Who I Am
I have lived on 3.5 continents, born in Taiwan, grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii, lived and worked in Stockholm, Sweden, and now live in the heart of Silicon Valley in Northern California.
I speak a few languages, not perfect, but since young I’d observed and understood the implications of “communication” that incorporates not only words, but through drawings, sound, images, graphics, motion, and of course, non-verbal communication through expressions, body-language, gestures, as well as emotions and the many cultural factors that make us human.
I grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, where both of my parents were professional artists. My father, Linus Chao, was a famous fine artist and a pioneer in multi-media in both Asia and Hawaii. He is considered to be the Father of Animation for Taiwan after being trained at Walt Disney and Hanna-Barbera as an Animator working on classics such as Mary Poppins, Flintstones and Jetson. My mother, Jane Chao, is also a well-known artist specializing in Fine Art, creating her own unique and intricate styles in water color on silk, fine pencil drawings and later in acrylic. I grew up surrounded by Art and Design.
What Matters to Me as a Communications Designer
In designing communications, an insightful understanding in how people Receive, Retain/Understand and Recall information is critical in how we strategize during the ideation, creation and design thinking process. Importantly, by putting Human Factors at the heart of understanding the problem from the beginning, then the solution will solve the problem more effectively. Equally important is the execution and delivery of the design solution for maximum impact.
To me these three R’s (Receive, Retain and Recall) are the most important objectives in Communications Design.
Who, What, Where Influenced me as a Designer
I learned from my father that a key difference between Design and Art is that Design solves problems, whether it is communications problem, an interior space problem, time-based logistics problem, or my favorite, way finding problem.
What I learned from my mother is to always hone your craft and skills diligently and have a purpose in mind when you produce something.
What I learned from both of my parents is to be brave and courageous to imagine new ideas and solutions, learn new skills, take on new challenges, have a vision (if not then create one) and deliver on your purpose and promise!
I first became aware of the field of “Information Design” when I lived in Stockholm, Sweden, and joined a list-group in Europe. What struck me most being new to this field, was how often people in UK referred to Harry Beck and the London Underground Map as a reference point for good Information Design. I took an Information Design self-study research trip to London, UK, to find out for myself and discovered the London Transport Museum that housed Harry Beck’s original design of the London Underground Map. It was extremely inspiring to stand in front of the original design by Harry Beck, an Information Design that influenced all underground maps around the world ever since!
When I first moved back to the US, I became heavily influenced by Edward Tufte, the Master of Information Design! I attended his Information Design Seminar three years in a row to learn from this Master in-person and through his beautiful self-published books on how to create simple, clean, multi-variate Information Design that conveys relevant and necessary information, without sacrificing elegance!
From Information Design, I moved to Graphic Design and Visual Design. I was strongly influenced by the simplicity of Scandinavian Design’s Form and Function and its modern minimalist designs. Yet I was also influenced by the warm, cozy feeling created in Swedish artist Carl Larsson's paintings. It was with this cozy “hygge” feeling that I’d created my Stockholm logo design.
When my Stockholm Logo Design got accepted as an Official Entry in the Cultural Capital of Europe ‘98 Logo Design Competition, I was a brand new graphic designer at the time, but the Head of the Selection committee accepted my entry just as the competition closed. I was added last minute to a group of 6 Swedish Design Firms that was recommended by the Stockholm Design Guild! This was beyond what I needed for confidence and validation as a new Graphic/Information Designer! (See Stockholm Logo Design , last project on the Information & Graphic Design webpage.)
Soon after, Internet and Web Design exploded and I quickly learned how to design websites, learning important Web Design, UI and UX Principles from leaders in the field (see Web Design Projects page).
After moving back to the US to Bay Area, in the heart of Silicon Valley, I was invited to attend an introduction of After Effects in Adobe’s San Jose HQ. During this live showing of After Effects on a giant wall monitor the height of a big room, I saw After Effect’s Motion Graphics capabilities and its intricate UI up close…and I was hooked! I had never seen anything like it and shook all the way driving home thinking of the many possibilities how I can use After Effects to tell a new kind of digital storytelling. I then learned Final Cut Pro so I can capture and edit digital assets myself, along with Photoshop and Illustrator skills to create and modify digital assets to create unique motion graphics, that I call “Motion Story Choreography”.
Some of my Branding Motion Graphics Design were shown live in high visibility venues such as in NY Times Square Nasdaq 7-story video building during SGI’s Bell Opening ceremony, and in Beijing, China’s Bird Nest Olympic Stadium where my 30-sec branding video for Logitech APAC was shown live inside the stadium during intermissions as the Exclusive Sponsor of a live opera, Turandot, celebrating China’s 60th National Day. It was also shown continuously on all the TV monitors around the stadium throughout the two-nights celebration to sold-out crowds. (See Motion Graphics Design projects page)
Motion Graphics Design skills have helped me tremendously in creating more engaging and animated Keynote Presentations that communicate in a whole new way than a flat presentation. With an animated Presentation Design, I have helped companies, organizations and myself convey ideas and purposes with more impact using motion and sound to create a cinematic effect that tells an engaging and memorable story. (See my Presentation Design projects page.)
This was the beginning and progression of my Rich Digital Media Communications Design work that incorporated many of my passions and fascinations in design from Information Design, Graphic / Visual / Sound Design, Web Design, Motion Graphics Design, and Digital Video Editing to create innovative digital storytelling.
