What led you into design?
From a young age I loved to create, solve problems and organize things together visually. I didn’t know that these would be some of the things that designers do everyday; all I knew was that the thrill of creating something beautiful - and practical - was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. By the time I was a teenager, I definitely knew that I wanted to pursue a career in design. So, I started to learn more about the industry, made a vision board of dream colleges and a list of women who were leaders in the design industry. I wanted to be just like them. Fast forward to now, I am running a 3D design studio with my partner and graduated from Parsons School of Design with a major in Product design and graphic design.
What does a typical day look like?
A typical day for me would involve a lot of coffee, music and 3D programs! I usually begin the day at 6:30am with some form of exercise and coffee. If I have time before the work day begins, I would use this time to create some of my personal artwork or watch a tutorial about one of the 3D programs. I start my workday at around 9:00am. This involves working on client projects, having meetings with clients, new business and the team. This goes on throughout the day and I usually end my day depending on how much work we have and upcoming deadlines.
What's your workstation setup?
Where do you go to get inspired?
There are so many places to derive inspiration; whether it be through watching movies, traveling or even just conversing with friends. I have found that I can always rely on diving into strong emotions, experiences and memories to provide a strong source of inspiration. It is usually the constant factor that underlies my work because I am in love with storytelling through art and design. Sometimes, I’m sure with a lot of creatives, we experience “creative block,” or face situations where it feels frustrating and impossible to solve a problem. If this happens, I found that by stepping away, taking a walk and then coming back to the work can help you see things in a different perspective.
What product have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?
Sandwich boxes! They are these reusable tupperware boxes that are in the exact, perfect shape of one sandwich. Only one. And they’re perfect lengthwise AND height-wise! I thought it was a great design because, first of all, I love eating sandwiches, but my issue was always that using plastic wrap is unsustainable and the sandwich will get squashed if it ends up at the bottom of my bag. Lunch boxes are an option but they’re usually too big. So when I saw this I thought it was perfect!
What pieces of work are you most proud of?
In terms of commercial work, we collaborated with Baccarat this year to create a series of animations and artwork that spanned across their entire interior and shopfront for their Spring ‘22 Campaign throughout all the stores in the US. It was amazing seeing my work as wallpaper and on window displays of the Flagship Store in Manhattan.
In terms of personal work, it would be an animation series that I created exploring the journey of a romantic relationship, titled “Notes I’ll Never Send”. It was my first self-initiated project that lasted over a period of a few months, and the first time that I had the freedom to dive deep into exploring different mediums of creative expression and inspiration. I wrote poems and short stories which then influenced the artwork, music, and animations. All of this told my story of an experience that was very personal to me.
What design challenges do you face at your company?
We started the studio not too long ago and sometimes it can be difficult to manage all the factors that go into running a studio. We want to take on as many projects and opportunities that come our way because we love working with our clients and new projects are always very exciting, but I think we need to learn to slow down, that our capacity is limited and learn to scale better.
What music do you listen to while designing?
Any advice for ambitious designers?
Keep going and never give up! Make a list of design agencies, role models and leaders in the industry that you admire. Study their stories and make concrete goals within the next five years if you want to work there. In terms of applying, find something that makes you unique and that you can offer to these agencies, whether that be your story, your approach or perspective towards design. I think it’s also important to define the type of design that you are interested in and are passionate about. A piece of advice that was very influential to me is that the work you are doing when no one is watching, and the passion that you are constantly developing is what really counts in the end!
Anything you want to promote or plug?
Here are my links!
Instagram: @jennymjiang
Twitter: @jennym_jiang
Website: www.jennymjiang.com
Related Interview
