Interview with Danyang Ma from United States

Painting has been my passion since childhood. In middle school, I started using Photoshop to create art collages and design pieces. This experience helped me gradually develop a personal art style and I realized then that I wanted to become a creative professional.

I am an independent freelancer. Apart from my full-time job as a visual designer at Pinterest, I'm also taking project-based inquiries. The work is mostly about branding and social design; some categories are cosmetics, retails, and media app - clients including KIKI World, VOODOO House, New News, etc.

I hold a thinking-and-feeling combined insight and every piece of design is there for both aesthetic needs and a greater purpose. Design is to help both clients and users find solutions and communicate their messages.

One of my favorite kinds of design is social media design. It engages you in various platforms and design mediums, such as ad still graphics, editorials, motions, and films. It is also like creating content or a small intensive campaign for a brand.

A good design always follows the pattern of nature, making the form pure and easy, and the product itself shall be reasonable and intuitive, dedicated to details, aesthetic, and precise. Furthermore, there is a purpose behind all good design, with an innovative approach embedded in long-term visions.

I have carried a bold, playful style throughout school and professional design works. It speaks simplicity and strong emotions at the same time. This visual language helps enrich dialogical communication among designers, clients, and audiences, provoking a double-way conversation.

The process starts with interpreting and identifying the message my clients want to convey through design. They were followed by researching for inspirations of logos, layouts, styles, etc. And then, I would create 3-5 sketches of the first draft. Let the clients decide which direction they prefer. And then, I would proceed with designing the art direction and the rest of the deliverables.

The implicit, flexible and delightful touch in traditional Chinese ink painting has influenced my preference in design, along with the philosophy of elevating the art through blankness, the balance of emptiness and completeness and the sense of breath.

I'm eternally grateful for the honor of receiving the Silver award under packaging at the 2023 MUSE Design Awards! In my effort to design the packaging for VOODOO HOUSE, I was deep in research in African art styles and the Voodoo culture for a very long time. It truly was a dynamic and exciting process for me.

The packaging design of VOODOO HOUSE is based on the concept of voodoo spells - one of the most mysterious and fascinating African cultural heritage. I tried to adapt different spells to represent coffee blends, from dark to light roast. Packaging illustrations are inspired by beautiful African tribal totem art, expressing handcrafts. I especially enjoyed working on illustrations that imply the concept of tribes, symbolic characters, and rituals.

I especially enjoyed working on illustrations that imply the concept of tribes, symbolic characters, and rituals. I have conducted plenty of research at museums and voodoo stores, taking photos and studying materials and ingredients used for the voodoo practice.

It was my first time utilizing handcrafting and printing techniques in a design. It encouraged me to keep practicing and to explore different mediums and design methods. The award has also helped me gain more recognition in the field.

Peer designers, new design technologies and innovative forms of art.

Chinese characters have built an independent visual system for typefaces and the typography design approach. The characters are more symbolic rather than letter-based, like in Latin languages, which is a refreshment to the design archive.

In the next 5-10 years, it's possible to imagine technologies will take over more executing tasks, leaving designers more space to focus on ideation and conceptualization, also further enhancing digital effects to help designers create more impactful and stunning works.

Being creative makes people excited. Designers are always trying out, looking for and exploring new ideas. And consistency makes a significant difference.

Some platforms I can think of are Pinterest, Behance, and Youtube. From Pinterest, you get great, random initial ideas and there is always an array of fantastic design feeds on Behance. And whenever you have a technical problem, seeking solutions from Youtube tutorial videos is always very helpful!

It took me several years to find out what kind of design I'm good at working on which are branding and social and I'm positive I will switch to something else in the future.

All of my designer friends I made, and will be making during my academic and professional career. It is a pleasure to work with such talented people.

I get most of my motivation by simply talking to people. And once you're surrounded by encouraging and inspirational talents, the situation will push you to pursue a better self.

Thank you so much for this interview! It was a pleasant opportunity to enter the 2023 MUSE Design Award and, even better, to win it. I am excited for the opportunities that will come my way.