Connecting the Dots: Yunmie's Story

Connecting the Dots: Yunmie's Story (Text Version)

Hi, my name is Yunmie, one of the co-founders of StoryTribe. I thought I'd tell you a little bit about me today.

I've loved drawing since I was a child. Life had its challenges, but I found peace when I was drawing. It was my safe place. When I drew happy faces, I began feeling happy. When I drew people having fun, I was having fun, too. It was like magic.

So I wanted to become someone who draws & paints for a living when I grow up. In Korea, comics industry was thriving, and being a comic artist became my dream.

But as I got older, I had to find a 'real' job. Being a comic artist and making enough money was tough, and I couldn't take that risk.

Building a career wasn't easy, but eventually, I discovered my passion and talent in User Experience. Recognising my analytical skills and interest in psychology, I decided to invest all my time in becoming a UX specialist. Whilst I enjoyed it, I found myself drifting further away from drawing.

Occasionally, I would draw portraits and even published a couple of children's books as a side hustle, but it remained just that - a side hustle.

And then, one day, I met David, who had a lot in common with me. He had a passion for visual art and had been building digital products for over 20 years. We wanted to do a project together, recognising the potential for a dedicated tool for professional storyboarding, such as UX storyboards. Our initial step was to begin with a prototype.

We named the tool 'StoryTribe' and decided to build in public, so our progress was shared regularly on Social Media platforms. Soon, our posts started going viral, and millions of people began watching, liking and sharing our content all over the world.

Last week, following a year and a half of collaboration, we finally launched StoryTribe to the public. StoryTribe is a digital application that gives people the ability to illustrate without any drawing skills. With StoryTribe, we envision a world where everyone can illustrate effortlessly, just like using their first language.

There's a famous talk by Steve Jobs about Connecting the Dots. 'You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards,' he said. And this is the moment I feel like my dots are connected, finally. All the time I spent drawing during my teenage years, the years I devoted to working in UX and digital products, and gaining an international perspective by moving countries numerous times, now make sense to me.

All the joys, pains, and learnings I've experienced have found meaning in the world of StoryTribe.

Not everyone is born with artistic talent or has the luxury of dedicating countless hours to polish their drawing skills. It would be an honour to help those who want to experience the joy and satisfaction that drawing can bring.

StoryTribe is available to anyone for free. So, come and join the Tribe. We look forward to having you onboard to build the dream together.