Designer
“When I approach projects, I like to make them very appealing to me, so I will always enjoy my projects and have fun with them,” says ZongGao Yang, a student in the BFA Graphic Design program at CSP. “I like different aspects of my projects because they were inspired and influenced by different things in my life.” Yang’s approach to design is personal, evident in her senior thesis project that memorializes her parents’ immigration story.
Connecting with others is one of the best things that can come from her work. “I really enjoyed the aspect of being able to communicate with my parents and understanding what they went through and to replicate that through my project. A lot of people approached me because it was very touching to them, and a lot of them also said that they lived through that too.” Yang has been able to reach and connect with people of different cultures who find common ground in her work.
“I feel like I’m more of a person who doesn’t have a niche because I like to do a lot of different things. For example, I have so many different hobbies, right? So then I feel like that correlates to what I want to do with design and to be able to do a lot of different things and communicate creatively in different visual ways.” Even though she doesn’t have plans of nailing down a niche quite yet, Yang says she gravitates towards packaging design. “I think it’s really amazing to go to the store and see a package design that you’ve done and for people to be drawn to it enough to make them want to get the product.” She says this is especially true of food packaging.
Because her inspiration is so personal to her, Yang sometimes has a hard time being vulnerable with her design work, though she knows that’s when she makes the best work. “Putting myself into a project is fairly simple because I know me best,” she says. “I always feel like touching on those personal aspects allows people to understand your design better and to know who you are.”
Originally, Yang wanted to pursue a degree in psychology but decided to switch to CSP’s graphic design program once she realized she wanted something more creative. “I really wanted to understand the mind because I think the mind is such a beautiful thing.” Her interest in understanding how people think still heavily influences her design work; she often considers the why behind her projects and how they’ll connect with others.
Aside from psychology, Yang has a strong interest in music and has been playing the piano since kindergarten. She says her broad musical taste and the ability to play an instrument are part of her creative process, helping her create what she defines as “illustrative and inspiring” work.
Yang says that CSP’s design program is “such an encouraging and supportive community” that allows her to explore her work without the pressure of needing to be perfect. “I’ve learned that I enjoy constructive criticism, but I also enjoy the supporting and the encouraging part. Like you can encourage me first and then critique me.”
Being able to work through criticism to uncover better work has been something Yang works on outside of the classroom, too, with her passion for journaling. “I write like self-affirmations about things that I felt didn’t go great that day so I can feel better about them because I really hate negative feelings. Also, I always try to think positively through those negative moments.” She says the reflection that journaling provides her is priceless. “It’s always like a nice thing to know that you are growing.”
You can find more of Yang’s design work in her online portfolio here.