about me

My name is Xiayan Zhang, English name is Sean. My mom picked it for me because she likes the first actor of James Bond, Sean Connery, plus the pronunciation is similarto my Chinese first name, haha. As a child, I was somewhat of an anomaly among my peers, often found absorbed in books while seated on my little wooden chair, much to my mother's concern for my mental health. Thus, to let me go out and make more friends, she signed me up for an amateur drawing class. It was there that my journey into art and design began, uncovering a latent talent for drawing. The admiration of others and the pride I felt upon completing a piece brought me immense joy and satisfaction, marking the start of a lifelong passion.


As an international student, I left my country when I was 15 years old. But at that time I was notinterested in traditional Chinese culture, I was more eager to absorb North American popculture. What changed this is a game called Genshin. The Chinese aesthetics and traditionalculture displayed in the game made me feel shocked and proud, and I had the idea that "the culture I come from can be this gorgeous." Since then, I have intentionally or unintentionally incorporated some shadow of Chinese culture into my design. On the one hand, because of myaesthetic taste, on the other hand, I want to let people around me appreciate different beauty from Eastern culture through my design.


Another design approach for me is the Pathos of things (物の哀れ). It is a concept originally developed in Japan, meaning the awareness of impermanence, or transience of things, and both a transientgentle sadness at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this statebeing the reality of life. I often appreciate this concept because I believe the essence of designlies in empathizing with the audience's emotions, fostering mutual respect in both giving andreceiving feedback from the target group.