Jacob reports:

"Thanks to the University of Washington, I went from being an MSIM grad to being featured in Japan as a global design expert. It's been and continues to be a long and exciting journey. One that started with me sitting underneath cherry blossoms in the quad, filled with uncertainty, wondering how my life would unfold.

"So, how did everything turn out? Better than I ever imagined. Don't get me wrong, it was a brutal journey to say the least. It literally took every ounce of grit in me to make it this far. But it was so worth it. And now, I'm just so thankful. The UW was without a doubt the catalyst that catapulted me into my bright future. Thank you to all my friends, classmates, and amazing teachers — you mean the world to me! I love you all!

"Highlights since graduating ~10 years ago:

• Experience in design, development, brand and marketing, working across a variety of spaces such as digital, print, web, mobile, and gaming.
• Held multiple leadership positions in domestic Japanese, local, and global companies as Head of Design R&D, Head of UX & PX Strategy, Head of Digital Marketing & Brand, and others.
• Led or been a core member in the design, development, branding, and marketing of over a hundred projects, campaigns, websites, apps, and games across six languages and various industries including telecommunications, internet services, mobile gaming, education, and autonomous vehicle industry. All this work has had an incredible impact on business contributing to $50M+ in revenue, earning multiple awards and global recognition in the process.
• A pioneer in the design world, leading the integration of PX (games) and UX (sites, apps) design, as well as researching and working on products and services utilizing future, innovative, and disruptive technologies such as AI, IoT, DLT, NFT, and others to make a positive impact in people's lives and planet for a better, greener and more long-term value oriented future today.
• Worked as an advisor, educator, and teacher, helping companies transform from legacy thinking to modern-day strategy, theory and application, and individuals grow into their full potential making breakthroughs in their professional development.
• Educated and trained hundreds of students and employees in human & eco centered design, experience design (UX・UI・PX), evidence-driven design, design psychology, design thinking, lean UX, lean startup, brand, growth and digital marketing.
• Served as a design mentor at the University of Washington and Staffordshire University where he educated and provided career guidance for design students as they transitioned into the professional world, where they will create our amazing future.
• Founded my own company at the end of 2021 to provide personal and professional development services and education for design, brand, marketing, growth, and product to empower the next generation of thinkers & visionaries to dream big, live now, and inspire change.
• Struck a business partnership with a global Japanese company to sell my design courses. My first course releases next month.
• Multiple design seminars educating Japanese and people globally on UX, UI, and PX design.
• Featured in Japan as a global design expert talking about the future of design in Japan. The interview was in Japanese of course :) Read the interview. Translate it: https://www.deepl.com/ja/translator

Awards & accolades

• Multiple Google Play and App Store features for mobile games: "Featured game", "Top charts"
• Global Carrier Awards 2018: "Best marketing team"

Publications

Professional and academic design publications in English and Japanese. This includes a design education series on PX & UX design, and author of a joint paper with The University of Tokyo on affective computing on mental health (gaming IoT for healthcare).