Today we’d like to introduce you to Phuong Chelsea Le.
Hi Phuong Chelsea, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am from Hanoi, Vietnam. My mom is a doctor, my dad is an architect and my grandma loves to play piano and write poems. My childhood was filled with love and freedom to explore. The vivid memories back at home that I hold so dearly are long bike trips around town, Old Quarter’s egg coffee and flower market ventures with my family. During the weekends, I would doodle and write down memorable things on the back of my grandma’s ripped-out daily calendar. Some of those pages I still keep, maybe that’s why the excitement and the memories in the city I love the most never fade.
I went to high school in North Carolina, moved to Baltimore for my first year of college at Maryland Institute College of Art. The love for language, photography and colors brought me to ArtCenter College of Design to pursue graphic design. I guess it’s hard to give a Merriam-Webster definition of what I am passionate in. But for me, graphic design is a mixture of emotion and logic, research and visual; it helps communicate stories that hold meanings to something, someone or a community. Now, I am a fresh graduate, I am excited to see what the creative world out there would be like and what I can do to contribute.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
They say candy tastes sweeter after bitter medicine. I remember spending hours staring at three letters on the screen, in crisis of how to make “the best” layout or constantly questioning what “my style” is. I guess there is no such thing as “the best” and I will never be able to characterize “my style”. What keeps me doing what I love is accepting those moments of confusion.
Graphic design is ever-evolving in parallel with technology and society. Within the struggles, trying to explore the exciting abyss, I got to meet teachers and friends who are smarter and more talented than me. And what I find special is that they are also taking the same route and trying to overcome the same impediments. Our journey is like driving on LA roads, haha! Some streets are smooth, some are rough but we keep going until we reach our destination. After that, on to the next.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a graphic designer with an emphasis on typography, print and visual identity. I think my pride in where I come from is what grounds me and my work. I always admire my dad’s emotional intelligence, my mom’s logical thinking, and my grandma’s kindness. Those qualities have guided me and my younger brother along our journeys. And they are what I want to have and be remembered for as I grow older.
As a creative, I think each of us has our own internal filter — some kind of machine that helps translate the surroundings into our work. I guess that is what set us all apart from each other 🙂
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
My nickname at home is “hedgehog” or “nhím” in Vietnamese. My family has been calling me that ever since I can remember. Being picked up from middle school or the airport, I would hear that name echoing from a distance. I used to get embarrassed but now it brings me joy. I think somehow the spikiness is embedded in my personality and expressed through my work.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://chelseale.info/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelc.le/
Image Credits:
Portrait taken by Nevyn Matthews Portfolio images by Phuong Chelsea Le
