I am an interaction designer and engineer exploring future experience at the boundary of physical and digital world. I am aspired to leverage the power of computation to improve ways people collaborate, learn, create, and play. Ranging from augmented reality to an interactive fashion product, my work has been awarded, patented, exhibited at museums, featured in major media, released as mass market products, and presented at top academic conferences and TED. In my spare time, I travel, draw, take photos of nature, and meditate. Extended CV can be found here.

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Experience
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer
Feb 2017
- Present
Spatial

Building the future of work with immersive computing technologies

Principal Designer & Engineer, Head of Interaction Group
Mar 2015
- Jan 2017
Samsung Electronics, Visual Display Division

Directing a team of developers and designers creating new experience, interaction mod- els, strategies, and services for multiple products through iterative prototyping. Led the creation of MediaSquare (showcased at CES) - a playful and novel way to experience media in room-scale, multi-user environments. Recently led the joint effort on Dreem, an open-source prototyping and authoring tool for the roomscale visual computing environment unveiled at Samsung Developer Conference.

Sr. Engineer (Alternative Military Service), Head of IV Lab
Mar 2014
- Feb 2015
Samsung Electronics, Visual Display Division

Designed and patented key interaction behaviours for 2015, 2016 Samsung TV. Led the UX and UI Concept Design and prototyping of 2015 Samsung TV. Established Iterative prototyping processes for UI Design and Development team.

Engineer (Alternative Military Service), UI Designer
Aug 2012
- Feb 2014
Samsung Electronics, Visual Display Division

Conducted research and design of fluid and scalable content browsing experience inculding award-winning STRIPE project. Concept prototyping of new screen based experience and new input devices.

Research Intern
Jun 2011
- Sep 2011
Microsoft Applied Sciences Group

Designed and developed SpaceTop, a computer that lets you reach inside the screen with your hands and interact with the surface and 3D space. SpaceTop was recognized as one of the first attempts to situate AR in the desktop environment, published to CHI conference, and invited to present at the TED stage.

Research Assistant
Sep 2009
- Aug 2012
MIT Media Lab, Tangible Media Group

Multiple research projects and inventions including ZeroN, a physical pixel that levitates and moves freely about, allowing users to physically manipulate data in three-dimensional space. Presented at CHI conference and exhibited at MIT Museum.

Research Intern
Aug 2008
- Oct 2008
Sony Computer Science Laboratories

Developed a mobile AR application that recognizes buildings in the street based on the aggregation of their 2D images with a planar object detection algorithm. Advisor: Jun Rekimoto

Education
Master of Sciences in Media Arts and Sciences
Sep 2009
- Jun 2011
MIT Media Lab, Tangible Media Group

Master Thesis: Mid-Air tangible interaction enabled by computer controlled magnetic levitation. Advisor: Hiroshi Ishii

Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences
Sep 2011
- Aug 2012
MIT Media Lab, Tangible Media Group

Put on hold after the first year to serve alternative Korean military service at Samsung Electronics

B.E. in Electronic Engineering
Apr 2005
- Mar 2009
The University of Tokyo

Bachelor Thesis project: Bloxels - Glowing Blocks as Volumetric Pixels, demonstrated at SIGGRAPH Emerging technologies Exhibition.

Selected Awards
  • World Economic Forum’s Young Gloabl Leader of 2015 List
  • 2015
  • TED Fellowship
  • 2013
  • IF Design Awards - SpaceTop, ZeroN, STRIPE
  • 2013-2016
  • Red Dot Award - Bradley Timepiece
  • 2016
  • Davinci Award - Bradley Timepiece
  • 2014
  • CES Innovation Award - Samsung Smart TV
  • 2015
  • London Design Museum’s Design of the year - Bradley
  • 2014
  • Forbes' 30 under 30 Asia - Consumer Tech
  • 2016
Selected Papers
  • Jinha Lee, Alex Olwal, Hiroshi Ishii, and Cati Boulanger. SpaceTop: Integrating 2D and Spatial 3D Interaction in See-through Desktop Environment. CHI 2013.
  • 2013
  • Jinha Lee, Rehmi Post, and Hiroshi Ishii. 2011. ZeroN: mid-air tangible interaction enabled by computer controlled magnetic levitation. UIST 11
  • 2011
  • Jinha Lee, Seungcheon Baek. Elastic Cursor and Elastic Edge: Applying Simulated Resistance to Interface Elements for Seamless Edge-scroll. UIST '15 Demo
  • 2015
  • Daniel Leithinger, Sean Follmer, Samuel Luescher, Alex Olwal, Akimitsu Hogge, Jinha Lee, and Hiroshi Ishii. SUBLIMATE: State-Changing Virtual and Physical Rendering to Augment Interaction with Shape Displays. CHI 2013
  • 2013
Skills and Tools

User Experience and Interface Design, Creative Direction, HCI Research, Concept Prototyping, Iterative Software and Hardware Prototyping.

  • Software: C++, C#, Openframeworks, XNA Processing, Javascript, ThreeJS, Unity
  • Graphic and UI Design Tool: Adobe Suites, sketch, zeplin, flinto, form.
  • 3D Design: Rhino, Solidworks & Fabrication tools for mock-ups and circuits.
  • Firmware Dev: PIC microcontroller programming, arduino.
Ted Talk



  • work