Interviews met Goyen Chen

My background is in commercial design, visual communication, illustration, poster design, and character design. I hold a Master’s degree in Visual Communication Design and have continued to work across education, design practice, and international exhibitions. I became a designer because I have always been interested in how images can communicate emotions, culture, and social issues more directly than words. Design was not only a career choice for me, but also a way to observe the world and respond to it visually.

I work as an independent designer and educator, combining personal creative practice with academic teaching and international design activities. My work focuses on visual communication, cultural illustration, poster design, and experimental design projects. In addition to creating my own works, I also guide students in developing design thinking, visual expression, and competition-oriented projects.

For me, design is a process of transforming observation into communication. It is not only about making something beautiful, but also about creating meaning, solving problems, and building connections between people, culture, and society. Good design should be understandable, memorable, and emotionally resonant.

I enjoy designing visual works that combine culture, storytelling, and strong visual symbols. Poster design, illustration, character design, and calendar design are especially meaningful to me because they allow me to compress complex ideas into clear and memorable images.

One of my favorite projects is my illustrated calendar project featuring 365 Taiwanese foods. The project collected local street food, home-style dishes, desserts, and seasonal customs, turning them into daily illustrations. It is meaningful to me because it connects design with everyday life, memory, local culture, and the warmth of Taiwanese food traditions.

My early design works were mainly related to visual communication, illustration, and promotional graphics. These experiences helped me understand how design must balance creativity, communication, and practical needs. They also shaped my belief that design should not only look attractive, but also serve a clear purpose.

My favorite platform is visual media itself, especially posters, printed matter, illustration, and digital image creation. I also enjoy exploring AI-assisted image generation as a creative tool, not as a replacement for designers, but as a way to expand visual possibilities and accelerate experimentation.

I feel most creative when I am observing daily life, researching cultural details, or facing a difficult visual problem. Creativity often appears when different ideas unexpectedly connect, such as food and memory, tradition and contemporary design, or social issues and poetic visual metaphors.

I focus on concept, visual clarity, emotional impact, and cultural relevance. A design should have a strong idea behind it, but it also needs to be visually precise. I often ask myself whether the audience can feel the message before they fully understand the details.

Designing is a mixture of curiosity, pressure, excitement, and reflection. At the beginning, I often feel uncertain, but that uncertainty pushes me to search deeper. When the concept becomes clear, the process becomes exciting and very focused.

When a design is realized, I feel grateful and calm. The most rewarding moment is not only seeing the final work completed, but also seeing people respond to it, understand it, or find their own memories and emotions within it.

A successful design communicates clearly, stays memorable, and creates a meaningful response. It does not need to be complicated, but it should have a strong reason to exist. For me, successful design is a balance between idea, form, function, and emotion.

I first consider whether the design has a clear concept and whether the visual expression supports that concept. I also look at composition, originality, communication efficiency, and emotional strength. A visually attractive design may not be enough if the idea is weak.

Designers have the responsibility to communicate responsibly, respect culture, and consider the impact of their work on society and the environment. Design can shape attitudes, consumption, and public awareness. Therefore, designers should avoid creating only for decoration or profit, and should think about how their work can contribute to a more thoughtful future.

The design field is becoming more interdisciplinary, more digital, and more connected to social issues. Technology, especially AI, is changing how designers research, generate, and test ideas. However, the future of design will still depend on human judgment, cultural understanding, empathy, and the ability to create meaningful experiences.

My works have been exhibited internationally in many countries through poster biennales, design festivals, and invited exhibitions. My recent activities include international poster exhibitions and design-related events in Europe and Asia. For my next exhibition, I hope to present a series that connects visual design, culture, and contemporary social issues in a more complete curatorial form.

My inspiration often comes from daily life, Taiwanese culture, food, language, poetry, social issues, and visual details that people may easily overlook. I feed my creativity by observing, collecting images and stories, visiting exhibitions, reading, teaching, and communicating with students and other designers. Teaching also gives me new perspectives, because students often ask questions that lead me to rethink design from a fresh angle.

My design style is concept-driven, symbolic, poetic, and often visually direct. I like to use simple but strong visual metaphors to express complex emotions or cultural ideas. My approach is to begin with research and observation, then reduce the idea into a clear visual structure. I believe a good image should be quiet enough to invite reflection, but strong enough to remain in memory.

I live in Taiwan, and Taiwanese culture strongly influences my design. Taiwan has rich food culture, folk traditions, diverse visual languages, and a unique mixture of local and global influences. This gives me many sources of inspiration. The challenge is how to transform local culture into a visual language that can be understood internationally without losing its original warmth and meaning.

When working with companies or organizations, I begin by understanding their goals, audience, brand personality, and communication needs. I believe collaboration should be based on trust and clear dialogue. My role is not only to provide visual solutions, but also to help clarify the message behind the project.

Companies should look for designers who can think, communicate, and understand the problem deeply, not only designers with attractive visual styles. A good designer should be able to ask the right questions, translate strategy into visuals, and balance creativity with practical needs. Clear communication and mutual respect are also very important for a successful collaboration.

My design process usually begins with research, observation, and defining the core message. After that, I develop keywords, sketches, visual metaphors, and possible directions. I then refine the composition, typography, color, and details until the work becomes visually clear and conceptually strong.

Five of my favorite design items at home are printed books, posters, illustrated calendars, collectible figures, and small paper objects. These items remind me that design can exist in many scales, from a large visual statement to a small object that quietly stays in daily life.

A typical day for me often includes teaching, preparing course materials, working on design projects, reviewing students’ works, and researching visual references. I also spend time observing daily details, collecting ideas, and developing my own creative works. My day usually moves between education, creation, and reflection.

My suggestion to young designers is to observe more, think more, and not rush to make things look beautiful too quickly. A strong design often comes from a strong question. Young designers should build solid visual skills, but they should also learn about culture, society, language, and human emotions. These things will make their work deeper and more personal.

The positive side of being a designer is that we can constantly learn, create, and respond to the world through visual language. Design allows us to connect with people and ideas. The difficult side is that design can be time-consuming and mentally demanding, because every decision needs to support the concept and the audience.

My golden rule is: make the idea clear before making the image beautiful. Beauty is important, but without a clear idea, beauty becomes decoration. A good design should have both visual quality and conceptual necessity.

The most important skills for a designer are observation, visual composition, communication, critical thinking, empathy, and the ability to edit ideas. Technical skills are necessary, but designers also need to understand people, culture, and context.

My toolbox includes sketching, photography, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, digital drawing tools, AI-assisted image generation tools, printed books, exhibitions, cultural research, and daily observation. I believe tools are important, but the most important tool is still the designer’s ability to think and select.

I manage my time by separating the design process into stages: research, concept development, sketching, execution, refinement, and final review. I try to define the core idea early, because a clear direction saves time later. I also set priorities and leave enough time for revision.

It depends on the scale and complexity of the project. A poster may take a few days or several weeks, while a larger project such as an illustrated calendar or exhibition series may take months. I believe time should be used not only for production, but also for thinking, testing, and refinement.

The question I am often asked is where my ideas come from. My answer is that ideas usually come from long-term observation rather than sudden inspiration. Creativity is not only imagination; it is also the ability to connect things that seem unrelated.

One of my most important experiences is working as a design educator while continuing my own international creative practice. Teaching has trained me to explain design clearly, while international exhibitions and competitions have helped me understand design from a global perspective. These two roles influence and strengthen each other.

My work has involved collaborations with educational institutions, cultural organizations, design events, and creative projects. In addition to commissioned and collaborative design work, I have also participated in international exhibitions, poster events, and design competitions as a designer, educator, and invited participant.

I enjoy poster design and illustration the most because they allow ideas to be expressed in a concentrated and powerful way. A poster can be simple, but it can also carry strong cultural, emotional, or social meaning. Illustration gives me another way to bring warmth, memory, and imagination into visual communication.

My future plan is to continue developing works that connect visual communication, cultural storytelling, and social awareness. I also hope to keep participating in international exhibitions and design competitions, while expanding my teaching and research in digital design and AI-assisted creative practice.

Many of my personal creative works are developed independently, especially posters and illustration-based projects. However, I also value teamwork in educational, exhibition, and collaborative projects. I believe independent thinking and collaborative communication are both important parts of design practice.

I am currently interested in projects that explore the relationship between environmental issues, cultural symbols, and visual storytelling. I am also developing ideas related to character design, collectible objects, and design education, especially projects that can move from visual concept to physical experience.

People can contact me through my official portfolio, social media channels, or email for exhibitions, collaborations, lectures, workshops, and design-related projects. I am open to meaningful opportunities that connect design, culture, education, and international exchange.

I believe design is a long-term practice of seeing, thinking, and communicating. Whether I am creating a poster, an illustration, a calendar, or guiding students, I always hope design can carry both beauty and meaning. For me, design is not only about producing visual works, but also about creating a bridge between personal experience and shared culture.

The idea stemmed from the cultural significance of Bento boxes in Taiwanese daily life. We aimed to reinterpret this humble yet iconic object by integrating its practicality into a medium for storytelling. The packaging design evolved to resemble a Bento box, emphasizing modularity and organization, which mirrors the diversity and variety of Taiwanese cuisine. The journey involved sketching concepts inspired by traditional lunchboxes and experimenting with how they could serve as a functional container for the calendar while highlighting Taiwan’s culinary heritage.

Balancing authenticity and modern appeal required meticulous research into traditional dishes and their regional significance. By pairing these elements with minimalist illustrations and clean typography, we ensured the content remained relatable to a contemporary audience. The calendar serves as a bridge, presenting these dishes in a visually engaging format that sparks curiosity while respecting their cultural roots.

These elements were inspired by the tactile experience of enjoying a meal. The magnetic closure symbolizes the anticipation of uncovering something delightful, akin to opening a Bento box. The ceramic spoon, functioning as a paperweight, draws a parallel to the everyday tools of Taiwanese dining, grounding the calendar in its cultural context while adding a playful, functional touch to its use.

The process began with compiling a diverse list of dishes that represented Taiwan’s culinary spectrum, from street food to festival delicacies. We collaborated with culinary historians and local chefs to ensure accuracy and relevance. Each illustration was carefully crafted to highlight the unique essence of the dish, using vibrant colors and intricate details to reflect its identity and cultural story.

The dual functionality was designed to integrate seamlessly into daily routines while serving as an educational tool. By presenting each day with a dish and its brief story, users could learn about Taiwan’s food heritage in digestible segments, fostering an ongoing appreciation that grows with time.

One major challenge was sourcing eco-friendly materials that met our aesthetic and functional requirements. Additionally, ensuring consistency in handcrafted elements like soybean printing required close collaboration with artisans. These hurdles were overcome through persistent experimentation and refining techniques, ensuring the final product remained true to its vision.

The overwhelming support demonstrated a growing public enthusiasm for cultural preservation presented in accessible, everyday formats. It reinforced the importance of blending utility with storytelling, proving that functional design can effectively convey and preserve cultural narratives.

The calendar’s structure aligns with the lunar calendar and seasonal rhythms, featuring dishes that correspond to festivals and traditional occasions. This approach not only enriches the user experience but also highlights the intrinsic connection between Taiwanese food culture and the natural cycle of the seasons.

This project exemplifies how design can make cultural heritage tangible and relatable. It sparks conversations about the importance of preserving traditions while adapting them for modern audiences. As a tool, it bridges generations, encouraging deeper connections with one’s roots through everyday interactions.

Collaboration was key in balancing artistic expression and narrative clarity. The illustrators brought dishes to life with their nuanced understanding of food aesthetics, while graphic designers ensured coherence and usability. This synergy resulted in a visual language that is both evocative and functional, effectively narrating Taiwan’s culinary story.