What does the day-to-day look like for you as an illustrator and designer?

My work day starts nearly the same everyday; I get up at 8am, make myself a huge pot of coffee, take my pup out, and will usually make my way into the office before 9am. I typically spend my mornings doing all the more business-related tasks: replying to emails, sending project agreements, managing my schedule, etc. Once it hits 12pm, like clockwork I take my lunch and hangout in my living room for the next hour or so, catching up on any shows and checking my phone. The afternoon is typically where all the creative work happens for me, 1-5pm is reserved for larger sprints on projects: identity ideation, working on custom illustrations, website development, just about anything else! If I finish a little bit early, this is when I'll squeeze in time for scheduling and making new posts for Instagram. Around 5-6pm I'll call it a day and spend the rest of the evening enjoying some much-needed time and good food with my pup and partner! Now, I'll say this is the ideal day and it of course doesn't always go as planned...some days I'll be up at 6am hustling to make a deadline that morning, working through my lunch because I'm too into a project, or even spending 2 hours of my afternoon just staring out the window cause I'm in a particularly bad creative block. As much as my day is planned and typically works in my favor, it's an unfortunate reality of working in the creative industry that some days are better than others.

I’d love to hear a bit about your story as a woman of color in this space! How has your identity shaped your experience?

Absolutely! As a Korean American who grew up in a predominantly white town, my identity has largely been tied to my experience in discovering myself as a person and an artist, both for good and bad. I was always painstakingly aware that I didn’t fit in growing up, no doubt reminded by microaggressions and perpetuations of the model minority myth through school, work, and interpersonal relationships. When I first started working in the design industry and moved to Portland, I was very optimistic about it. It was a bigger city, there were more people, places, and opportunities for me...but after a few years of working at different companies, going through the interviewing/hiring process again and again, it all left me with the same uncomfortable feelings. When I applied for jobs, I would rarely make it past the phone interview stage, and when I did, nearly all of my expertise and work was consistently called into question immediately. According to post interview feedback, I was never a “good culture fit” to all white agencies. When I got a job, I didn’t work with people who looked like me, or even acknowledged my experience. I had coworkers who were blatantly misogynistic/racist and there wasn’t a system to voice any of this without retaliation. But I will say that my experience is no doubt less severe being a light-skinned Korean woman compared to the experience of darker-skinned BIPOC, but there’s no doubt similarities in experiences from women of color I’ve heard time and time again. There’s always been this sort of patronization that’s loomed over my design career as a woman in tech - simultaneously too naive and docile to know what I’m talking about but also too demanding and headstrong when I do speak and have confidence. This is only amplified tenfold being a woman of color as well.

Tell me about your passion for the intersection of illustration and social justice! What is the power behind art for you? And, what topics do you often illustrate about?

Yes, I am such an avid believer in the power of design and illustration in the social justice space! First of all, art has the uncanny ability to capture these incredibly nuanced topics in visually pleasing arrangements that speak to us and hold our attention. And it certainly helps that they look pretty too! We know that visuals are a great aid in education: powerpoints, picture books, diagrams, etc. The juxtaposition of artwork with effectively communicated messages can go even further to communicate ideas and make topics easier to understand. This is exactly why art and design is leveraged so heavily in the commercial space, primarily to sell us things we don’t need, but who’s to say we can’t be leveraging art in ways to better our society? And I don’t say that to discredit the many people who have been utilizing art to do just that throughout the years, but I think there’s so much more potential in using art to strengthen social justice efforts, and particularly how the design industry plays an active role in initiating that. It’s why I’ve found a special place in creating artwork for social justice education and awareness as a designer; I frequently speak to topics on anti-racism, environmentalism, and women’s equality most often because these issues affect me, my friends, and my community.

Top 3 books on your shelf right now.

Oooh, that is such a hard one! Honestly, I have a neverending collection of books with a dozen books I haven’t even touched yet because I can never prioritize my time outside of work. But, I will say some books that are next on my list to read are ​Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, The Book of Delights, ​and ​What a Time to Be Alone. H​ ere’s to me actually finishing those in the next couple months!

What do you always have nearby when working from home (WFH essentials)?

Of course! I’d say first a giant cup of coffee, I go through a literal full pot everyday, rightfully so! Along those lines, a kitchen stocked with good snacks for the day (almonds, little fruits, sweets) because brain food is a must. I don’t know if this is an appropriate answer...but definitely my dog; his bed is adjacent to my desk at the perfect height for mid-day pets as needed (which is often!). Productivity wise, I live for a second desktop monitor to organize all my tabs, an iPad to visualize notes, and a good pair of blue-light glasses to keep my eyes from frying all day long. And probably most important of all is access to outside and plenty of light; for me that looks like a giant window in my office with a bench in front that I stare out on my breaks to get out of my digital headspace a bit.

Thank you so much for chatting with me, Courtney! Lastly, for those looking to follow along with your content and support you, where can they find you and what does supporting you look like?

Of course, it was such a pleasure to be interviewed, and you are too kind! You can find me on Instagram primarily (@CourtneyAhnDesign), and on other platforms like Facebook (/CourtneyAhnDesign), Twitter (@CourtneyAhnDes), and Pinterest (@CourtneyAhnDesign).