VIDEO
Bright College Years (animated short film)
2024
Story, Animation, Character and Environment Design, and Production by me
Best Animated Film at the Yale in Hollywood Film Festival 2024
Shown in the Yale Schwarzman Center's YouTube channel, building screens, social media, and newsletter campaign for the class of 2024's graduation.
Video animated with Adobe AfterEffects, edited with Premiere, VFX and digital drawings with Photoshop.
VIDEO
ZZZ
2022
Story, Animation, Character and Environment Design, Soundtrack, and Production by me
Shown on Times Square billboards at 41st St and Broadway on December 15th, 2021
This animated short film is made of shadow puppets in 12 fps stop-motion. I cut black and white paper, pinned joints together, and put them on a lightbox. Then, I took a photo, moved the puppets a bit, took a photo, moved them a bit... Every second is 12 photos. Finally, I combined sound effects and my voice acting with the visuals.
There are all sorts of ways to wake up a mummy to go to school. Which method do you think is the best? Understanding what motivates the other person is likely the most convincing.
Yale Schwarzman Center LunarFest
2024
I created introductory, interstitial, and ending motion designs for a promotional video using the Yale Schwarzman Center's branding guidelines and LunarFest's design assets.
In the play, the main character, called Everybody, whose actor is determined by lottery during the performance, searches for someone or something to accompany them to death. To convey the randomness of being chosen to die, I made two posters with inverted colors and many varying skulls or human heads creating a crowd effect. There are many diverse people in the world, but only one (love) will accompany Everybody to death. Therefore, I highlighted one skull among human faces or one face among skulls with the same color as "Everybody". The tie between the bright complementary colors pink and green suggest how the play gives the usually feared death a touch of whimsy and humor and celebrates love.
Poster for Yale Dramatic Association Spring Mainstage Everybody
2022
In the play, the main character, called Everybody, whose actor is determined by lottery during the performance, searches for someone or something to accompany them to death. To convey the randomness of being chosen to die, I made two posters with inverted colors and many varying skulls or human heads creating a crowd effect. There are many diverse people in the world, but only one (love) will accompany Everybody to death. Therefore, I highlighted one skull among human faces or one face among skulls with the same color as "Everybody". The tie between the bright complementary colors pink and green suggest how the play gives the usually feared death a touch of whimsy and humor and celebrates love.
Poster for Yale Dramatic Association Spring Mainstage Everybody
2022
I designed a font using letterforms found in the shapes of one pair of glasses, and used it to make a poster saying "Not As Pretty With..." which prompts the viewer to fill in the blank with the glasses in the font or another insecurity. I was inspired by the connotations of seeing and beauty in glasses, which my mother often told me that I'm not as pretty with. Black, grey, and white lines and a dark background contrast with the font's organic forms and white background while matching its color scheme and rectangular strip structure. A high concentration of dark values form a serious atmosphere, and the translucent lines mirror the transparency of glasses lens, to further the theme of criticizing how the way beauty is viewed causes insecurities.
Not As Pretty With...
2022
I designed a font using letterforms found in the shapes of one pair of glasses, and used it to make a poster saying "Not As Pretty With..." which prompts the viewer to fill in the blank with the glasses in the font or another insecurity. I was inspired by the connotations of seeing and beauty in glasses, which my mother often told me that I'm not as pretty with. Black, grey, and white lines and a dark background contrast with the font's organic forms and white background while matching its color scheme and rectangular strip structure. A high concentration of dark values form a serious atmosphere, and the translucent lines mirror the transparency of glasses lens, to further the theme of criticizing how the way beauty is viewed causes insecurities.
Glasses Font
2021
When designing these promotional materials for the Yale School of Music's collection of musical instruments, I was fascinated by how similar instruments all around the world take on myriad forms to produce unique sounds and beautiful music, which is deeply connected to humans' emotions, cultures, and experiences throughout history. I combined instruments into abstract compositions on the 2 posters and outdoor installation to showcase the intriguing shapes, cut postcards into the instruments' silhouettes, designed shopping bags that allow visitors to feel the instruments' shapes and textures in 3D, and revealed decorative details in 4 social media images. Since I was working with Yale, I united its pre-existing identity with my ideas by setting a lockup and using the Yale official font, logo, and colors.
Poster for Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments
2022
When designing these promotional materials for the Yale School of Music's collection of musical instruments, I was fascinated by how similar instruments all around the world take on myriad forms to produce unique sounds and beautiful music, which is deeply connected to humans' emotions, cultures, and experiences throughout history. I combined instruments into abstract compositions on the 2 posters and outdoor installation to showcase the intriguing shapes, cut postcards into the instruments' silhouettes, designed shopping bags that allow visitors to feel the instruments' shapes and textures in 3D, and revealed decorative details in 4 social media images. Since I was working with Yale, I united its pre-existing identity with my ideas by setting a lockup and using the Yale official font, logo, and colors.
Poster for Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments
2022
When designing these promotional materials for the Yale School of Music's collection of musical instruments, I was fascinated by how similar instruments all around the world take on myriad forms to produce unique sounds and beautiful music, which is deeply connected to humans' emotions, cultures, and experiences throughout history. I combined instruments into abstract compositions on the 2 posters and outdoor installation to showcase the intriguing shapes, cut postcards into the instruments' silhouettes, designed shopping bags that allow visitors to feel the instruments' shapes and textures in 3D, and revealed decorative details in 4 social media images. Since I was working with Yale, I united its pre-existing identity with my ideas by setting a lockup and using the Yale official font, logo, and colors.
Postcards for Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments
2022
The font Modula by Emigre reminds me of Hong Kong's MTR subway maps, which are deeply engraved in my childhood memories. Please feel free to read the poster to find out why!
Modula Type Specimen Double-Sided Poster (Front)
2022
As an Undergraduate Student Coordinator on the Communications and Design Team at the Yale Asian American Cultural Center, I designed this poster for all us staff to be posted in the AACC building.
Modula Type Specimen Double-Sided Poster (Back)
2022
Nimbus Brand Book
2021
During my internship at Nimbus Kitchen, I designed this takeout card and the "Fueled By Nimbus" logo on it.
Nimbus Kitchen Graphic Design Internship
2021
During my internship at Nimbus Kitchen, I designed this "Fueled By Nimbus" logo.
Nimbus Kitchen Graphic Design Internship
2021
During my internship at Nimbus Kitchen, I designed this sweatshirt for Nimbus's collaboration with Robertas Pizza.
Nimbus Kitchen Graphic Design Internship
2021
During my internship at Nimbus Kitchen, I designed these logos for their investor's company.
Nimbus Kitchen Graphic Design Internship
2021
My design won 1st place among Yale students to be the cover of Yale Undergraduate Research Journal's Spring 2022 issue, distributed to over 16,000 students and faculty.
The design is based on the article "A Lucid Oriental Dream: Roman Serography in the First Century CE" in the YURJ Spring 2022 issue. Due to the Silk Road's growth during the first century CE, I designed the environment as a Han Dynasty Chinese marketplace, which includes details like coins and silk on sale in the stalls. It is brightest where the Roman writer stands and becomes darker in the surroundings because his view of the "Seres" is mysterious and subjective, as shown by the "insubstantialization" and "naturalization" in Roman Serography. Moreover, my cover design uses a top view to give the viewer a sense of distant observation of the "Seres." My cover design depicts "Seres" laborers and women passersby, who wear colorful Han Dynasty clothes showcasing the silk whose trade brought Romans and "Seres" into contact. As they go about their daily lives, the Roman writer observes them and points his writing tool at them in an interrogative, aggressive pose to symbolize the justification of Roman expansion via literature. The laborer at the bottom right glances back at the Roman writer with an unreadable expression to further the illustration's feeling of mystery, and is positioned lower in the composition than the Roman writer to imply subordination of foreign peoples. I also took the YURJ cover template into consideration, arranging the composition so that the text and people are clear.
YURJ Spring 2022 Issue Cover Design
2021
My design won 1st place among Yale students to be the cover of Yale Undergraduate Research Journal's Spring 2022 issue, distributed to over 16,000 students and faculty.
The design is based on the article "A Lucid Oriental Dream: Roman Serography in the First Century CE" in the YURJ Spring 2022 issue. Due to the Silk Road's growth during the first century CE, I designed the environment as a Han Dynasty Chinese marketplace, which includes details like coins and silk on sale in the stalls. It is brightest where the Roman writer stands and becomes darker in the surroundings because his view of the "Seres" is mysterious and subjective, as shown by the "insubstantialization" and "naturalization" in Roman Serography. Moreover, my cover design uses a top view to give the viewer a sense of distant observation of the "Seres." My cover design depicts "Seres" laborers and women passersby, who wear colorful Han Dynasty clothes showcasing the silk whose trade brought Romans and "Seres" into contact. As they go about their daily lives, the Roman writer observes them and points his writing tool at them in an interrogative, aggressive pose to symbolize the justification of Roman expansion via literature. The laborer at the bottom right glances back at the Roman writer with an unreadable expression to further the illustration's feeling of mystery, and is positioned lower in the composition than the Roman writer to imply subordination of foreign peoples. I also took the YURJ cover template into consideration, arranging the composition so that the text and people are clear.
YURJ Spring 2022 Issue Cover Design
2021
My design won 1st place among Yale students to be the cover of Yale Undergraduate Research Journal's Spring 2022 issue, distributed to over 16,000 students and faculty.
The design is based on the article "A Lucid Oriental Dream: Roman Serography in the First Century CE" in the YURJ Spring 2022 issue. Due to the Silk Road's growth during the first century CE, I designed the environment as a Han Dynasty Chinese marketplace, which includes details like coins and silk on sale in the stalls. It is brightest where the Roman writer stands and becomes darker in the surroundings because his view of the "Seres" is mysterious and subjective, as shown by the "insubstantialization" and "naturalization" in Roman Serography. Moreover, my cover design uses a top view to give the viewer a sense of distant observation of the "Seres." My cover design depicts "Seres" laborers and women passersby, who wear colorful Han Dynasty clothes showcasing the silk whose trade brought Romans and "Seres" into contact. As they go about their daily lives, the Roman writer observes them and points his writing tool at them in an interrogative, aggressive pose to symbolize the justification of Roman expansion via literature. The laborer at the bottom right glances back at the Roman writer with an unreadable expression to further the illustration's feeling of mystery, and is positioned lower in the composition than the Roman writer to imply subordination of foreign peoples. I also took the YURJ cover template into consideration, arranging the composition so that the text and people are clear.
YURJ Spring 2022 Issue Cover Design Thumbnail Sketches
2021
I based the Yale Journal of Classics's debut cover design on the article about Julian, who is the statue in the middle, because the article evaluates his legacy. Each of the four pillars represents a philosopher whom he revered, Julius Caesar, Romulus, Numa, and Cato the Elderly. They are the foundation for Julian's beliefs and way of governing Ancient Rome. However, his vision of a Greco-Roman empire failed to match Ancient Rome's development of Christianity and Constantinople at the time. So, the buildings crumble while Julian's statue fruitlessly attempts to keep holding them up. The composition is framed in a nearby building's window to imply that this is the analysis of writers in the journal and to allow space for the title written in the style of Ancient Roman inscriptions.
Yale Journal of Classics "Helicon" Debut Cover Design
2022
I based the Yale Journal of Classics's debut cover design on the article about Julian, who is the statue in the middle, because the article evaluates his legacy. Each of the four pillars represents a philosopher whom he revered, Julius Caesar, Romulus, Numa, and Cato the Elderly. They are the foundation for Julian's beliefs and way of governing Ancient Rome. However, his vision of a Greco-Roman empire failed to match Ancient Rome's development of Christianity and Constantinople at the time. So, the buildings crumble while Julian's statue fruitlessly attempts to keep holding them up. The composition is framed in a nearby building's window to imply that this is the analysis of writers in the journal and to allow space for the title written in the style of Ancient Roman inscriptions.
Yale Journal of Classics "Helicon" Debut Cover Design Sketches
2022
I designed this poster for a play in the Yale Dramatic Association, a comedy based on Jesus's rebirth from the perspective of his tomb's guards.
Poster for Yale Dramatic Association play The Tomb
2022
I hope that my illustrations, now up on her course syllabus and website, can convey how dynamic, diverse, and fun her classes and learning Korean are. I definitely felt it when discussing with her and researching Korean culture to incorporate into the pictures!
I used a cute drawing style and light colors for a sweet feeling of enjoying learning Korean. In the first banner, the characters' facial expressions show the classroom environment as if the viewer can hear the hubbub of students' voices through the illustration. The second banner is slightly more abstract since the background is held up by a hanbok dress and the colors and lines imitate traditional Korean paintings', representing historical and cultural research and reading and writing. Since the audiovisual projects in Professor Lee-Smith's curricula have a lot of interesting mediums and stories, I based the third banner's structure on comics and screens. Students reaching out of them work together and have fun, engaging conversations. One project is magic school bus themed, so I made a hybrid of a bus and an ancient Korean carriage, positioned in a dynamic arc to depict the professor and students carrying it together towards a certain exciting destination. It is also convenient to make as a transparent square icon that can be pasted anywhere at any size on the website and syllabus.
감사합니다 이선생님!
Yale Korean Professor Dr. Angela Lee-Smith's Rosenkranz Award Project
2022
I hope that my illustrations, now up on her course syllabus and website, can convey how dynamic, diverse, and fun her classes and learning Korean are. I definitely felt it when discussing with her and researching Korean culture to incorporate into the pictures!
I used a cute drawing style and light colors for a sweet feeling of enjoying learning Korean. In the first banner, the characters' facial expressions show the classroom environment as if the viewer can hear the hubbub of students' voices through the illustration. The second banner is slightly more abstract since the background is held up by a hanbok dress and the colors and lines imitate traditional Korean paintings', representing historical and cultural research and reading and writing. Since the audiovisual projects in Professor Lee-Smith's curricula have a lot of interesting mediums and stories, I based the third banner's structure on comics and screens. Students reaching out of them work together and have fun, engaging conversations. One project is magic school bus themed, so I made a hybrid of a bus and an ancient Korean carriage, positioned in a dynamic arc to depict the professor and students carrying it together towards a certain exciting destination. It is also convenient to make as a transparent square icon that can be pasted anywhere at any size on the website and syllabus.
감사합니다 이선생님!
Yale Korean Professor Dr. Angela Lee-Smith's Rosenkranz Award Project
2022
As an Undergraduate Student Coordinator on the Communications and Design Team at the Yale Asian American Cultural Center, I designed this poster for all us staff to be posted in the AACC building.
Yale Asian-American Cultural Center Staff Poster
2021
As an Undergraduate Student Coordinator on the Communications and Design Team at the Yale Asian American Cultural Center, I designed this poster for all us staff to be posted in the AACC building.
Yale Asian-American Cultural Center Staff Poster
2022
Foreigner
2022
I illustrated and designed this book containing a short story that my younger brother wrote when he was 10 years old.
VIDEO
La La La
2022
Story, Animation, Character and Environment Design, Soundtrack, and Production by me
Screened at Pittsburgh Children's Museum (2022), WQED Studios (2022), and the Yale in Hollywood Film Festival 2024
Can a little cat become a dragon? In La La La, made of colorful magazine cutouts arranged into 12 collages every second, a lazy cat that loves food and luxury finally gets up to catch a flying burger. Who knew that the cat’s journey would lead it to become a dragon? As long as you take action and try your best, you can be proud of your efforts, become stronger, and make anything possible. This silly and whimsical animation was exhibited at WQED Studios and Pittsburgh Children’s Museum in 2022. I hope that the children who watched it, as well as all of you, can find your pride, power, and possibilities!
Color has a fascinating power to convey different feelings depending on how they're combined. What do you feel from these images? I wonder if it's similar to what I felt while making these.
Colors
2021
Each button has an encouraging message for different stages of achieving dreams. Inspired by historical figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., I believe that courage is the heart of achieving dreams. Thus, I put the Chinese character “courage” in the center of the buttons in a heart. I hope that everyone can muster the courage to believe in their dreams, share them with others, take action and persevere to reach them. I understand that it takes bravery to think of the future and figure out a dream too, so the lower left button expresses that it’s fun to explore the future’s endless possibilities, like how the depicted children play with countless bubbles. I used bright colors, funny facial expressions and text for a merry, encouraging tone. These buttons are named “Dream Scouts” to refer to how my friends and I cheered each other on while earning Girl Scouts badges when we were children. Since anyone can be a Dream Scout, the people in the buttons are diverse races, ages and genders.
Dream Scouts
2019
I designed a new logo for our school's Visual Arts department to replace the one that the department has been using for decades. Since Harvard-Westlake’s mascot is a wolverine, I used a wolverine paw-print to show our school spirit, and the hands-on quality of art. The different colors represent the diversity in students’ creativity and art courses offered at our school. Yellow represents 3D art, blue represents video art and film, red represents drawing and painting, and green represents photography.
High School Art Department Logo
2020
While deciding whether to move to Los Angeles or not, my family had many factors to consider. My parents would have to find new jobs, and my brother and I would have to find new schools. Like the deer gazing at the two directions of the road in this painting, we were unsure of how to act. However, in retrospect, I think that we made the right choice, for along with new challenges came new joys. For decisions big and small alike, no matter what we choose to do, or if we make mistakes, the path doesn’t end. Although we can’t see the future, we should be brave to make decisions. There is always a way as long as we keep doing our best, and life goes on despite even the gravest mistakes. That’s why even if one direction of the road in this painting is dark, at some point, it’ll turn bright again.
Life
2017
My friends and I have experienced the constraints of peer pressure, society’s norms, culture, responsibilities or parents’ high expectations that can threaten to stifle our interests, dreams, curiosity, and relationships. Some may not have the means to break out even if they really want to. However, society usually depicts kids as happily carefree and doesn’t understand kids’ strong desire to break out of what traps them. In my painting, the little girl pressed up against and pulling on a playground’s net fills up a majority of the composition to emphasize that she peers at and longs for something beyond the painting’s frame. Her worried expression suggests her stress and helplessness, but I used soft colors to imply how others may see her as merely a cute, happy child playing with a net.
Desire for Freedom
2017
This painting is for the cover of a story that I’m making about Mimi, a young dolphin who gets lost from her pod. When searching for it, she ventures beyond her habitat to the unfamiliar ocean’s depths and the land’s harbors and zoos. She meets other sea creatures and people with diverse motives from survival to generosity. Who truly wants to help her and who’s just using her? Are the fisherman and the sharks predators or allies? Even if Mimi, whom I drew as pure and innocent, gets deeply hurt by betrayal and hardships, can she avoid becoming cynical, stay true to herself and persevere to find her family and make true friends? Will the beauty of her heart touch those around her and turn even the most vicious enemies into friends? Sometimes, people whom we hated turned out to be kind. We may form misconceptions and prejudices, but people can change over time. We should treat everyone sincerely and treasure our friends, as it’s the only way we’ll give people a chance to enter our hearts.
Save Me
2017
This was the first self-portrait I had ever made.
Me
2018
On the first day of the highly selective California State Summer School of the Arts (CSSSA), the painting teacher set up a huge table of flowers, bowls and other random objects and assigned us to paint a still life for our first project. On top of simply transferring what I saw onto the canvas, I wanted to let my imagination work too. I suddenly recalled the holograms of robots and code that Iron Man invented for his fantastical suits, and the augmented reality on my friends’ Pokemon Go cameras. What if, in the near future, virtual reality becomes so advanced that the graphics are exactly like the real objects? What will users’ new view of the world look like then? My still life maintains the objects’ original appearance, but the transparent intersections make the viewer wonder about the future of virtual reality, how it will affect people’s daily lives, and which objects are real and which are illusions.
Virtual Reality
2019