2017, a retrospective.
It was a good year, but I could have done better.
Last year, I wrote that life is like a sine-cosine graph (again, my mom is a math teacher and this is her way of saying life has ups and downs.). Looking back, this year was an upward slope of that graph — it wasn’t incredible, but it was definitely a huge improvement from last year.
- Blitz didn’t crash and burn; in fact, we had a successful rebrand and became one of the premier esports publications in just a year.
- I launched my new portfolio website and worked with some awesome clients.
- I achieved all of my personal goals for this year (to certain extent): gym, driving, and a new hobby — cooking.
I want to dedicate this blog post to myself and my friends as a recap of what happened this year and a promise to continue to push myself beyond my limits.
Work life
Blitz
We started this year with lots of uncertainty and hope. We came back to working on esports after two pivots, rebranded ourselves as Blitz, and began moving into an uncharted territory as an esports publication. Yet, thanks to the works of our team (especially our new content team in LA!) we became one of the premier esports publications in just a year.
Designing for an esports publication was full of new learnings for me, as I had a chance to apply design to not just product, but the entire brand by creating a design system that touches upon every part of our process (content, marketing, and product.) As we applied design beyond product, I learned more about the purpose of design. That is, design is an art of balancing function and form in order to deliver value to our users. You can learn more about the learnings here.
One thing I really missed out this year was a chance to interview my hero, Faker. I actually ditched my Barcelona trip (fortunately it was only $250 RT) to join the Blitz crew for League of Legends All-Stars event in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, however, we didn’t get a chance to interview Faker. What this tells me is that there’s still a lot of work I have left to do to make Blitz the premier brand in esports.
As we conclude this year and prep for next year, we are full of yet another uncertainty and hope, as we return to building products for esports fans and gamers. With this new product launch next year, my goal is to make Blitz the most powerful brand in esports and gamers’ lifestyle (And land that Faker interview ffs). Third year in as a part of Blitz and five years working on a startup including Iris, I’ve come to embrace that uncertainty and hope as a natural part of a startup life, and I can’t wait to share what’s to come.
Design. by Roka.
My biggest design project outside of Blitz was my annual portfolio update. I update my portfolio site every year, but this year’s update was the most effort I’ve put in yet, with over 4 months of brainstorming, including traveling around Korea to gather ideas, and trying new tech: react.js. I’m proud of what I’ve done with this update, since this is the first time I found my design identity when it comes to a portfolio site, borrowing my Korean heritage as a main source of inspiration. It’s going be difficult, but I am planning on a yet another portfolio update next year. I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned in the year since my last update. Stay tuned!
Freelance
I worked with awesome new clients this year. For me, working on freelance part-time is a way for me to expand my design experiences, from not just gaming and consumer, but to broader applications like enterprise, finance, and developer tools. Next year, however, I want to be a little more selective when it comes to clients, as I am starting to feel I’m becoming a design factory when it comes to working with clients. If my main motivation for working with a client is for new experiences, I need to make sure I fully resonate with the problem the client is tackling. As such, I want to cut down on some of the freelance work next year, and make sure the ones I work with are projects that I am genuinely passionate about.
Witeboard
I’ve been working with fantastic friends Abhi, Rachit, and Jeremy on this side-project for nearly a year and a half. It really shouldn’t have taken this long, but I guess that’s what happens when we work on it only once a week and spend most of the time playing Dominion. We will most likely ship this soon (hopefully next month), but nothing’s been decided yet on what we will do next. What I know, however, is that my main motivation for working with this team on Witeboard is not to work on the next big thing or to make money — I just really have fun working with this team. Whatever project we work on next year, I know I will have fun working with this team, and I feel very fortunate to call these group of talented individuals as friends. I still shit on them in Dominion every week though.
Personal Life
Pickup from 2017
At the end of last year, I set three goals to invest and improve myself as a person. Looking back, I’d say I’ve achieved 80% of these goals. Next year, my first goal is to continue to build upon these same goals. If I stop going to the gym, driving, or cooking, there’s no point of starting these goals in the first place. That’s why for next year, I want to hit the gym harder, continue to drive, and improve my cooking.
- Gym: I’ve been hitting the gym nonstop for the past year, but not three times as I originally planned on. At the same time, I just feel I really need to eat more to bulk up — you can’t build a sculpture if you don’t have the materials to begin with! Next year, my goal is to hit the gym three times a week and gain 20 pounds. Though, I honestly think gaining 20 pounds is way harder than losing 20 pounds. Y’all are free to hate me.
- Driving: I finally got my driver’s license and a car this April, but the road to getting that license was quite a struggle. I failed the driving exam twice, only to pass on my third try. I take that as a warning that I should drive more carefully. I hope to continue driving safely next year, especially since I’m starting to enjoy driving and notice that I tend to drive a little more recklessly. Special thanks to Jonathan for helping me practice 😃
- Cooking: To be honest, my original goal at the end of last year was to pick up photography as a new hobby. What I realized, however, is that I didn’t really enjoy photography, as the difference between DSLR and my “Shot on iPhone X” wasn’t significant. I’m sure I could dig into it more, but I just wanted to pick up a new hobby that I can genuinely enjoy in my spare time, and that was cooking. I’ve become quite used to cooking Korean dishes, and next year I want to push myself to learn 20 new dishes, including 10 non-Korean ones.
Be Social
My biggest goal for next year is to be more social. One of my biggest mistakes this year was that I didn’t meet many new people. When I was in college or working at Box, I got to meet so many new people every week; in fact, that was the best part of going to college and working at a large company. Now that I am working at a startup where the founders are already my friends from college, it’s been difficult to meet new people outside of my social circle. (Don’t get me wrong, Rick and Jonathan are still awesome ❤)
I feel that mid-20s are the best time for anyone to meet new people. When people settle down post-marriage, or heck even in a relationship, it becomes more and more difficult to meet new people. I want to leverage my mid-20s to expand my network and expose myself to new people and new experiences. To this end, my goal for next year is to make 5 new good friends. (and a girlfriend, of course.) I know talking to new people is not exactly my thing, but I want to break that barrier and push myself to meet new people and make more friends next year.
Be Financially Responsible
Okay, I know I spend a lot. I still believe you shouldn’t hesitate to spend money on your happiness, but at the same time, I want to be more financially responsible next year. I started investing this year with a diversified portfolio on index funds, stock, and of course, a bit of cryptocurrency, but I feel like I am investing with a very limited knowledge of finance. Next year, I want to dig deeper into personal finance and hit my financial goal — at the cost of sacrificing just a bit of my usual splurge.
Why I set yearly goals
I almost religiously set goals on both macro and micro-level: I set goals yearly as in this blog post, quarterly on the plane from my travels, and weekly every Sunday. To me, the whole point of setting a goal is to define a direction for my life — I might not achieve them all, but the goals act as a North Star that help me push myself to a right direction. Case in point, my dream school was Stanford (yes), and although I did not make it to Stanford, it paved a direction for me to come to the Bay Area, study Computer Science, and pursue entrepreneurship by going to UC Berkeley.
Setting goals have helped me achieve thus far, and I hope to continue to push myself beyond my limits by setting new goals for the future. At the same tine, I want to make sure I don’t forget to take a break every once in a while. I’m in my mid-20s, which is perhaps the best time to both push myself and enjoy life to its fullest. As I wrap up this post and this year, I want to approach next year with the mindset to seize every moment and opportunity — push myself when I can, yet don’t forget to just simply enjoy life at any given moment.
Here’s to fantastic 2018 for everyone :)
