Jihee Hwang helps organisations become more co-creative and people-centred, so they can imagine participatory futures together.
TrustYou, TWT, Science.LU, Beckelmann, MRI Essentials, AEOLUS, Algorigo, Seoul Design Governance, Just4vets, Weber Industrietechnik, Change Studio, Ringier HZ Insurance, BMAS, Digitas, Publisis , Service Design Network, Superblau
People trusted my work
My background spans AI product development, startups and public engagement. I have worked on Seoul's design governance programme, mobile participation for the City of Cologne, and the Civic Innovation Platform, a public-interest AI community initiated by Germany's Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS).
Across city projects, public initiatives and startups, I have seen the same thing: people shape better futures when they have room to pay attention first, to what is changing, to what they value and to each other. Mess & Muse brings that mindful, participatory way of working to founders, creatives and their teams, helping them find meaning in the mess and act on the values they share.
Design for People
Every strategy is made by people: a founder deciding alone, a team deciding together. I help them name what they value and want before they choose a direction, so the decisions that follow are ones they believe in and can carry. Most foresight work skips this step; I start with it.
Design for Society
Before Mess & Muse, I worked where design meets public life: Seoul’s design governance programme, mobile participation for the City of Cologne, and the Civic Innovation Platform, a public-interest AI community initiated by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. I still run participatory futures workshops with communities such as Service Design Drinks Seoul and the Creative Bureaucracy Festival.
Design for Business
For long-standing brands and founder-led companies, I turn signals of change into a clear direction, a position in the market and a concept ready to build. Then my network and I deliver it, from brand identity and website to content and events.
Seoul Design Award, Seoul Mayor’s Special Award, Philipps Design Challenge, Seoul 1st Ministry Prize, Hessen Ideen Wettwerb Finalist, Youth Social Entrepreneur Funding, Sign Language Barrier Free Service Design Challenge,
Honored to be awareded / listed, from Seoul to Germany, internationally.
IT Coding Bulgars 2025 Building purpose-driven Al Agents Service Design Drinks Cologne 2025 Next Gen Conference Post Talk Service Design Drinks Seoul Moderator, Facilitator Co-Designing Futures 2025 Ecosystem Tree Mapping 2024 Co-Strategy & Co-Vision 2024 Service Design & Al: Future role of Designers 2023 Next Gen Conference Moderator, Facilitator Dare to reflect Design Challenge 2023.2024.2025 This is HCD: Human-Centred Design Podcast 2024 Inside the Service Design Network's Young Talent Board Service Design Network Community Voices Podcast 2024 Young Blood: Community Voices 004 Service Design YAP Podcast 2024 Meet the Next Generation Service Designers Service Design Global Conference Interviewee 2024 Insider Interview with Jihee Hwang Service Design Jam Lima Design Mentor 2023 Tacito Podcast 2023 Designers in Al Service Design Global Conference Moderator 2022 Courage to Design for Good Learning Fest 2022 Moderator 2022
Presented.
Communities I’ve built and served
Service Design Network Young Talent Board, co-founder
The Young Talent Board helps students and young professionals connect to the Service Design Network, experiment and bring fresh thinking into the field. I co-founded it in 2021 with Jaidon Lalor, Juhi Mota and Sahar Nikzad and led its strategy and product work for four years. The 2024 Next Gen Conference, which I co-hosted, was backed by 33 partner organisations, including Deutsche Telekom and Accenture.
Service Design Drinks Seoul, co-founder
A non-profit design collective that brings universities, practitioners, social organisations and design councils together, in workshops for 25 to 80 people. In 2023 we ran research and a workshop on the future of service design and AI with 150 people.
Seoul Songpa District Youth Policy Network Committee, Committee Member
The network brings young residents into youth policy for Seoul’s Songpa District through four subcommittees. In labor & Economy, I’m shaping a proposal that connects young people taking a break from work with local small businesses, and gives young non-tech founders a shared base. The network presents its proposals to the district in December 2026.
