Meet Ian Chen | Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian Chen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Work-life balance is essential to a designer or a design student. When I was at school, I wanted to spend all my time on design work, but I realized it sometimes did not improve it. If you stay up late to make designs, you will not have enough energy to study or continue on the design on next day. Sometimes making work more efficient is more important. so I usually plan to spend a few hours working and would not do anything else except work in those hours so I could have more time hanging out with friends or doing sports. When I was doing my internship, I felt I had more work-life balance is better. As an intern now, I only need to work from 9:30 to 6:30 and I don’t have any extra assignments or think about designs after those hours.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to study graphic design after high school. In the summer after my freshman year, I was searching some good portfolios online and some graduate work from the Art Center and School of Visual Art appeared. Those design works surprised me a lot and kind of gave me a new world about graphic design. During the covid, I got more time on searching different design firms and studios online, which also led me to have more creative minds on design. Before the end of my college, I felt New York still is so attractive to me in terms of life vibe and job opportunities, so I decided to come to New York right after my graduation, which is where I am now. It was not a smooth road for me. In my freshman year at SAIC, I would say it was kind of easy but boring at the same time sometimes because I was learning some basic knowledge and principles. As I mentioned previously, the works from other schools really provided me with a world of graphic design, like creating a customer typeface for branding. I was doubtful about what I learned at my school. Since that, I tried to make my work more experiential. I also was so struggled sometimes before SAIC did not have multiple branding or typeface design courses (only one identity system class). I didn’t know where I can learn these. In my junior and senior years, I got two opportunities to work with two professors in two different semesters, which provided me with opportunities to experience designs I wanted and something I wanted to put in my portfolio. I am still very thankful for the help from these two professors.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to thank you to two best professors I met during my school year: Michael Konetzka and Timothy Bruce.

Website: https://ianchen.info/

Instagram: ianchen.8

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianchen19990811