John Hong
San Francisco, CA
I’m a product designer working at the intersection of hardware and software. Whether it’s a machine interface, mobile/web app, or a physical product, I design experiences that put people at the center of innovation.
My background spans physical and digital domains, enabling me to conceive and execute holistic solutions across mediums. I hold a BS in Product Design (HCI focus) and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, where I specialized in physical product design and manufacturing.
Currently, I’m a Product Design Engineer at Sanas.AI, designing the future of interlingual communication.
Projects
Sanas
is an AI startup (Series B) delivering real-time accent translation and noise cancellation, currently deployed to enhance communication in contact centers and enterprise settings worldwide.
As a product design engineer, I’m designing the end-to-end experience of the future of interlingual communication.Aug 2025 — Current
BrewBird
is a Sequoia-backed Series A1 startup designing whole-bean-pod-to-cup B2B coffee machines, currently deployed in Bay Area offices of Meta, Rivian, Intuitive, and others.
As a product design engineer, I streamlined multiple facets of the end-to-end product and user journies (quality control & testing, maintenance, sales, education, end-user experience, etc.) through design and engineering efforts.
Jun 2025 — Aug 2025
3 months
Intern
Jun 2024 — Sep 2024
3 months
Poursteady PS2
Led the UX and interaction design of the PS2 (commercial pour-over coffee machine), delivering an intuitive experience to cafes for creating and brewing complex pour-over coffee recipes on a 128x64 OLED monochrome display + rotary knob.
Silicon Valley UX Awards 2024
Runner Up
Core77 Design Awards 2024
Notable
-> Case Study
Jun 2023 — Sep 2023
3 months
Facebook Communities
Designed UI/UX while coordinating cross-functional collaboration to successfully implement notification logic for Facebook’s Gifts, enabling launches in Greece, Cambodia, and Colombia.
Sole intern in a cross-team design sprint, with my work showcased to Meta’s leadership. Utilized Figma, Origami, and Protopie to create high-fidelity designs and prototypes for both mobile and web.
-> Case Study
Jun 2022 — Sep 2022
3 months
Sparkademy
Designed 0 to 1 the UI/UX of Sparkademy’s (B2B ed-tech startup with active users from Cargill, Siemens, Philip Morris International, etc.) end-user-facing and internal platforms for web. and engagement tracking.
Shipped products that increased average NPS score from -4 to 20 (during employment—in the 80 range as of 2022), increased grading efficiency by 55%, decreased user clarification requests by 85%.
-> Case Study
Jun 2020 — Jul 2021
13 months