# Christina M. Nguyen > Building an interactive encyclopedia for everything you’ve been taught that has been disproven or was always untrue. Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/christinamnguyen I'm a UX designer currently building a website concept that's been going viral on social media for years: "you input the year you graduated high school and the website generates a list of "facts" and concepts that have since been disproven." Many have tried, no one has succeeded. Will I be the first? Stay tuned to find out. The website is http://theretrocodex.com, which is currently in a read-only beta mode while the interactive features are under way. I'm currently building the user dashboard, which looks similar to Substack. Think of this site as an encyclopedia of commonly taught untrue facts you may have learned in school or everyday life, such as "human blood is actually blue until it's exposed to oxygen". Since the evolution of educational material varies so much by region, the original prompt wasn't feasible. I've been using my design skills to make the topics discoverable in other ways, such as sorting them by subject rather than year they were disproven. At this time, only a few topics on the homepage have full entries with cited sources. All content on the site is supported by solid empirical research. Do reach out if you'd like to work together though! I designed my first website in 2004 as a kid who wanted to make a "shrine" for their favorite cartoon characters. Now in 2026, I'm in design to solve business and user problems while delivering an intuitive, easy experience. Even before I knew product design was a career option, I've always had a design thinking approach to solving all kinds of problems throughout life. ## Work Experience ### UX Designer @ SF Civic Tech Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Currently redesigning the website for SF Civic Tech to better align with organizational and volunteer goals, such as increasing donations and promoting events. Will be working on new product features such as a job board later on. ### Product Designer @ freelance Jan 2020 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area (This mainly includes volunteer positions, hackathon projects, and personal projects to be later publicized.) Leadership: led product design at multiple hackathons which I had to present in front of audiences of varying sizes. User research: drafts user research plans and interview questions, conducts research and A/B testing interviews. Teamwork: designs low and high-fidelity prototypes, creates user personas and design systems, and collaborates with other designers to refine designs for convenient, error-proof, and inclusive usability. Projects are mainly B2C in the nonprofit sector, such as Code for America. ### UX Designer @ SM Innovations Jan 2020 – Present | Los Angeles Metropolitan Area [Note: I left the company in August 2024 for the career breaks described below and returned on a part-time basis in May 2025.] SM Innovations is a technology consulting company based in LA primarily building customized digital solutions for the financial services, transportation, and hospitality industries on top of Salesforce. In this position, I: 🗺 created user journey maps for prospective users, performing secondary user research and interviewing subject matter experts 📝 designed Salesforce configurations (for a variety operations such as sales management) based on such research 📝 designed internal knowledge hub for new salespeople and project managers to familiarize them with company operations and subject matter expertise, such as putting together resources on Salesforce configurations for banks specifically 👩‍💼 led offshore team of developers through building the company website ✨ initiated and prototyped generative AI chatbot project (I left before this could be developed and launched) 📊 designed marketing collateral using UX/UI principles ### Marketing Coordinator, Copywriter @ Self-Employed Jan 2018 – Jan 2024 | Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Strategized and created social media posts , created infographics, copywriting short and long-form blog posts. Includes some volunteering positions. ### UX/UI Designer @ Hack for LA Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | Los Angeles Metropolitan Area - Contributed to user research plans, particularly in writing interview and survey questions - Analyzed survey data to determine insights - Conducted user interviews and focus groups to understand how to improve the user journey - Created empathy maps and user personas to explore user backgrounds in a deep and complex way - Designed low and high-fidelity mockups, particularly submission forms and member profile pages - Assisted with developing standardized style guides Portfolios: dribbble.com/Christina555245 madebychristina.space ### Marketing Manager @ Irose Social Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Greater Los Angeles Area - Coordinated influencer partnerships and marketing campaigns with a variety of large fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands - Coordinated experiential events to promote clients in person - Conducted influencer vetting and outreach - B2B lead generation and nurturing for new clients - Assisted with social media management - Wrote pitch and information decks ### Order Processor @ Compex Legal Services Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | Greater Los Angeles Area I took this position because I was considering going to law school and was studying for the LSAT before deciding to pursue a creative career instead. While studying for the LSAT, I reviewed requests for legal subpoenas and performed phone or online research to gather adequate information to help coordinate proper delivery to the correct facilities. ### Operations Assistant @ Tax Credit Co. Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Los Angeles Metropolitan Area TEMP POSITION. Assisted a busy operations team processing a high volume of applications for tax credits. Entered in applicant info into the appropriate governmental websites and assisted with various projects such as mailing. ### Nonprofit development assistant @ It Gets Better Project Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Los Angeles Assisted with event planning and coordination by researching venues, brainstorming program plans, presentation topics, and other topics as assigned. Translated presentations and other materials from Spanish and Portuguese to English. Monitored and reported relevant current events from all over the world and by affiliates. ### Legal assistant @ Mil Mujeres Legal Services Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Los Angeles, CA Served the undocumented Hispanic communities by helping to provide temporary visas for women who had been victims of domestic violence. Organized client files, drafted letters of various requests from Mexican Consulate and USCIS, updated client logs daily. Typical file clerk duties. Reviewed court documents and police reports to fill out forms. Spoke to clients and their families while paralegals were busy. See http://milmujeres.org ### Research Assistant @ UC Santa Barbara Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Santa Barbara, California Assisted a graduate student on preparing for academic conferences and other events, including putting together research documents. Studied collective action and punishment as well as gaining experience on ethically dealing with human subjects and confidentiality. ### Fellow @ Office of the President @ Associated Students of UC Santa Barbara Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | Santa Barbara, CA Assisted the university student body president with various social justice projects regarding tuition prices, sexual harassment, and other student rights. Also attended many workshops and conferences on student issues, including social discrimination. Lobbied at the state capitol building on behalf of increasing spending on education and decreasing spending on prisons. ## Education ### Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, Sociology UC Santa Barbara ### Study abroad in Psychology, Law, Criminology Utrecht University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/christina-m-nguyen-0655a9b2 - Portfolio: https://madebychristina.space --- Source: https://flows.cv/christinamnguyen JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/christinamnguyen/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13