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Today's featured designer is Yanwen Hu. Yanwen Hu is the creator of iconic designs such as Chinese History and Buddy. |
| We had the rare opportunity to interview the exalted designer Yanwen Hu who was recently announced as the Designer of the Day by the A' Design Award and Competition. Yanwen Hu is the creator of iconic designs such as Chinese History and Buddy. We got exclusive answers to our questions about Yanwen Hu designs and design philosophy. |
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Yanwen Hu, how did you become a designer?
Yanwen Hu : My parents were majoring in science and engineering so they were a little bit hesitated about my decision. They felt I should be a scientist or an engineer. But I love painting since my childhood, so they are supportive and encourage me to do what I want.... |
Yanwen Hu, what are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
Yanwen Hu : I am always obsessed with complexity of structures and patterns. That is why I am doing data visualization because I like charts and numbers. I feel the visualization shows the beauty of statistics....
Yanwen Hu, which emotions do you feel when designing?
Yanwen Hu : For most of my work, design is not my first step. Most of time I will write down my feeling when the feeling hits me. The words are more abstract and linear, while the visual language has more dimensions. In my work I am trying to explore the both parts.... |
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Yanwen Hu, what particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
Yanwen Hu : I think the logical thinking coming from my parents' background definitely influences me a lot. In my daily work as a lead UX designer, I like reading metrics by myself....
Yanwen Hu, what is your growth path? what are your future plans? what is your dream design project?
Yanwen Hu : User Experience Design is my dream design field. It is hybrid, including information architecture, interaction design, visual design and research. It is a great area that I can integrate both my design aesthetics and logical thinking together.... |
Yanwen Hu, what are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
Yanwen Hu : Explore the world and discover yourself. Know what you like and what you are good at....
Yanwen Hu, you are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
Yanwen Hu : Embrace every opportunities and do not say "no" to yourself at the beginning. ... |
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Yanwen Hu, what is your day to day look like?
Yanwen Hu : My daily work is quite busy. Now there are lots of meetings with stakeholders which means I have less time designing compared to the past; on the other hand, I learnt a lot about business directions and product strategies, which are helpful for design. Sometimes you really need to see the vision, then you can evaluate and execute the idea.... |
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Yanwen Hu, how do you keep up with latest design trends? to what extent do design trends matter?
Yanwen Hu : I am reading tech and design blogs during my commute. In the technology industry, everything changes so fast. Even for designers, it is important to know the new techniques and trends....
Yanwen Hu, how do you know if a product or project is well designed? how do you define good design?
Yanwen Hu : Definitely designers will evaluate any products or projects from aesthetic standpoint, but most importantly is whether it makes sense to its users. Balancing the aesthetics and utility is one of my rules to evaluate projects.... |
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Yanwen Hu, how do you decide if your design is ready?
Yanwen Hu : To be honest, design is never FULLY ready. Everyday you can still find some parts in the design that you want to change. But for work, you need to launch your products. So it is essential in work to collaborate with other team members like Product Managers and Developers and prioritise design by different phases. No product can launch all the features at the same time.... |
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Yanwen Hu, what is your biggest design work?
Yanwen Hu : My most favourite work is 5000 Years Chinese History Visualization, which is my college capstone project. That time I spent nearly one year researching history, which I am always interested in. I really appreciate my school gave me one year to explore the things I love.... |
Yanwen Hu, who is your favourite designer?
Yanwen Hu : I likes German and North European Design since I was in school. Also I am really into the data visualization published by the New York Times. Actually that was one of the reason I decided to move to New York for my graduate school....
Yanwen Hu, would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
Yanwen Hu : Beijing is my hometown, which is the capital in China. It is a fast-growing city and has over 20 million population. I think that might make me try to discover the beauty of complexity. There are lots of things going on and they are all connected in some ways.... |
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Yanwen Hu, would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
Yanwen Hu : As a UX designer, I believe the best product coming from a perfect "triangle:" design + technology + business/product. Design's mission is to find and push for the features that are benefit for users; technology is about the current technique capability whether we can make the product come true; while business is about when and how we can make the products survive in the reality.... |
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Yanwen Hu, what are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?
Yanwen Hu : I always feel local design communities are so helpful. I was serving as a mentor for NXPA NYC last year and my mentee was still in school. We kept talking for almost half a year, about her portfolios, interviews, jobs, future career, etc. The responsibility as lead designer is not just designing, but also mentoring. I even learnt a lot from helping her.... |
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Yanwen Hu, what positive experiences you had when you attend the a’ design award?
Yanwen Hu : I think the most impressive part is how A' Design Award is keep connecting you to multiple activities....
Yanwen Hu, can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
Yanwen Hu : I am currently working as a Senior UX/UI Designer at Moda Operandi in New York, which is a global online luxury retailer.... |
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Yanwen Hu, what is "design" for you?
Yanwen Hu : "Design" is to build the bridges between two separated things....
Yanwen Hu, what kinds of works do you like designing most?
Yanwen Hu : I am interested in User Experience Design, Data Visualization, Infographic, Book Design and Graphic Design.... |
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Yanwen Hu, what was the first thing you designed for a company?
Yanwen Hu : Glamour Beauty's site lipstick.com's Slideshow template....
Yanwen Hu, how do you think the "design field" is evolving? what is the future of design?
Yanwen Hu : Design might exist in more media because of technology, but its methodologies are unchanged.... |
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Yanwen Hu, what are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? how can companies select a good designer?
Yanwen Hu : Talking to the designer personally to see whether both of you share the similar understanding on the upcoming project....
Yanwen Hu, from your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
Yanwen Hu : Positive: being a designer allows you to dream big every day;
Negative: being a designer also need to find ways to make dream come true.... |
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Yanwen Hu, how long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
Yanwen Hu : Depends on the scale of the project. It might vary from one day to one year....
Yanwen Hu, what was your most important job experience?
Yanwen Hu : When I served as a User Experience Designer at Conde Nast Digital, I worked on multiple global brands' website redesign projects, including Glamour, Conde Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Teen Vogue and Golf Digest. Those projects have been nominated by the Webby Awards in 2015 and 2016.... |
Yanwen Hu, who are some of your clients?
Yanwen Hu : Lenovo, Glamour, Conde Nast Traveler, Epicurious, Teen Vogue, Golf Digest, W Magazine, Self, Moda Operandi, etc....
Yanwen Hu, what type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
Yanwen Hu : Infographic and data visualization. I can use design skills to illustrate my point of views.... |
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| Yanwen Hu, thank you for giving us the opportunity to interview you... To learn more about Yanwen Hu and check more designs by Yanwen Hu as well as to see more Yanwen Hu designs such as Chinese History and Buddy visit designeroftheday.com/?179430 |
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| We hope you enjoyed our interview of Yanwen Hu. This interview was made possible by the contributions of A' Design Award and Competition - The World's largest and most influential design accolade. A' Design Award is an annual, international design award open to both concept stage and realized works by designers, artists, architects and brands worldwide. A' Design Award and Competition aims to create a public awareness and understanding of good design by promoting the best designers such as Yanwen Hu and their design works worldwide. Visit designaward.com to learn more. |
 REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://competition.adesignaward.com/designer.php?profile=179430 https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=54166
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=54484
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This article was added on Thursday, 22nd of November, 2018 at 09.53 am by author 
