About
1994
Born in Seoul
2007
Moved to Canada
2018
Started designing
2026
Today, in Toronto
I grew up wanting to illustrate children's books, the painted kind, with stories that didn't talk down to kids. Fine Arts pulled me sideways, photography pulled me further, and I spent a few years shooting weddings until someone stole my camera gear. I took it as a reason to stop chasing tools and start chasing problems. Design is where I landed, eight years ago and still here.
I've spent those years on nonprofit software, healthcare, and a few early-stage startups, building for the people most software forgets. Somewhere in there I realized the work was never really about screens. It's about how people feel: the person using the thing, and the team in the room making it.
I'm an optimist, and I've come to believe optimism is a design tool. It's how you get people to believe a better version is possible, then go build it. AI can make the screens now. I'm here for the part it can't.
Most recently, at Aplos, that meant designing across Aplos, Keela, and Raisely as three products merged into one (they now operate together as Velora), including the shared component library they build on. Systems that have to reconcile with each other are my favorite kind of problem.
How I work
Agree on the constraints before designing
Before Transaction Workflows had a screen, the PM, the engineering lead and I agreed what we couldn't do: no backend refactor, no breaking reporting. Then we shipped in phases.
Transaction WorkflowsMake the system visible
Finance teams had been burned by data that moved silently. Instead of hiding the mapping behind defaults, I showed every field and where it lands.
Aplos × KeelaMeasure after launch
A 75% to 82% win hid a leak in the fallback flow. I argued to pause, tested four variations, and shipped the one that reached 92%.
Fee Opt-In
What people I've worked with say
“Allen has this rare ability to zoom from the tiniest UI detail all the way out to cross-product systems thinking without missing a beat.”
“He treats the design system as a shared product, not someone else's problem.”
“I learned a great deal from him during our time working together… his ability to distill complex problems into simple, elegant solutions set a high standard for design excellence.”
“Even while supporting multiple teams, he is always responsive, reliable, and easy to work with.”
“Allen's forward-thinking, North Star-guided approach and user-centric designs were also instrumental in crafting/communicating a motivational product vision for our teams.”
On the name
Seoul, 1994. Hamilton, 2007. Toronto since 2012. My Korean name is Sung Mook. Over time it became mooque, a handle I've worn long enough that it's mine. The red seal on this site's browser tab is 묵, the Mook in Sung Mook. Another handle, ncsstyco, is short for Necessity Company: good work should create real necessity, not manufactured urgency. You can reach me at allensmkang@gmail.com.
Outside of work
The best ideas I've had at work came from somewhere else entirely.
Food & people
My family are the cooks, and many of my friends are musicians. Most of my ideas start there, including an AI-powered recipe app.
Paint & a camera
I trained in watercolour and oil and shot weddings before design took over. Now I build for the arts scene: Toronto Yuwol, ARND, and volunteering as design lead at ArtsGaze.
Running, giving & a stage
I started running just before COVID and ran a half-marathon (Strava, opens in new tab) on my own, and separately raised $1,000 for SickKids. In August 2026 I went on stage in a 40-person musical: 350 tickets sold, running on apps I built. Season two is underway.
A daily streak
Years of daily streaks, first French, now chess.
On my shelf
Reading now: Creative Selection, Ken Kocienda; Nudge, Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.
Kept close: The Psychology of Everyday Things, Don Norman; The Creative Act, Rick Rubin.
I'm currently open to senior and staff product design roles, particularly where transaction-heavy flows, design systems, or 0→1 platform work is at the center. If you're building something interesting, I'd love to talk.