JENNA JEEYOON KIM

Jenna is Senior Product Designer at The New York Times Games team and formerly Gameplay Column Art Director at The New York Times. She specializes in creating cohesive, consistent, and clear systems within products and design team and shaping visual language with a understanding of UX principles and user behavior. Her passion lies in system thinking* and visual design1. 

On Weekends, she works as Bookstore Associate at Standards Manual in Greenpoint, Brooklyn—an independent publisher by Order Design dedicated to preserving the history of design and making it accessible to everyone. Come say hello anytime!

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ABOUT 
The New York Times Games

Onboarding Experience, 2025 

Designing a subscriber experience to help users recognize the value of Games Subscription.


 Currently, I’m working on reimaging the user journey and art direction of onboarding experience of Games Subscription. 

Art Direction, UI/UX, User Journey

Progress Icons, 2024 – 25

A series of icons from unplayed to completed states for users to track their game progress.


With the launch of the new NYT Games app, I led the execution of these icons. The icons were used within Game cards, Games Archives, Spelling Bee Past Puzzles, Me Tab, and Congrats Moments. It also created a framework for designers to create progress icons for future games.

Read my case study

Art Direction, Visual Design1, UI/UX


Dark Mode for Games, 2025

Designed a dark display setting for users to play our games in low light environments


As the lead designer, I led the strategy and execution of Dark Mode feature. We launched dark mode for Connections, Letter Boxed, Strands, Spelling Bee, and Tiles. After the launch, 96% of users interacted with the feature.

Accessibility, Visual Design1, UI/UX

Play Tab within Newsreader App, 2022

Designed MVP of Play Tab to help users find our games easily within the Newsreader App

 
I led the visual design & strategy of the tab. After the launch, we increased the first week retention rate of new app subscribers by 8% and increased the number of weekly game plays by 11%.


UI/UX, Collaboration with News Team 


Playbook, 2021 – ongoing...

Developing design systems with components and tools to support crossfunctional teams to have more streamlined process and to make The New York Times Games more cohesive.


Within the launch of Playbook, Games Team was able to develop dark mode feature in five months. Currently, all squads within Games Team is moving towards using Playbook. 


Design Systems, System Thinking1, Accessibility, Writing



Gameplay Column Art Direction, 2021 – 2023

Commissioned artists to pair artworks with game editorials 


I commissioned artists to work on projects like Solver Stories, showing people’s stories with their relationship to games or special editorial projects like Chess Series and How to Play Royal Games of UR. 

The NYT Open Article, 2020

How New York Times Interns Built a Game


Read the article here.


Games Toolbars, 2025

Standardized and created a system for navigation within gameboards 


 With this toolbar system work, squads within Games Team easily knew where new features like Sudoku new settings go under the sections of the toolbars. 

UI/UX, System Design

Envisioning Hamburger Menu, 2025

Created a strategy for how Hamburger Menu be developed into a place beyond discovering the games you want to play


 After the vision work, Games Team was able to experiment various designs for acquisition and conversion such as Games Sale and general subscription CTAs. 

UI/UX, System Design



Spelling Bee iOS Widgets, 2020

Experimented with iOS 14 Widgets from WWDC2 on Spelling Bee to remind players where they are in game progress


The New York Times Maker Week is an annual event where employees from different disciplines are given an opportunity to collaborate on self directed projects. For my maker week project, I had an opportunity to experiment with iOS 14 widgets for Spelling Bee, the New York Times game for finding pangram.

Research, System Thinking1, Visual Design2, UX Design
Personal Projects

AIGA Design Census, 2020

A data-driven design tool kit to inform, encourage, and empathize with young designers


Each year, AIGA makes raw survey data about design industry for designers and researchers to review the chart or visualize. 

Art Direction, Visual Design1,Illustration



Dissemination of Komorebi, 2025


An interactive book about spreading of the idea of komorebi, seeing light within darkness (ko means tree, more means to escape from, bi means sun.)

Book Design, Visual Design1

Mi, 2025

Mi means beauty in Korean; a monthly magazine intersecting beauty and culture, challenging and expanding traditional standards of Korean beauty. 

Print Design, Visual Design1


Londom Smoking Prevalence, 2021


Londoners’ tobacco consumptions are very high; people are smoking everywhere from bars to universities. Through data visualization, the booklet prevents habitual smoking by depicting the relationship between habitual smoking and mortality rates.

Print Design, Visual Design1


© Jenna Jeeyoon Kim, 2025.
Interested in my process & case studies? Let’s talk