Designers have the power to create experiences that change human life. They have the say to choose who to include or exclude in a conversation. They can express themselves in ways that others would not imagine themselves doing. Design is power. And I acknowledge I have the power and have been learning to use it deliberately. I challenge the status quo, ask questions, and seeing patterns through other people's lenses. Design as activism.
I'm the type of designer who feels unstoppable when envisioning new products or business opportunities through design and research. I treat my brain as a design translator — the more I learn about the world/people/team/business/technology, the better solutions I can propose. I organize information into frameworks (e.g., risks, opportunities, trade-offs, or leverages) and dial each parameter for solutions. By default, I lean in and listen. That's a gift of growing up in a loud family (I'm proud to have 3 elder brothers). In every design execution, I challenge myself to do it faster, more thoughtful, more inclusive, and yield a smoother collaboration. Inquire > experiment > reflect > optimize could sum up my design process.
In my experience working at startups and an agency, I've taken on every opportunity to build my UX, research, visual, prototype, animation, and story-telling muscles. The environment I thrive in the most is where trust and understanding are in place and when I'm with people who actively make sense of the world. The idealist part of me wants to align my personal belief with the work I serve — empower everyone to speak up and have their voice heard, no matter how painful it is for others to hear. I want to seize the rest of my life to make an impact.
Living in a big city, like New York, gives me the chance to expose myself to the world — starting by meeting people and watching documentaries about their countries. South-east Asia used to be the farthest I care about. Now I care a lot more: countries in the Middle-east, Central America, West Africa (continuing to explore). Despite many tragedies happening around the globe, I choose to see the bright side. Hope is the last thing we can afford to lose. New York happens to be the city that lights up.
Lilian Yi-Hsuan Lin is a New York Seattle-based Product Designer from Taiwan (not Thailand). She drinks milk tea every morning paired with her favorite cheddar lye roll from Sea Wolf.
Lilian is currently building the next generation of graphic editor at Adobe. Prior to that, she had 4 years of experience working in start-ups and an agency, helping brands, large and small, turn their business ideas into seamless experiences. On the side, she rebrands a family-own bee farm and digitalize its 48-year-old business in exchange for free longan honey.
Lilian loves asking questions and listening to what people have to say. She is always curious about new things that makes her a hobbyist of many, master of none. Actually, that’s not true — she is on her way to mastering pixel push.
Her motto: Learn, unlearn, relearn.
