Kelsey Brennan // Found Problems and Made Problems: What Comes First?

With a background spanning design, research, architecture, and new media, Kelsey brings a systems-minded approach to product design, pairing creative rigor with a deep understanding of how people interact with complex digital experiences. Her work at ThredUp has helped shape AI-driven search features recognized by TIME's Best Inventions of 2024, alongside the company's 2025 rebrand. Kelsey has built her practice across a range of ambitious product environments, from scaling design at Planet, where she developed novel patterns for machine learning, satellite, and geospatial data, to launching products at Carbon Five that many people know and love. Her interdisciplinary path, grounded in a Master of Architecture from UC Berkeley and a BA from Reed College, reflects a career shaped by both conceptual thinking and practical execution. In this talk, she will explore the tensions between found problems and made problems, and what comes first when designing products, teams, and systems that need to work in the real world. This event is free and open to the public.....................​Design Field Notes is a lecture series (hosted by Floor van de Velde) where we invite the public to the UC Berkeley campus for conversations with designers, makers and artists who are contributing to shaping the future through design.If you require accommodation for a disability for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Jacobs Institute staff at [email protected] with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.