Zichun Wang

I still remember the first painting class I had in my life when I was in elementary school. The first assignment was to draw a picture with colors. The amazing thing is that I was able to use colors to express my mood - green represented peace, red represented anxiety, and purple represented sadness. That day marked the beginning of my art journey. Over the years, I continued to explore various mediums and techniques, refining my skills and deepening my understanding of the relationship between colors and emotions. Art became not only a means of self-expression but also a powerful tool for communication and healing.

I am a motion designer who creates artwork for the web, television and social media. This encompasses commercials, email campaigns, title sequences, and more. As a motion designer, my role is to bring life into the digital world, making it dynamic and captivating. A successful designer must possess a fundamental understanding of timing, pacing, and design principles, including composition, color theory, and typography since these are essential for creating visually appealing and impactful animations. Effective communication and collaboration skills are also important because motion designers often work as part of a creative team.

Marketing communication is the process of brand-building communication activities. The focus is on developing brand concepts, establishing emotional resonance with the brand, enhancing brand reputation, and fostering brand loyalty. The marketing communication strategy emphasizes reaching out to relevant social groups, including core customers, business partners, and brand enthusiasts, to build connections and increase brand influence.

My first step is to always research and the official website is the first place I would start, followed by their brand guidelines. I would also shift my focus on key design elements, such as logos, color schemes, fonts, and icons. This sets the foundation for the project's direction. The following step is to explore design websites like Behance and Pinterest to research similar projects, draw inspiration, and collect relevant images and videos to create a moodboard. After the research phase, I always develop a pitch deck to present my ideas to my team members as well as the clients. This deck includes research findings, timelines, and budgets if required. It also incorporates storyboards, style-frames, and a preliminary vision of the final design. Multiple concepts are prepared to give clients a variety of choices with their preferences.

It's my honor to be a winner of the NYX Awards! This is one of the most significant achievements and the happiest moments I've experienced on my design journey so far. Winning this award has shown me how much people appreciate my artwork, boosting my confidence and inspiring me to create even more creative works.

I believe the most challenging aspect is collaborating with musicians and producers who are experts in various fields. Our team consists of brilliant minds, but having a large team can sometimes lead to an endless feedback loop. During our idea discussions, our perspectives are often different which is why we must work together to find solutions that can meet everyone's expectations.

I am based in New York City, United States which is the most creative, vibrant, and diverse cultural city in the world. New York City has bustling streets, iconic architecture, and people from different countries and cultures provide me with endless inspiration. I always find myself immersed in the city's energy, getting inspiration from the dynamism of my surroundings to infuse creativity into my artworks.

Definitely AI tools! AI has already revolutionized the design industry, making the progress more efficient and user-friendly. With AI, designers can save plenty of time when doing tedious tasks, providing more possibilities for creative works. Additionally, AI can analyze data for targeted audience information and generate designs tailored to specific demographics. This can make the design process more personalized and effective.

Meeting with experts from different industries, collaborating with them, and listening to their stories is my favorite thing in this industry.

Any creative website would be helpful, such as Vimeo, YouTube, Behance, Pinterest, etc.

Books! I love reading, especially history books. I meet different people in different time periods and events. I like the feeling of being told their stories and experiencing their lives. Reading makes you smarter and more creative. When I am doing artwork, I can always remember their stories and be inspired by their stories.

I think the key to being a successful motion designer is to tell a compelling story through my design works. This includes aspects like story structure, pacing and timing, and the language of the camera.

Han Zhang, a product designer based in NYC. Lilly Mi, a motion designer based in NYC. Jin Yi, a motion designer based in NYC.