Résumé
Yumie Toka · Global Product Design Leader
Consumer & Enterprise Platforms · Design Systems · AI-Augmented Design
Atlanta, GA · ytoka3@gmail.com · LinkedIn · Native Japanese / English
Designs platforms, products, and the teams behind them. Most recently Sr. Director, Global Product Design at VIDAA, the smart TV OS behind Hisense and 400+ partner brands in 180 countries. Before that, 0-to-1 design for CNNgo at CNN Digital. A record of making complex platforms feel like one coherent experience: consumer journeys, design systems, accessibility, and the partner tools behind them. At VIDAA, built the design team from one to eleven at peak, as monthly users grew from 14M to 45M+ in three years.
Capabilities
Design leadership & org building · Product & UX strategy · Vision concepts & storytelling (CES, IFA) · Design systems & governance · Accessibility (WCAG AA) · Consumer journeys & onboarding · Partner & co-branded platforms · CTV ad tools · Cross-functional leadership · AI-augmented design · US–Japan cross-border
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Experience
2021 to 2026
V (formerly VIDAA USA, Inc.)
Sr. Director, Global Product Design · Alpharetta, GA Smart TV OS and content platform powering Hisense and 400+ OEMs, 465 employees in 11 countries- Built a global design org from scratch: one designer to eleven at peak, across five time zones, spanning UX research, UX, UI, and motion design, plus freelance content writers. Defined team structure, hiring, and culture.
- From power-on to everyday use: designed the end-to-end big-screen experience, including out-of-box setup, multi-profiles, personalization, VIDAA Voice (28 languages), Kids Mode, Live TV (linear and FAST), SVOD and TVOD, Ambient Mode with an art gallery, and IoT device integration, as monthly active users grew from 14M to 45M+ in three years.
- One accessible system for 400+ brands: built the design system and governance used across 180 countries, meeting WCAG AA and mandatory market requirements, including Europe’s; together with async collaboration tools, it lifted team productivity 20%+.
- Faster partner certification: cut partner certification process time 50% with clear product presentations and prototypes; designed a partner tool that onboards partners and automates app certification.
- CTV advertising: defined the platform ads strategy, including shoppable video ads on first-party FAST channels (showcased at CES 2026) and display ads; designed a self-serve campaign tool for Ad Operations and partners to run display campaigns.
- AI-augmented workflows: led collaborative AI experiments, testing tools, comparing results, and deconstructing prompts before adding what worked to research, ideation, prototyping, content, and localization.
2014 to 2021
CNN Digital
Creative Director, Product Design · Atlanta, GA Focused on multi-screen video experience on both live and VOD, ~3,500 employees worldwide- CNNgo, 0-to-1: led product design for a live TV, breaking news, and on-demand streaming product; Apple’s Best App of 2016 and the 2016 EPPY Award for Best UX Design.
- Unified video player: consolidated CNN’s organically grown video players into two, with a component library adopted across CNN; the player integrated easily into the company’s enterprise video strategy.
- Tooling where none existed: built a media asset management tool for key art and show scheduling; later adopted by other brands.
- Continuous discovery: embedded design in CNN’s SVPG-trained continuous discovery practice with Product and Engineering.
- Enterprise video workflows: consulted on workflows connecting editorial, production, and distribution tooling across WarnerMedia brands.
2012 to 2014
Turner Broadcasting
Sr. UX Lead, Enterprise CMS · Atlanta, GA- Led UX for the CMS writers and journalists used daily across Turner’s news and sports brands.
2003 to 2012
Yahoo
Sr. UED Lead · Atlanta, GA and Sunnyvale, CA- Led UX for large-scale consumer web products, including the Yahoo front page and partner-branded My Yahoo.
- Designed TV apps bringing Yahoo weather, traffic, stocks, and fantasy sports to a major US pay-TV operator’s platform, as part of a Yahoo partner product.
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Education, industries and tools
EducationBA Studio Art, Graphic Design, University of South Carolina, Columbia
IndustriesSmart TV and CTV · Streaming · News media · IoT and connected devices · CTV advertising · B2B partner tools · Enterprise CMS · Consumer web portals
ToolsFigma, Protopie, Miro, Adobe CC, Frame.io · Research: Dovetail, Lookback, Marvin, Otter · AI: Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, Copilot, Veo, Weave