Blog Posts

From design breakdowns and advice to industry trends, this is where I share ideas, insights, and inspiration.

A behind-the-scenes look at my creative world.

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Visual Storytelling, UX UI Ashley Smith Visual Storytelling, UX UI Ashley Smith

Good Design Isn’t an Accident, It’s a Science

Picture this: you’re scrolling through Instagram and spot a product that catches your eye. One tap leads to the brand’s site, another tap adds it to your cart, and before you know it, you’ve just made an impulse purchase, for something you don’t need, during your lunch break. That seamless flow from seeing to buying isn’t random. It’s behavioral design in action.

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Visual Storytelling, Design Ashley Smith Visual Storytelling, Design Ashley Smith

PopTart’s Reverse Mood Board

When you open the PopTart website, you’re instantly hit with happy, nostalgic energy. The colors, the playful typography, even the small details all make you feel like a kid again. It’s carefree, exciting, and makes you ready for breakfast.

I created a reverse mood board, a design exercise where you work backward to analyze an existing brand or website to uncover the visual and emotional choices behind it.

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Visual Storytelling Ashley Smith Visual Storytelling Ashley Smith

Feeling Over Function

For a long time, “good design” was defined by how easy something was to use. Clean interfaces, intuitive buttons, and logical layouts were considered the standard of UX. But usability alone doesn’t guarantee a meaningful experience.

Because in the end, user experience isn’t about what people do on a screen, it’s about how they feel while using it.

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Visual Storytelling Ashley Smith Visual Storytelling Ashley Smith

Designing What Doesn’t Exist (Yet)

When I played The Thing from the Future, my cards dealt me a strange mix: Collapse Future, Zoo, and Candy. At first, it felt impossible to connect them, but that’s exactly the fun of it. After some brainstorming, I imagined Creature Candy: brightly colored animal-shaped sweets that give people temporary powers in a post-collapse world.

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Visual Storytelling Ashley Smith Visual Storytelling Ashley Smith

Photographed Pockets of Peace in the City

Most cities never stop moving. There is a constant hum of traffic, chatter, sirens, and footsteps that soon blend into your usual rhythm. Recently moving to New York City, I’ve gotten more comfortable with that background noise and constant motion. With that said, I’ve also learned to look for something else: quiet moments tucked between the chaos.

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Digital Product Ashley Smith Digital Product Ashley Smith

Week 3 of Building my Digital Product

After weeks of building, refining, and polishing, my digital product is complete and almost ready for launch.

The Study Abroad in Korea Survival Kit started as an idea to make studying in Seoul less overwhelming for future students, and now it’s a designed, interactive resource packaged for the market.

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Digital Product Ashley Smith Digital Product Ashley Smith

Week 2 of Building my Digital Product

If the early weeks of building my Study Abroad in Korea Survival Kit were about getting all my ideas on paper, this past week was about refining them into something that actually looks and feels like a real product.

The “middle mile” of development is tricky and it’s easy to feel stuck between drafting and final polish. But it’s also where the biggest progress happens.

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Digital Product Ashley Smith Digital Product Ashley Smith

Week 1 of Building my Digital Product

The first week of building my Study Abroad in Korea Survival Kit has been an eye-opening experience.

I went in thinking the hardest part would be coming up with content, but the bigger challenge was narrowing down what truly belongs in my MVP (minimum viable product) versus what can wait as “nice-to-have” extras.

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Digital Product Ashley Smith Digital Product Ashley Smith

My Product Concept Evolution

In Week 1, I explored three possible digital products: a Social Media Template Bundle, an Academic Planner, and a Korea Travel Kit. That stage was all about understanding the market and identifying opportunities where I could apply both design and personal experience.

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Social Media Ashley Smith Social Media Ashley Smith

HQ Pages = New Fan Clubs

Have you ever felt like your favorite artist deserves more hype, more love, more visibility? That’s how I felt after seeing BIBI live in Seoul. Her creativity, charisma, and connection with fans…

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