About
Designer by title, engineer by habit, founder by choice.
I'm Dongho Koo, a product and UX architect in San Mateo, California. For twenty years I've worked at the seam between design and engineering: architecting experiences, prototyping them in code, and shipping them to tens of millions of people.
Now
Since July 2025 I've been the founder of DNNR Tech, where I build and run AI-powered consumer products on iOS and Android, more than twenty so far. I lead every step myself: opportunity identification, UX architecture, design, implementation, launch, analytics, and iteration. AI-assisted workflows (Gemini, Codex, Claude Code) accelerate the concept, prototyping, content, and operational work, which is how one person keeps that many products alive with the quality bar intact. The case One person, 20+ apps describes the system.
Before
Phygtl (2024–2025). Founding head of design and product at a generative-AI social startup that turned user-generated content into immersive 3D experiences. I architected the foundational UX, creator tools, onboarding, and community mechanics in an early, ambiguous environment where the product definition moved every month.
Samsung Electronics (2010–2023). Thirteen years on both sides of the product. I started as an Android UI framework engineer (font engines, themes, transitions across 100M+ devices), moved to the input framework (keyboard and handwriting), then into design: architecting the design system for Samsung's Tizen platforms across mobile, wearable, and TV, leading product design for PhoneCast VR, and finally leading the AR design team behind the AI avatar platform used by 20M+ people a month, including partnerships with Disney and other IP holders.
Earlier. Product manager for a cloud learning platform, full-stack developer of a virtual TOEFL exam system, systems engineer building military training simulators, and co-founder of a web agency at the start of it all.
Education and recognition
- Master of Design, University of California, Berkeley (MDes Distinguished Scholarship, 2021).
- MS in Technology Innovation, University of Washington (HCI-equivalent program; MSTI Scholarship, 2021).
- iF Design Award, visual communication discipline, 2020, for Samsung AR Emoji.
- Patents: US20200401213A1 (also EP3705982A4, WO2019103350A1, KR20190058839A), adaptively configuring a VR user interface to the user's physical traits; US20160133228A1 (KR102255456B1), method and apparatus for controlling screen. Both with Samsung Electronics.
- Publications: Immersive Emotions: Translating Emotions Into Visualization, ACM MobileHCI 2022 · Demonstration of a low-cost EEG system providing on-demand communication for locked-in patients, IEEE GHTC 2021 · Methods of identifying touched areas have been wiped properly, ACM PETRA 2021 · Advent of Web 2.0 and FLEX, Expert Magazine (ISSN 1975-356X).
- Open Software Competition, bronze prize, 2008.
How I work with teams
I've led design teams and I've been the only designer in a room of engineers. What stays the same: I write the architecture down before the screens, I prototype in the real material as early as possible, and I bring data to the review instead of opinions. Because I can read and write the code, the distance between a design decision and a shipped one is short.
Outside work
I play golf badly enough to have built an app about it, and I use my own products every week, which is how most of the bugs get found.
Contact
Email boss@mrsap.com or find me on LinkedIn. US permanent resident, no sponsorship needed. I reply within a few business days.