Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Jiang.
Hi Jackie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m a UX designer and multi-media artist. My art and design career began in traditional Japanese papermaking, which is a rare discipline that requires tremendous dedication and attention to detail. I used to harvest mulberry trees and cook the raw skin of bark into fine hair of fiber which can be used to pull sheets of translucent washi paper. The meditative process of papermaking in combination of my background in traditional Chinese calligraphy, together shaped my art and design work of today, which features a unique blend of typography and various art mediums.
Today, I’m devoting all my art expertise in designing the user interface for a tech startup in the cloud infrastructure space, where the nature of the product is rather complex and technical. However, thanks to my past experience in papermaking, where I’ve learned the importance of creativity in problem-solving, in addition to my deep belief in human-centric design, I was able to successfully lead the design of several major feature releases despite of my lack of knowledge in the technical space.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My career path has never been straightforward. I mean, for many UX designers out there, a not so linear career path is completely normal. This is a practice that doesn’t really exist until recent 20 years.
For me personally, there is always the struggle of self-identification of being both an artist and designer since two paths naturally overlap but yet diverge. One focuses on the freedom of self-expression, while the other focuses on balancing user needs and business goals.
I think a lot of designers who rooted from fine art often need to face similar challenges of choosing to be a designer or an artist. A designer’s daily work life can be extremely busy and leave you no time to maintain the artistic side. Fortunately, I’ve given great opportunities at work to still express artistically. There are works such as designing spot illustrations, icons or building the design system that requires more artistic expressions. Also, the designer can derive their natural sense of spacing, typography and colors from artistry practice, which is a huge advantage for designers who practice fine art.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Because of my experience in the craft, I’ve always deeply believed in blending the abstract graphic design with tangible 3D materials. For example, in my recent experimental series of typography embroidery, I explored using the mundane material.- colorful cotton thread to spell out words that we use frequently in our daily life. But looking closely, these lively words are surprisingly stitched on transparent soft plastic that carries out an interesting contrasted visual effect. This curious arrangement of material and color allows my work to be more self-expressive and thought-provoking.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jackie-jiang.com/
