It’s our great pleasure to welcome Peter Jin Hong as an Artist in Residence! Peter, a graduate of both the Foundation and Digital Design programs, will be returning to these hallowed halls (or our hip warehouse) as both a VFS Digital Design Advisory Board Member and UX Lead at Google+ Photos.

Peter will be visiting with us from December 12th to the 14th. During his time here, Peter will inspire and collaborate with students. On Monday, Peter will sit in on Interactive Design 2 final presentations in the morning and join the Portfolio Preparation course in the afternoon to review the portfolios of our upcoming graduates. He’ll provide insight and guidance on how to package projects for interviewing success.

Tuesday starts with Peter participating in the Information Architecture 2 course to consult on user experience and IA project considerations. Then, it’s off to lunch with some very lucky students. In the late afternoon, Peter will be speaking at the Motion Showcase on his inspiring experiences as a UX professional.

On Wednesday, Peter will be conducting a Project Guidance Workshop in which term 4 students can show him initiatives in any state of completion to get conceptual, aesthetic and technical guidance. That evening, we’re proud to announce that Peter will be the keynote speaker at Appetizers talking on the topic of “Remembering We’re Human — Elusive Perspectives on a Career in UX“.

Peter is a well known name to many of us in Vancouver and Silicon Valley. He has been an award-winning Creative Director and User Experience pioneer at companies, such as Blast Radius, Tribal DDB, and Organic working for clients that include KAYAK, CarMax, AOL, Nike, EA, Sony, Honda, and BMW. Valuing mentorship, Peter has guided many promising individuals, who themselves have gone on to become successful creative directors for other renowned agencies, including R/GA, Wieden+Kennedy, Ogilvy, Publicis Modem, Critical Mass, Organic, and Tribal DDB, among others.

These days, Peter heads up UX at Google+ Photos having previously led the Google Search team. He is also the volunteer Creative Director at WellDone.org, a non-profit that helps developing communities source clean drinking water. The WellDone.org team recently won the top award at AIGA’s and CauseEffect.org’s 2011 Do-gooder Awards for transformative design for social change.

Social good initiatives really inspire Peter. In his words, “Yes, we have a small, scrappy group of volunteers that’s trying to change how non-profits can provide a more empowering and positive strategy to get people involved and educated… and excited about social good. Josh To is a compelling, young, prolific entrepreneur in the area of social good — he’s the founder of BruteLabs.org, and WellDone.org. We were introduced at Google and, a month later, I was in Malawi… directing a photoshoot and gathering footage for a documentary. That’s what changed everything… seeing that life was indeed hard, but that the villagers were working hard to dig their own wells, and so ready to celebrate when they were done. The logistics and the final few parts — metal/plastic hardware that we could easily get at Home Depot, but not in rural Africa — are the support they need. We don’t feel guilty bringing beer to a friend’s BYOB party… or buying gifts from a registry for a friend’s wedding. The well is just another celebration with people we care about. That was the insight — mutual celebration… DIY social good. Dig well. Live well. Repeat.”

Peter, we can’t wait for your visit! See you soon!!

For more information on Peter’s visit, check out VFS.com.