I would define making it big as working somewhere I feel not only creatively sustained, but also pride for working there. I think that it's really important to me to be surrounded by people I enjoy working with and be able to do work that I truly enjoy and believe in. There's nothing that feels more successful than being able to have that.
For me, the move from thinking that art could only be a hobby to believing that design/art could be my career has defined who I am—more than anything. Applying to art school and going 100% all the way with it showed me that it's better to full-ass something than half-ass it and expect it to just work. I definitely skeptical of the idea of making a living off of something I just enjoy to do, but it's paid off so far.
I don't know!! And, that's really kind of exciting!! I've been in school since I was 3 years old, and for the first time in my life I really have no planned schedule and I can just fully enjoy life. I'm really excited to continue learning on my own, finding places to work and having that shape the next 20 years of my life.
design.calarts.edu! My baby!
Heinz bean tester.
Just fucking do it and it'll happen!
The part when you look back and suddenly realize how much you've done.
Cry for help.
1. Get water with Gian and Bryan 2. Bother Gian. 2. Bother Bryan.
My final project at CalArts was a digital archive of a Chinese-American history told through the lens of my own family history.
Through scanning hundreds of photos, interviewing family members, and researching endlessly, I tried to represent the millions of choices and reactions my progenitors made to lead my family and I to exactly where we are today.
This project lives as a website which you can view here and an accordion book of my family tree.
I created Laceration, a serif typeface that combines harsh corners with soft curves, creating an image of working contradiction. It often breaks or rewrites existing structures of categorization, taking the interesting features of other styles and making them its own. For a special feature, I made an italic with sweeping calligraphic swashes. This typeface definitely looks most flavorful when paired together.
The Drop Project is a multimedia campaign initiated by three CalArts students brought together by the CalArts Collaborates class. Bringing together Graphic Design and Film/Video students, the class partnered with the World Resource Institute to reach out to global youth and educate them about the WRI’s Ocean Initiative through creative means. The project includes an animated PSA and an app to help younger audiences learn to bring activism into their everyday lives.
This project was a collaboration with Hannah Saidiner (Experimental Animation) & Stella Oei (Character Animation).
