About Me

Hello, I'm Amanda Bui!

I began my journey by studying Marketing at California State University of Fullerton. I initially thought marketing would be the best way to blend my creative itch. I explored several opportunities in my career, until I stumbled upon a new path, UX/UI Design. It piqued my curiosity enough to propel me into the UX Academy at Designlab.

This new pursuit into product design feels more aligned with me, especially since it allows me to combine my marketing and creative knowledge.
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Effectively communicating and organizing means a lot to me. I want to help where I can.
I hope this translates into my works while adding some aesthetic shine to a design.

Fun fact: I love tofu! I also enjoy drawing digitally when I can.

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my story

early youth and into college

I was born and raised in Southern California, USA. There was so much culture around me, especially all sorts of good food! I felt that I naturally wanted to explore and learn more.

Inspired by all my cartoon media consumption, I enjoyed drawing and story-writing when I could. I also dabbled in video editing at some point.

In high school, I spent most of my time being involved in Red Cross, tennis, and art class (i.e. AP Photography or Computer Graphics). My passion for art was evident, so I thought it would be best to pursue Animation upon entering California State University of Fullerton.

Within the first two years of college, I learned that I did not want to art to be the only focus of my career. I discovered that I enjoyed organizing and understanding behavior! I switched to Marketing since I thought it would be a better balance for creativity and making use of my other skills and interests.

In my Marketing classes, learned a lot about e-commerce and other business concepts. I had other core classes like sociology and critical thinking. Those classes resonated with me and confirmed my enjoyment for organizing and understanding people. It's so fascinating!
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The opportunities that also helped solidify my feelings were:

Working in retail and food
Being in Pi Sigma Epsilon, a sales and marketing organization
Assisting a small business as a Graphic Designer for 3 months

Part of the latter half of my schooling involved adapting to the coronavirus pandemic. It was an interesting time to be part of a fully online-learning format. In January 2021, I graduated college.

exploration after graduation

My post-graduate experience included spending time refining my drawing skills, since the quarantine was still in effect due to the pandemic. During this time, I managed to land opportunities to work alongside with a few small businesses.

An art colleague contacted me to request for my help with their online art shop. They knew I had a background in marketing, so I was able to put my newly learned e-commerce knowledge to the test. I learned a lot working alongside them, which then inspired me to open my own art shop in April 2021.

I created my own merchandise, but also learned to resource my own suppliers, utilize Shopify, manage my website, and curate my social media posts. It is a lot of work for one person! I understood why there are so many departments that handle a business. As a small business owner, you do your best with what you have and give it all you got!

The fun part of my art shop is, of course, the illustrating portion. It is exciting to bring your own creations to life! I feel extremely honored when people would buy my stickers, pins, charms, and poster prints when I sell at conventions or night markets.

a rare opportunity and career endeavors

Besides working on my art shop, I thought to take up a second job in May 2021 as a Candy Artist for Candy Kingdom. We focused on catering events and managing the Etsy storefront. I thought my boss was joking about being on Hulu, until "Candified: Home for the Holidays" did happen.

It was an unscripted reality TV series, so I made my own improv. You can see me as one of the main cast members, "Mandy the New Girl!" I was able to facilitate candy sculpture projects in accordance with Hulu's deadlines. I met so many fun creatives on set! I was grateful to partake in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

After the project ended, I sought a job in corporate. I worked as an Administrative Assistant for Phrontier Technologies. There, I created purchase orders, invoices, and received bills using accounting software PeachTree. I also maintained the company websites and e-commerce storefronts while fostering strong business relations with customers and suppliers.

During this time, I realized that I wanted to do more than just clerical work. Since I worked with several websites, I thought my interest lied in coding. However with further research, I eventually stumbled upon UI/UX Design.

present time

I wanted to learn more about UX/UI Design, and thankfully got acquainted with people who had taken a bootcamp for it. They shared their experiences with me. I decided to go with Designlab due to their strong mentorship program and being more financially within my means.

I took Designlab's Foundation Course and I loved it! Since it only focused on user interface (UI) and visual design, I wanted to learn more. This led me to take the next step of applying to Designlab's UX Academy. My submission passed with flying colors and I was able to enroll in Designlab's UX Academy!

You can see all the projects I had done:
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‍Product Design | UI Design | Freelance

Throughout this journey, I learned that all of my past experiences creates an interesting lens for UX research I would conduct. Learning more about UX research concepts helped further develop my knowledge of communication and understanding of others. I also learned how I can pour my art passion into the UI Design, while adding that touch of organization that I enjoy doing!

At the moment, I am working as an dental office manager, but I am actively seeking product design opportunities. Please let me know if I can help you out in any way!

connect with me

Here are my links. I would love to connect with you!
My art links are also included if you would like to see what I do in my free time.