Daily Inspiration: Yian Lin and Her Design Presence

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yian Lin.

Hi Yian, 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?
Hi, I’m Yian Lin, a product designer based in Chicago, with experience working in both Los Angeles and Chicago during my professional career. I work across product design, 3D visualization, branding, and research, and I’m especially interested in creating products that feel thoughtful, intuitive, and genuinely empathetic to user needs.

A lot of my early professional designer experience was built in the amazing city Los Angeles, where I worked across a mix of professional projects and larger design collaborations in areas like healthcare, consumer products, and ergonomic furniture. One of the most meaningful projects I worked on was with Cedars Sinai, where I collaborated with an interaction designer and a graphic designer to create a medical design campaign focused on increasing awareness and participation in clinical trials for minority ethnicities. I was responsible to lead the design research and helped develop the physical touchpoints, branding, and overall direction of the project. In the end, Cedars Sinai selected our team’s proposal to move forward with, which showed me how much impact thoughtful, research driven design can have.

I was also working on consumer goods and ergonomic products back in Los Angeles, eventually joining LiftSync US, where I designed ergonomic standing desks, monitor arms, and other workspace accessories. That experience taught me to think deeply about empathy, ergonomics, and the small details that shape how people feel when they use a product. Additionally, as Social Media Manager for LiftSync I get to design branding contents and create visible impacts to the public and vast audiences. With product storytelling, all the Social Media campaigns I ran, and reels contents I created, the best reels reached nearly 100,000 natural views and countless other reels with statistics vary from 3000-75000 total views to showcase my designs.

Today, I work on the core product development team at SM Beauty in Chicago, where I design and develop beauty and personal care products from concept to production. My work includes research, prototyping, 3D modeling, rendering, packaging, retail displays, and marketing assets. I enjoy combining physical product design with visualization and branding, because it allows me to shape not only the product itself, but also the full experience around it.

Looking back, both Los Angeles and Chicago have played an important role in my path as a designer. My experience in Los Angeles gave me a strong foundation in human centered design, while my work in Chicago has allowed me to expand that approach into beauty and consumer products on a larger scale.

Having my design journey shaped by both Los Angeles and Chicago has given me the chance to see design through two very different lenses, one driven by imagination and exploration, the other by refinement and real world impact.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would not say it has been a completely smooth road, but I think the different experiences and transitions along the way have been one of the most valuable parts of my journey because they pushed and shaped me to grow into a more versatile designer.

At LiftSync in Pasadena LA, I worked on ergonomic furniture and workspace accessories like ergonomic monitor arms, where I learned that good design is not only about creating something visually appealing but also functional and adaptive. I had to think about empathy, comfort, ergonomics, and how people actually interact with a product in their daily lives. Working closely with engineers and manufacturers taught me how to balance design ideas with real world constraints.

Another experience that shaped me especially strongly was the healthcare campaign I worked on with Cedars Sinai. I collaborated with an interaction designer and a graphic designer to create a design system focused on increasing awareness and participation in clinical trials.

I led the research process and helped develop the physical touchpoints, branding, and overall direction of the project. In the end, Cedars Sinai selected our team’s proposal to move forward with, and that experience reminded me that the most meaningful design often comes from empathy, research, and solving the right problem.

Later, moving to Chicago and joining SM Beauty LLC pushed me in a different way. I went from designing standing desks and monitor arms to beauty and personal care products, packaging, retail displays, and marketing assets. It was a very different and competitive industry, but it helped me grow and apply the same design thinking to a completely new world of products.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I currently work on the core product development team at SM Beauty in Chicago, where I design and develop beauty and personal care products for a range of brands under the company, such as TouchUps, Lux Collections, Saplaya, BlackPink, and Sistar Cosmetics. Each brand has a very different style, audience, and product direction, which means I get to work across many different kinds of products and visual styles.

I also design retail displays and in store visual experiences for our physical retail businesses, such as Sistar Beauty and Star Beauty Corp, and regularly visit other local retail stores to do product and market research in person. That has made me very interested in not only the product itself, but also how it is experienced in a real retail environment and how people connect with it.

Being the only product and 3D designer on the team, I often work closely with our graphic designers to connect the physical product itself with the way it is visually presented. I think not only about the form and details of a product, but also about how it fits into a larger brand experience.

I have always been interested in the point where design becomes part of someone’s daily life. The products I work on may seem small, but they are things people see and use every day. It is always rewarding to walk through one of our Sistar Beauty stores and see the products, displays, and packaging I worked on sitting on the shelves, or to see those same products exhibited at America’s Beauty Show(ABS) 2026 in a much larger industry setting.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The quality that has mattered most in my career is being willing to stay involved throughout the entire process. I care not only about the initial idea, but also about how a project develops and eventually comes to life.

That has become especially important in my current role. This year, our design team is representing the company at America’s Beauty Show 2026, the biggest trade show of professional beauty products. My part in that has been supporting the products and displays from the design side through 3D development and visualization. I have also been involved in creating the product images and various medium that feature those products, such as pitch decks and company’s printed 2026 catalog books.

The most rewarding part of design is that moment when everything finally comes together. Most people only see the finished product at the end, but I enjoy being part of the entire process, from the first ideas and sketches to the final display, catalog, and the moment someone sees the work in person for the first time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lillianlindesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yianl_id_design/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillian-lin-927099200/
• Other: https://smbeautyusa.com/

Image Credits
Art Exhibition Photo of Designer Yian Lin, Credits to: https://www.instagram.com/p/C58qeSCydlj/?img_index=6
Photographer from ArtCenter College of Design