Meet Yiwen Tu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yiwen Tu.

Yiwen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
People always try to figure out their life career based on what they love or what they are good at. Sometimes, what you are good at is what you love. But in most cases, you need to explore a lot of possibilities to find the commonplace of what you enjoy and what you grow proficient at. I went through a long path before I can be here and share my story of being a communications designer. My experience broaden my understanding of “enjoy” and “talented”. I was raised up in a middle-class family in Shanghai. My dad is an engineer, my mom is a teacher, and my grandma was a tailor. Though this is not much an artist’s family, they have always been encouraging me to explore different forms of art.

When I was four years old, my mom took to learn Chinese Zither (a traditional instrument which my mom thought was very elegant for girls to practice.) She believed if I worked hard enough, I would become a mater of Chinese Zither. I was not a bad Chinese Zither player, but I was never good enough to become a professional. I knew it because I never enjoyed playing it. To a rebellious little girl, this instrument was just something her mom made her play and it took up her time for pleasure.

Under the influence of my grandma who was a great tailor, I used to make dresses for my dolls. I was very proud of my grandma and always said to myself: “I am going to be a fashion designer. What a great story that I inherited the talent from your beloved grandma!” When I was preparing for college, I gave up my time for College entrance examination (Chinese version of SAT) to prepare for design entrance examination. It was a very risky move. Unfortunately, my score was couple of points away from receiving an offer from fashion design major. I blamed myself for being so risky and failed. Then, my dad told me if I really loved fashion design, a rejection letter should not stop me from exploring this field. I realized that I needed to try harder for my dream.

I went to college and majored in Digital Media Art (Visual Communication Design). While taking my foundational classes for Digital Media Art, I also attended Fashion Illustration, Pattern-Making and Draping class over the weekends. However, after two years of exploring, I started to notice what I really enjoyed is the process of making cloth instead of designing them. And I was not as talented as I thought I would be. Unlike the last time; I felt more peaceful and accepted the truth. I took the pattern of making and draping as a hobby and I started to pay more attention to communication design. When I learned about an exchange study program my college had with Fashion Institute of Technology, I applied for it without hesitation. After getting a scholarship, I went to the U.S. and had access to great resource of communication design study. It was a life-changing experience where I met many talented peer designers and professors, and I learned a lot from them. I understood the role of a communications designer deeper and better and found my strength in this field. More importantly, I started enjoying communication design.

After I got my bachelor’s degree in Media Art Design, I took a half-year-internship at an advertising agency. I was very lucky that my supervisor let me participate in many high-profile projects and provided me a lot of suggestions on my career path. She always said “it is great to try everything you like when you are still young. Once you decided to explore something, try your best so you can either master the job or move on to the next exploration.” I was thinking of studying abroad for a master’s degree but wondered I should give up the opportunity to work with such a great team. Finally, I chose to go to the U.S. for further study because I believed there would be more opportunities for me when I became a better designer.

When I was studying at Pratt Institute, the training was more focused on design research and strategies. Communications design can be thought of writing. Bachelor’s program focused on teaching the language, the basic writing skills. Then, Master’s program emphasizes on what message you are addressing and how you address it effectively. The topic of an article can be anything. Then, based on the topic, writers decide what literary form and narrative style can tell the best story. The topics I worked on vary from my life experience to social and historical problems. I enjoyed sharing my personal experience like learning Chinese Zither or Fashion design using vector illustration. I am also passionate about exploring new design methodology through researching philosophy, social and anthropological materials. This experience expanded my horizon of design thinking and prepared me well for my future career path.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The real challenges come after I graduated from Pratt Institute. I spent almost four months to find a full-time job. Just on LinkedIn, I applied for two hundred and twelve open positions. I thought the reason that I did not get offer might be my portfolio was not good enough, and I spent substantial amount of time editing my resume/cover letter and preparing how to best present myself during interviews. I also researched online and sought for professionals’ advice to improve everything. After three months’ trying, I cannot help being frustrated and extremely anxious. I started to self-doubt and worried about money the first time in my life. I forced myself to go out and have some fresh air every morning. During that time, I talked to a lot of people about this anxiety and tried hard to keep my life in place. Deep down, I still believed in myself and did not want to give up. Finally, I got a call from the NBA asking me to come down for an interview. It was the fourth round of interview after three phone interviews. I was so nervous but excited. I had a hunch that the previous couple months’ effort was meant to prepare for this opportunity, and I would seize it. The most magical moment is seeing a car plate reading “YESSSSSS” in front of the NBA properties building. People say when one door closes, another one opens, but sometimes, we must go through the darkness with nothing opens before that right door emerges.

After this experience, I became more grateful to everything happening in my life and certainly grew into a stronger person. As the saying goes, what does not kill you makes you stronger. When I started working, I faced more challenges in the first couple of months. My office locates in New Jersey and I live in Brooklyn. The commute takes over one and a half hours. The workload at the NBA is very intense especially during the season. It was usual for us to give up holidays and weekends to keep up with the graphic requests. I was very stressful when I was handling multiple time-sensitive projects and I was very concerned of making any mistakes. My supervisor was very strict on me, but I knew her training helped me adapt myself to the busy work within the shortest time. Around the All-Star game, sometimes we would work till two a.m. and woke up at eight a.m. preparing for announcements and posts. It was super crazy but I felt very energetic working at the NBA. I felt proud of every graphic I worked on. Like those aspiring basketball players, I know I must be very determined and hardworking to achieve any success in the field.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a communication designer working at the NBA. During my spare time, I will take freelance work including branding, poster design, and editorial design. I am specialized in design research which helps me come up with great ideas as well as better communicate with clients. It is important to share research results every time a designer present his or her work. On one hand, designers are making a point that it is not just about the abstract aesthetic to which people have various perceptions. “Looking good” becomes “reasonable beauty”. On the other hand, the right research results will leave a very good impression to the clients as you take your time to learn about the business and found what is critical. Jie Yi Couture Studio (https://yiwentu.myportfolio.com/jie-yi-couture-branding) is an example of my branding projects. In order to do research for this fashion brand, I interviewed the two founders and studied their product, their clients, and the competitors. We agreed on the branding strategy and then the design addressed the key branding personalities. The research helps take the work to the next level where it can help the clients’ business on a strategic level.

Other than designing for business, I would work on personal projects on the topics I am interested in. Most of these works are more experimental. I like to use radical visuals to create an immersive experience for the audience. For example, in my work Philosophy in A.D. 2019 (https://yiwentu.myportfolio.com/philosophy-in-ad-2019), I burnt the sculpture made of my shattered posters. While the sculpture depicts the diversity, wisdom, and aspiration of the philosophies in the period of Warring Kingdoms, the fire consuming the artifact communicates destruction of these ideas. The lines that appear in the video were applied with a heat-wave effect to convey a feeling of turbulence. The visual and the sound depicted a sense of disappearance and invalidation. With the fire going out, the viewers started to wake up from the experience and thought of what they saw, what was left, and the message behind the work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yiwentu.myportfolio.com/
• Email: yvonnetufsh@gmail.com

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