Who is Julia Korbut and how did she get here?

I'm a self-taught designer and illustrator. Currently a Product Designer at Venmo. I've been working in agencies, games and startups for the past ten years. Sometimes I do pixel art on my off hours.

What was it about Mr. Robot that hooked you?

When I first heard of it, Mr. Robot seemed like a cool show about hacker culture. It was the only time I’ve seen hacking portrayed as something other than a bizarre 3D fever dream. A bit into the pilot episode, additional undertones were added in - social justice, mental illness. It quickly became a show that’s not only about hacking the planet.

Elliot, the protagonist, is a regular security firm employee by day, and vigilante hacker by night. He suffers from some sort of delusional dissociative disorder, and self medicates with drugs and hacking people for social contact. We don’t get the full picture of what’s happening due to his illness. We quickly learn we can’t accept the story as-is since the entire show is narrated from his perspective. It’s a complex show that makes you look twice before you read it at face value.

The show is set in current day Manhattan, with every detail kept true to reality. It makes the Mr. Robot world seem like it could exist, a scary thought at times. It draws a lot from the anger younger generations face growing up into a sense of debt and insecurity. They want to reclaim the world, make it better. It has that “Occupy Wall St” vibe, which is an interesting ingredient for a tech thriller. The protagonist, Elliot, is worried about where the world is headed. He has suffered personal losses due to corporate greed. He wants to save the world and spare others. It doesn’t necessarily go well from there.