Today we’d like to introduce you to Jiani Hong.
Hi Jiani, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always had a simple aspiration since I was a kid: to open my vision to the world while pursuing a path in art and creativity. I was born and raised in China, I was fortunate that my parents always supported and guided me in exploring my passions, this endowed me with a personality filled with idealism and a room for fantasy. My mother’s study in classical music and her tenure as a literature teacher, along with my father’s passion for literature and cinema, cultivated me with deep love not only on art, but also on literature, poetry, film, and music. I believe that my family shaped my perception of all of these art forms.
I found my creative journey actually began with a passion for drawing comic series when I was a kid, I love to tell stories and fantasies through these illustrations. I remember I was always carrying my comic book ready to capture ideas, even sleeping with it under my pillow. Interestingly, my classmates often hurry me to continue the comic series.
Later on, I became eager to expand beyond just drawing, with an experimental attitude, I began my journey in graphic design major at ArtCenter College of Design. As I navigated through this new realm, I gradually realized that my aspirations weren’t confined to static images. I felt a profound connection and sensitivity to the world of film—a medium where narration, storytelling, and the interplay of light and shadow weren’t just concepts but a language to express emotion and stories to me. I found that I’m always more attracted to the creative format in moving images, which is a way of expressing a richer literary significance. I ventured deeper into motion design, marrying my graphic skills with my sensitivity to narrative storytelling, starting from brand montage animations to the main title and style frames design, and open to discovering all other media of creative storytelling. I found real pleasure in all of these productions.
Looking back, I see me still in that imaginative, storytelling child. Now, I have expanded my creative vision on this journey, hoping that my younger self would be proud of who I have become. I am looking forward to seeing the potential of my future works. My aim is not just to create but to make a significant contribution to the creative, entertainment, and film industries with my unique perspective.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I was first introduced to design, I think my self-awareness and passion were vague. Although I always knew I wanted to pursue a path in artistic creation, I was unclear about what exactly I wanted. Before I began my studies at ArtCenter, my understanding of graphic design was also naive. I felt that in this specialized field, those around me had far more early learning experiences than I did. I lacked confidence and often felt that my abilities and insights were inferior to others, that I had to spend much more time polishing my designs, and the results were still not satisfying. For a long time, I was in a slump, my goals became increasingly hazy, and I felt disinterested in everything, thinking that I was not good at anything. I was also insecure about my personality; I have been a sensitive child since a young age, and for many years, this troubled me as it caused me to overthink and even lose myself.
However, through the experience of completing work after work, I found that when I made every effort to do my best in the work at hand, regardless of whether I could see a clear goal, regardless of what my interests were, this built up a lot of my confidence. I realized that I need to learn how to please myself no matter with or without others’ recognition. My sensitive personality also brought me the ability of empathy, and sensitive insights, also a desire for creative self-expression. I gradually learned to value the characteristics of my personality rather than hiding and escaping from them.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a graphic and motion designer anticipating graduating from ArtCenter in December 2023. My work focuses on graphic design and motion design, specifically on brand identity systems and motion design, working on projects that include brand montage animations, 2D and 3D main title designs, style frames, editing, and editorial design. I approach my creations without limitations and am developing my skills in various aspects, such as conceptualization, typography, storyboarding, animation, photography, brand design, illustration, and more.
One of my projects, Amoeba Music Rebrand, I consider this work to be my significant breakthrough from traditional graphic design toward a deeper understanding of brand montage design. The goal is to increase the sense of innovation and creativity of Amoeba in the record market based on its legendary history, making the brand image stronger in the public’s perception.
Being a perfectionist often drives me crazy, but it also builds my capability to pay attention to detail. One of my recent 3D-based collaborative projects, “Dead Poets Society” main title design, presented a challenge yet provided an opportunity for me to shape my own stylized, cinematic narrative film. The concept is to reveal that so-called “elite education” is actually taking away children’s freedom of choice, this actually reflects some of the society problems and we would like to bring to people’s attention about this issue through the sequence. In the production process, the most challenging part for me was managing the entire ending scene; the scene needed to show a solemn academic atmosphere. Beyond animation, I had to master capturing lighting and camera angles, set design, the arrangement of items and materials within the environment, down to the details of the photos and frames hanging on the walls, all of which gave me challenges and experience in detailing, but I still enjoy it. We also like to
I always believed that literature and film are inseparable. A good designer or artist also needs not only to infuse their work with captivating and resonant stories but also to incorporate clever literary expression. This is the essence and soul of storytelling.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can directly contact me or collaborate with me through any of the contact information I provided, such as email, text messages, LinkedIn, or by finding my contact information on my personal portfolio website. I’m about to graduate from ArtCenter College of Design in December 2023, and I will be open to freelance, internship, or contract design opportunities, as well as other collaborative possibilities. I look forward to hearing from any organizations or individuals interested in my work and I am keen to explore opportunities for discussion. I will carefully consider every potential collaboration and the contributions I can make!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jianihong.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jiani1006/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jiani-hong-664567205/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/user186368823
