Today we’d like to introduce you to Triet Nguyen.
I’ve always loved being surrounded with artists and creators, and Los Angeles has always been that for me: full of creativity.I’ll make it short, my story started with a trip to Disneyland when my family gathered in front of the castle at the end of the day to watch the firework/light show, I was absolutely blown away by the artistry, theatrics, and technology at play in every beat and burst of the show, how everything was working together in perfect unison. I remember how happy I was, how my mom and dad were, and that was when it clicked that I wanted to dedicate every waking moment to exploring that same craft that made us so happy. What followed was a montage of me telling everyone in school I wanted to be an Imagineer (which is a combination word between imagination and engineer), and no one knew what I was talking about.
While I do get to do some of that today – combining art with tech to create a transformative experience, whether it be an interactive website, a piece of animation, or even a mobile game – I still feel like that child when I get up in the morning. I always think “oh my god, what kind of cool thing can I make today, what are other people making?”. One of the things that has helped me grow as a designer is to have curiosity, as my parents have taught me. I’m constantly learning new skills and softwares at every opportunity that would help me understand how pieces of a movie, a game, a theme park ride come together. LA has played such a pivotal role in introducing me to so many mentors that have enabled me to become the designer I am today.
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?
That is such a good question. I have to say that I’ve been very blessed with the opportunities that I’d been given, including being featured on your pages. The challenge in question is that this hasn’t always been the case.
While I currently work in the entertainment industry, my childhood education was very much focused on mathematics and science. My parents are very driven people who are pupils of hardcore science. And being the parents who wanted to see their child succeed, they imbued a lot of their analytics ways in their raising me. I was trained to always look at every situation with risks and benefits, boiling every possibility down to numbers that would help me gravitate towards good results. It was almost symbolic that when I decided to venture into the creative industry, that was the first time I took a leap regardless of what the success rates had paved my life to be. Luckily, I had a beacon that drove me: to make someone smile and moved by my work, much as the firework show I experienced. That experience taught me a lot about taking risks when your heart tells you to.
As a media designer and creative producer, I have to make decisions based on both analytic thinking and taking creative risks on a daily basis, which is a huge challenge for me. That’s why it’s so important to me to be surrounded by opinions and perspectives as diverse as my audience when I’m designing a graphic, a website, or a game. This applies to a lot of my career advancement as well, and I constantly find that struggle within myself and my work: to push or stay within budget? to dazzle or be subtle? etc. I’m still learning to balance it all.
In retrospect, the road sure has been one to learn from but the people that came into my life along the way have made it smooth, and gave me the keys to open doors. I’m grateful for both the challenges and lessons that have made me who I am today.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In addition to the big media consultation projects that I do outside of my full-time job, I also love drawing fairytale castles and mermaid designs for my friends and families. Recently, I started doing more of that as a service on Instagram for a hobby. It feels great to create a little magic for someone. You can check it out on my Insta linked below.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I thrive on critical design conversations, simple as that. I enjoy talking about cool things with people who make cool things. As a media designer, I take joy out of visiting museums to see how designers are curating spaces, media, and architecture in new ways. I love immersive and interactive exhibits and creative restaurants, hotels, and themed bars. That also snowballs into a profound love for traveling haha.
Contact Information:
- Website: trietcreative.com
- Instagram: @themeparkdesign
