Interview with Bojun Tan

I became a designer by connecting my interest in art with my interest in communication. My education at Rhode Island School of Design gave me the technical and conceptual foundation to understand how visual systems are built. From there, I began working with startups and cultural brands, where I learned how design operates in real-world contexts. Those client projects were important because they showed me that design is not only about producing attractive visuals. It is about understanding a client’s story, identifying what makes it meaningful, and building a visual structure that can carry that story forward. Over time, this process became the center of my practice.

When I design, especially for brand identity, my first priority is to understand the core narrative behind the brand. Before thinking about style, I try to understand what the brand stands for, what kind of audience it speaks to, and what kind of emotional memory it wants to create. A strong identity should not only look attractive; it should have a clear internal logic.

The central theme I often integrate into my projects is the balance between personality and structure. I like brands that have a distinct voice, but I also believe that personality needs to be supported by a disciplined visual system. In my previous work, I often used expressive visual elements, illustrations, or cultural references, but anchored them through typography, grid, hierarchy, and brand architecture. This allows the identity to feel unique without becoming chaotic.

Digital tools are very important in my process, but I see them as extensions of thinking rather than replacements for thinking. I use design software to test compositions, build systems, refine details, and quickly compare different directions. I also use digital tools to explore motion, code-based visuals, mockups, and presentation structures. They help me move faster and see more possibilities, but the decision-making still comes from strategy, taste, and close observation.

When starting a project, I spend a lot of time on the big picture: the brand’s look and feel, its position, its visual language, and what makes it different from others in the same field. Once that foundation is clear, I move into planning the system and then execution. For me, a memorable design is often decided at the beginning, before the final visuals are made.

Several aspects of my background have strongly shaped my design perspective. My design education gave me a disciplined sensitivity to form, typography, and visual systems, while my background in fine art encouraged me to think more conceptually and emotionally. This combination helped me build a practice that balances structure with imagination.

Working with startups also shaped me significantly. These projects often require flexibility, speed, and the ability to make strategic decisions within ambiguity. I learned how to build identities that are not only visually refined, but also adaptable to changing business and cultural contexts. Finally, my ongoing work with global brands has expanded my understanding of creative systems at a larger scale. It has taught me how to manage complexity, collaborate across disciplines, and maintain artistic clarity within high-pressure projects. Together, these experiences have made me a designer who values narrative, precision, and cultural resonance.

My professional path has been shaped by the connection between fine art, visual culture, and brand strategy. My foundation in art and image-making continues to inform how I translate visual sensitivity into functional visual systems. Working with independent brands has been especially important to me because it taught me how to listen, how to understand different business goals, and how to build identities that can evolve with a brand.

I want to continue working on projects where design is not treated as decoration, but as a core strategic tool. I want to take on more projects that involve culture, community, and social impact, while continuing to refine my practice in branding and visual identity. I am especially interested in work that requires both conceptual depth and practical execution.

My dream design project would be a cultural or social-impact brand with a strong story, but an unclear visual identity. I would love to help shape it from the ground up: strategy, naming direction, visual system, typography, imagery, digital presence, and physical applications. The ideal project would allow me to build not just a logo, but a complete visual world with meaning, flexibility, and long-term value.

My advice is to build a strong habit of questioning your own work. Do not stop at the first version that looks good. Ask yourself what is weak, what is unclear, and what can be more precise. A designer strengthens their practice through revision, not only through inspiration.

I would also encourage designers to learn how to present their work. A strong portfolio is not just a collection of beautiful images; it is a visual argument. It should help people understand your thinking, your process, and the value of your decisions. The ability to explain why you made something is just as important as the ability to make it.

Finally, stay open to conversations. Learn from clients, classmates, colleagues, and other designers. Design can feel like an individual practice, but good work is often shaped through feedback, observation, and dialogue. Your own perspective is important, but it becomes stronger when it can respond to the world around it.

I keep up with design trends by looking at what is happening across branding, typography, digital products, fashion, art, and culture. I think it is important to stay visually aware, because trends often reveal how people are feeling and what kind of communication they respond to at a certain moment.

However, I do not simply imitate current trends or try to make my work look “cool.” When I see a trend, I try to analyze what was done right. Is it the typography? The pacing? The use of space? The attitude? The technology behind it? Once I understand the principle, I can decide whether it has relevance to my own project.

Trends matter, but they should not control the design. A brand identity needs to last longer than a visual moment. As designers, our responsibility is not only to follow what is popular today, but to imagine what could come next. Good design should feel current, but it should also have enough substance to remain meaningful after the trend passes.

I define good design as successful human interaction. A well-designed project is easy to use, easy to understand, and easy to feel. It communicates clearly, but it also leaves an emotional impression.

For me, good design is not only a finalized product. It should be a lasting piece with vitality, adaptability, and long-term relevance. A good brand identity, for example, should not only work in one perfect presentation image. It should continue to work across different formats, different moments, and continuing needs. It should be flexible enough to evolve, but clear enough to remain recognizable.

I also think good design has a sense of inevitability. When all the choices—typography, color, composition, imagery, tone, and system—support the same idea, the design feels natural. It does not need to explain itself too much, because people can understand and feel its purpose through interaction.

My work culture is built around listening, clarity, and collaboration. I believe good design begins with meaningful conversations. Before making visual decisions, I try to understand the client’s background, values, ambitions, and concerns. This helps me create work that is not only visually refined, but also specific to the people and brand behind it.

My business philosophy is to build design with clients, not just for clients. I value clients who can communicate honestly and give constructive feedback, because that kind of exchange often leads to stronger results. At the same time, I believe a designer should bring structure and direction to the process. The client understands their story deeply, and the designer helps translate that story into a clear visual system.

I also believe design should be both beautiful and useful. A visual identity should carry emotion, but it should also function well in real business contexts. The best design work creates trust, builds recognition, and gives a brand the confidence to communicate consistently.

Participating in design awards and competitions has been a very positive experience for me because it gives me a chance to look at my work from a broader perspective. When preparing a submission, I have to step back and explain the project clearly: what the challenge was, what decisions I made, and why the result matters. That process helps me better understand my own design thinking.

The first major benefit is visibility. Awards allow a project to reach a wider audience, including prospective clients, collaborators, and people in the creative industry. For an independent designer, this kind of exposure can open additional conversations and opportunities.

The second benefit is professional validation. Recognition from a design award can help communicate the quality and seriousness of the work. It gives clients more confidence and also reminds the designer that their effort has value beyond the immediate project.

The third benefit is reflection. Competitions encourage designers to organize their work, refine their presentation, and articulate their design logic. Even before the result is announced, the act of preparing an entry can be extremely useful. It helps transform a project from something completed into something understood.

These experiences are consistent with how I see design in general: not only as visual production, but as a process of building meaning, structure, and communication. My earlier interview responses also emphasize this balance between artistic personality, strategic thinking, client dialogue, and long-term brand resilience.

I am motivated by the possibility of turning abstract ideas into memorable forms. A brand, a concept, or a story may begin as something vague, but through design it can become clear, emotional, and recognizable. That is very exciting to me. Earlier in my practice, I was driven mainly by the joy of making things and refining visual details. Later, I became more interested in the meanings behind form: how text and image can create personality, how an image can shape perception, and how a visual can help people understand a brand before reading about it. Today, I design because it allows me to combine curiosity, creative strategy, and poetic expression.

I design visual identities, brand systems, and communication materials for independent brands and cultural events. Much of my work sits between strategy and visual storytelling: I help a brand understand how it should look, sound, and behave visually across different contexts.

I always hope to work more with clients who are not simply trying to fit into existing categories. I am most excited by people and brands that already have a strong sense of who they are, but need help translating that identity into a clear and memorable visual system. When a client can share honest thoughts and constructive feedback, the design process becomes much richer. We can discover together what they care about, what makes them different, and how to craft something truly unique for them. For me, that process is not only professionally meaningful, but also an invaluable learning experience.

Good design creates better human interaction: it helps people use, understand, and feel something more naturally. From a business perspective, good design can become a revenue-driving asset because it shapes how audiences perceive value. But I also believe design has a larger cultural role. Strong design records ideas and emotions, and ways of living from a certain time. In that sense, it is not only a commercial tool, but also an intellectual treasure for humanity.

My “secret ingredient” is getting close to the client through meaningful conversations. I try not to approach a project only from the surface, or design something merely stylish. I want to my client’s visions, and what kind of connection they want to build with their audience.
After an honest conversation, I can build the work with the client rather than for the client. Together, we identify their characteristics, values, and translate them into a visual language that feels unique to them. This is how the most original ideas begin.

I think designers improve by constantly revising their own work. For me, the process is very practical: I make the design first, then step back and identify its weaknesses. After that, I do everything to make it better: polishing the visuals, rebuilding the structure, improving the concept, or asking for feedback from fellow designers I trust. Improvement doesn’t come from waiting for the perfect idea. It comes from making, testing, questioning, and revising.

Designers should treat presentation as part of the design itself. Designers should carefully select what to show, design the rhythm of the portfolio, and build a clear visual narrative. The goal is not only to show pretty images, but to guide the viewer through the design goals, process, decisions, and final results. Every detail matters: the order of images, the amount of text, the mockups, the spacing, and the pacing. Showcasing the work is as important as doing the work.

The design field is moving toward a stronger combination of strategy, technology, and cultural sensitivity. As design tools become more accessible, making something pretty is not enough. The real value of designers will come from how they think, how they structure information, and how they create systems that can adapt across different platforms and audiences. I also believe designers will need to become more aware of social and cultural contexts. Brands today are not static identities; they are living systems that interact with communities, technologies, and changing values. The next stage of design will require designers to be more thoughtful, more flexible, and more responsible in the way they shape visual culture.

I usually start by spending a lot of time thinking about the big picture. Before moving into execution, I try to understand the brand’s personality, visual direction, audience, and position. I ask questions such as: What should this brand feel like? How is it similar to other brands in its field? More importantly, what makes it different?
After that, I begin to plan the visual system. I think about typography, color, composition, imagery, and how these elements can work together consistently. For me, deciding the direction at the beginning is extremely important. If the foundation is clear, the final design is more likely to feel memorable, coherent, and meaningful.

I think both can happen, but the most important design work usually does not begin with trends. Trends can reveal what people are responding to in a certain moment. Behind every trend, there are design decisions worth studying: choices about form, technology, culture, and communication. However, a designer should not follow a trend just because it is popular. Instead of only following what is current, designers should try to imagine what could come next.

Grid Systems in Graphic Design taught me how to begin a design by building a clear foundation. The grid is a way of organizing thought and letting design happen. More importantly, the book helped me understand how to turn creativity into procedures and how to turn visuals into systems. That idea has influenced the way I approach brand identity. I do not see design as isolated visual moments, but as a structure where each part supports the whole.

I built and refined my skills by learning carefully from both clients and fellow designers. Clients often teach me how to listen, how to understand different industries, and how to translate abstract goals into visual solutions. Fellow designers teach me how to look more critically, refine details, and challenge my own assumptions.

I do not think design mastery comes from working alone. It comes from practice, conversation, observation, and revision. Every project gives me a chance to become more precise in my thinking and more sensitive in my visual decisions. My earlier interview responses also reflect this belief that design becomes stronger through dialogue, strategic thinking, and a careful balance between visual personality and structure.

My design practice focuses on building visual identities and creative strategies for independent startups, cultural projects, and brands with strong narrative direction. I often work with clients who are shaping their voice, so my role is not only to create a visual system, but also to help clarify the personality and creative strategy behind the brand. A large part of my practice is culture-related branding. I am especially interested in projects that sit between art, design, lifestyle, and contemporary visual culture. My approach is highly adaptive: I try to understand each client’s context, then build a system that feels precise, flexible, and distinctive. Rather than following a fixed style, I focus on creating visual identities that can evolve with the brand while maintaining a strong conceptual core.

I enjoy working on projects where the client is not simply trying to fit into an existing category, but is using design to define who they are. Those are the most exciting briefs for me, because I get to discover what makes the brand different, what the client truly cares about, and what kind of emotional or cultural space they want to occupy.

I especially like designing visual identities for independent brands with a strong point of view. Design, in these projects, is not just about aesthetics. It becomes a way to clarify a personality, build trust, and create a visual world that feels specific to that client.

I am very interested in mockup, rendering, and visualization technologies. They allow me to control small details and show clients not only what a design looks like, but what the brand could feel like in real life, with a small cost.

For me, a strong mockup presentation is crucial to the design process. When I can show how a brand behaves on packaging, signage, a website, or a physical space, the client can feel as if it already exists. That makes the conversation much more concrete and helps everyone make better decisions.

I spend most of my creative effort on the big picture: the brand’s look and feel, what makes it unique, and how the visual system should work. Before I begin the design execution, I spend a lot of time planning the direction, testing, and making sure the design has a clear reason to exist.
The production takes longer in the later phase, but the most difficult part is deciding what the design should become. Once the direction is right, execution becomes much easier and more meaningful.

Graphic design is a form of human communication, so the first thing I consider is whether the design has a thoughtful decisions behind it. Why does it look this way? What is it trying to communicate? Can the audience feel that intention? A design can be visually attractive, but a great design should have both visual strength and conceptual clarity, helping people understand a brand, a story, or an experience more clearly.

I think the design field is moving toward a stronger combination of strategy, technology, and cultural awareness. Tools are becoming more accessible, and many people can now produce polished visuals quickly. Therefore, the value of a designer will rely much more on thinking, judgment, and the ability to build meaningful systems.

Designers increasingly need to understand brands, audiences, technology, and social context at the same time. The next stage of design belongs to people who can combine visual sensitivity with clear strategy and adaptability. This is also how I view my own practice: using design not only as a surface treatment, but as an effective system for communication and long-term brand presence.

A lot of my inspiration comes from studying great design agencies and creative studios from around the world. I do not only look at the first impression of a project. I am more interested in the small decisions behind it: how the typography, the structure and the colors are all working together to tell a story. I also draw inspiration from art history, visual culture, architecture, fashion, and everyday objects. I think creativity strengthens when you keep observing carefully. Sometimes a small detail in a book cover, a storefront, an exhibition, or even a street sign can become inspiring later in a completely different context.

Treat every project as a chance to build your own judgment. Do not only ask whether something looks good. Ask why it works, what it communicates, and how it could be better.

Many designers often feel pressure to define a personal style very quickly, but I think it is more important to build a strong way of thinking. Style can change over time, but your ability to ask the right questions, make decisions, and revise your work will stay. Also, do not be afraid to show your work.

One difficult part of being a designer is managing multiple deadlines while still fighting for the best possible outcome. Design often requires persuasion, negotiation, and many rounds of revision. It can be stressful as you really care about the result but need to work within real constraints. At the same time, the rewarding part is very powerful. Seeing an idea become real makes all the effort worthwhile. Design allows me to turn thinking into something visible and helpful, and that is so meaningful to me.

The ability to revise is the most important skill for a designer. A good design never comes perfect in the first attempt. You need to make some drafts, identify their weaknesses, and do whatever is necessary to improve it. Besides visual skills, design is about judgment, communication, and patience. You have to understand the client’s needs, explain your decisions, accept feedback, and still protect the quality of the work. Revision is where many ideas become stronger and more precise.

I want to continue refining my practice: I am especially interested in projects where design can support meaningful storytelling, social awareness, or local communities. At the same time, I want to continue strengthening the connection between my design practice and my work as an artist. My goal is to take on projects that are visually refined, strategically clear, and culturally thoughtful. I want my work to continue demonstrating that design can be both beautiful and useful, personal and systematic.

To learn more about my work, please visit my website. For collaboration opportunities or other inquiries, please feel free to contact me by email.