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.


About Me

Professional Work

Projects
· Physical Design & Manufacturing
· Digital UX Design (Web, Mobile, VR/AR)
· Jewelry Design
Facebook Communities

Product Design Intern
June — September 2022
Menlo Park, CA As a Sumer 2022 Product Design Intern for Facebook Groups, I played a central role in a variety of projects, in which one of them has launched in 3 countries and another was reviewed by Facebook leadership and impacted Meta's platforms as a whole.

I became highly adept at working and communicating with user research, content design, product management, engineering, and other designers. I also learned the heavy responsibilities that I, as a designer, hold in such an execution-driven and fast-paced environment. 


Gifts
Main intern projectBackground
The quality and frequency of member-generated content are central to the Facebook Communities experience. Users already show appreciation in various ways—through likes, reactions, comments, stickers, and external donations—making recognition a key part of the platform.

Challenge
How might we motivate high-value content creators to consistently post high-quality content, while giving community members and leaders more meaningful ways to show appreciation?

My Role + Impact
I led the redesign of the notification logic and designed an onboarding flow, which launched in Greece, Cambodia, and Colombia during my internship.

I also developed the Gifts system for admins, moderators, and group experts, laying the foundation for my team’s later exploration of the Special Gifts project.


United Appreciation System
2-week design sprint



Background
Multiple teams across Meta were independently exploring gift-giving at the time. Facebook Communities, my team, was one of the platforms leading the Gifts experience within the Facebook app.

Challenge
Parallel development across apps led to overlapping components and conflicting messaging, creating an inconsistent experience across Meta.

To solve this, we organized a two-week design sprint with another app team to create a unified appreciation system—aligning visuals, messaging, and user experience across platforms.

My Role
As the only intern, I helped drive cross-team alignment by translating our product vision, values, and UX to stakeholders.

I contributed to the exploration of gift-giving analogies, mapped logic & usability flows, and created the high-fidelity prototype presented to Meta leadership.