Interview with Michael Zibin Yuan

      

Design is about so much more than adding visual accessories and elements to make a medium look appealing. It is about influencing your target demographic, creating a positive user experience, and making a product packaging more appealing to its target consumers. In an interview with DesignRush, a new digital magazine that focuses on all aspects of creative design, Michael Zibin Yuan, a visual designer at Amazon, summed up good design brilliantly:

“I am managing the complex relations between the client’s request, the audience’s expectations, and most importantly, my interpretation and opinion as an author and designer who is responsible for creating the form and content of the work,” said Yuan.

Good design is good for business. It is no longer an abstract thing. Instead, the impact of a good design can be measured down to the last detail. The process itself doesn’t always involve visuals. In fact, many designers, including Yuan, use writing as a big part of the design process. Writing helps designers define the most suitable concepts and ideas for the challenges they face, taking into account the audience’s expectations.

It isn’t until the concept is clearly defined that designers can start sketching and transforming those ideas into visuals that work.

“Putting the concept and idea in the format of clear, written language helps me be honest to myself, and form a structured narrative that can be present to the client and audience,” Yuan added. This approach is also what led Yuan to design some remarkable works, including the Zizhu app he produced in 2012. Be sure to read the original interview at https://www.designrush.com/spotlight-listing/michael-zibin-yuan to find out more about how to approach good design.