fantalingo” (a fantastic way to learn a language). I’ve always had a very intimate relationship with languages, it’s a passion of mine and also a requirement as I’m a Vietnamese international student studying in the United States. At one point, I just realized that a lot of the attributes we put on language learning pull all of the joy that learning a language is supposed to have. I grew up in Vietnam and had to mandatorily learn English as a second language, and the dictionary was the only means for that at the time. However, I think learning a language is not about memorizing arbitrary letters from a textbook, but rather about experiencing the world: Just imagine that you’re a child, exploring the world around you with your utmost curiosity, then you see an apple, and you learn the word “apple” (instead of reading that word out loud from a vocabulary book). On the other hand, idioms from different cultures carry a deeper layer of memories and experiences that are hard to convey by just words, like you have to experience it to see the essence of it. In 2023, after contemplating ways that I can break these barriers to learning a language and consulting some of my wonderful friends in tech, I came up with the idea to create “Fantalingo”. The idea is to utilize Object Identification to create a language learning experience that’s interactive with the object in the real world; and use Augmented Realities to convey the deeper stories of idioms. In 2024, I brought this project’s demo to Design Development Collective (DDC), a joint student organization between the University of Chicago and the School of The Art Institute of Chicago that I run with my friends, to invite people to come in and collaborate with us. Our talented collaborators are students come from around the world, providing diverse cultural perspectives for this project. So you’ll get to see how this can play out for languages like Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese,… not just English and that’s a significant factor in making this project so meaningful to me. You can read more about this project on DDC’s website: https://www.ddcsaicuchicago.com/fantalingo

Jackie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m currently an undergraduate student at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and a product designer. Having traveled nine thousand miles from home to pursue a design education in one of the United States’s largest cities, I had the privilege of meeting and learning from people from all walks of life. This experience has motivated me to design digital products that are inclusive and compassionate. Through my design language, I crave to create works that not only solve problems but also tell untold stories. Previously, I held the role of founding product designer at Pixela, where I successfully delivered the startup’s inaugural LED-integrated handbag product and mobile app. My works have received recognition from the American Digital Award, UCI Designathon, and BU Catalyst Designathon. In the Summer of 2024, I will be interning as an Experience Designer at Tesla’s Energy team, where I will help craft the mobile app experience for Powerwall.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being a creative (or in my case, a product designer) is to have the ability to fail a lot and learn from your mistakes. As product designers, it’s pretty expected that you’ll have to do a lot of iterations. I think it’s freeing to accept the imperfections of being human. No matter how much you try to perfect something, it will never be perfect, and that’s okay. It just means that things will always get better, and it’s reassuring to think that things can get better. While I currently obviously still have a lot to learn, I’m happily settled with the fact that it will always be this way for product designers. Through design, I get to sincerely learn about the world and people, and that just fascinates me every single time I do it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As an international student especially in the current job market, I always feel very pressured about my career. In Vietnam, art & design is not something that’s seriously considered, so I also feel this needs to prove that my choice is right. I have to be honest, all of the news about people getting laid off in the US freaked me out at the time. I just realized that it’s so important to consistently update your knowledge and craftsmanship amidst the very fast-paced technology landscape. Besides all that, I learned to reach out to people sincerely. I’ve met so many wonderful people who had such a meaningful impact on both my career and education, and I’m really grateful for that. However, I also realize that it’s really important to keep being patient and doing what I love despite everything. I think at the end of the day, if everything goes wrong, I will still be happy designing my passion projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jackievuworks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackiiqun/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-vu-669282212/