My passion for visual expression began at the age of three, long before I understood the mechanics of communication. As I grew, however, my focus expanded from pure aesthetics to the underlying psychology of why design works. Pursuing a STEM-heavy high school curriculum focused in Biology and Chemistry, while participating in academic competitions from essays, public posters, product designing, educational video making, to business planning taught me to combine creativity with structured problem-solving and create ideas that can actually work. Design to me is not merely art or drawing, it is applied science of human behavior, branding, and problem-solving. My goal at NTUST is to combine structured creative thinking with technology to develop into a creative director and brand strategist who can turn ideas into meaningful, practical solutions.
My most significant practical design experience involved building the visual identity for a mahjong parlor in my hometown. Beyond creating a logo and interior layout, I faced a strategic challenge rooted in Indonesia's social context: mahjong is often strongly associated with Chinese culture, while historical tensions and lingering prejudice toward the Chinese-Indonesian community can make explicitly Chinese-coded spaces feel unfamiliar or intimidating to some audiences. My challenge was therefore not simply to make the parlor visually appealing, but to soften these perceived cultural barriers and create an environment that felt approachable and universally welcoming. Beyond visual design, this experience sharpened my skills in client collaboration. Teaching me to analyze market dynamics, navigate real-world client feedback, and craft targeted visual campaigns that drive business growth. Combining my business plan competition background with practical brand development, those experiences have taught me great design isn't just art, it is a problem-solving tool that bridges consumer needs with commercial success.
In 2025, my year in OSIS (student council) developed my capacity for leadership. As an event committee member, I planned and organized student engagement activities, such as game sessions for Easter, Independence day, and many more events. This track record led me to get recognized for my reliability and creative vision. I was then trusted by the school to be a part of the core members of my school's publication and documentation team for a major inter-school basketball tournament.
Managing our social media contents and producing promotional media requires balancing aesthetic appeal with clear messaging. First, I create the core storyboard, then I use shape, motion, and color to draw engagement. I also learned to independently edit and refine video content, adapting raw footage into polished promotional materials suited to different formats and platforms.This opportunity taught me how to manage real-time game updates, design cohesive Instagram feed layouts, post match schedules and curate contents that fulfilled the key sponsorship agreements. My design intuition was further validated when my custom jersey design was voted first out of ten competing submissions through a community vote that was later worn by the teachers, guest stars, and committee members.
Despite my growing interest in design strategy and technology, I have never neglected the fundamentals of visual expression. Since elementary school, I have consistently attended art classes, developing my skills across a range of traditional mediums, from crayons and colored pencils to graphite, acrylic, and watercolor. Not only that, I study proportion, perspective, composition, and form. Skills that continue to influence how I approach design today. I have also actively challenged myself through art competitions throughout the years. Most recently, I received Runner-Up in the high school category of the Faber-Castell Graphite Pencil Drawing Competition. I was also selected by my school to represent it in The One Academy's Annual Art Competition.
My connection to Taiwan also began through language. I have been exposed to Mandarin since childhood, but it was only when my parents gave me the opportunity to pursue my education overseas that I began approaching the language with a clear purpose. I chose Taiwan because I was drawn to its intersection of design, technology, and culture, and I committed myself to learning Mandarin as part of preparing for that transition. Within less than a year of focused study, I reached the A2 level, meeting the language benchmark I had set for myself. Having achieved that immediate goal, I deliberately shifted my attention toward developing my portfolio and strengthening the areas most important to my intended field of study.
I see these experiences not as separate achievements, but as steps that have shaped the way I understand design. Learning the fundamentals of drawing improved my ability to use color and composition to guide attention, learning Mandarin taught me how to set priorities and adapt toward a larger goal, competitions taught me to refine ideas under constraints, and my later experiences in branding, business, and digital media taught me how to apply those skills to real-world problems. Together, they have shaped my belief that effective design lies at the intersection of creativity, human behavior, technology, and strategy. At NTUST, I hope to challenge myself beyond simply becoming a better designer, but to become a thinker who can identify meaningful problems, transform insights into purposeful ideas, and turn those ideas into solutions that people genuinely connect with. Ultimately, I aspire to become a creative director and brand strategist who does not simply make things look good, but understands why they should exist, who they are for, and how design can make them matter.
My most significant practical design experience involved building the visual identity for a mahjong parlor in my hometown. Beyond creating a logo and interior layout, I faced a strategic challenge rooted in Indonesia's social context: mahjong is often strongly associated with Chinese culture, while historical tensions and lingering prejudice toward the Chinese-Indonesian community can make explicitly Chinese-coded spaces feel unfamiliar or intimidating to some audiences. My challenge was therefore not simply to make the parlor visually appealing, but to soften these perceived cultural barriers and create an environment that felt approachable and universally welcoming. Beyond visual design, this experience sharpened my skills in client collaboration. Teaching me to analyze market dynamics, navigate real-world client feedback, and craft targeted visual campaigns that drive business growth. Combining my business plan competition background with practical brand development, those experiences have taught me great design isn't just art, it is a problem-solving tool that bridges consumer needs with commercial success.
In 2025, my year in OSIS (student council) developed my capacity for leadership. As an event committee member, I planned and organized student engagement activities, such as game sessions for Easter, Independence day, and many more events. This track record led me to get recognized for my reliability and creative vision. I was then trusted by the school to be a part of the core members of my school's publication and documentation team for a major inter-school basketball tournament.
Managing our social media contents and producing promotional media requires balancing aesthetic appeal with clear messaging. First, I create the core storyboard, then I use shape, motion, and color to draw engagement. I also learned to independently edit and refine video content, adapting raw footage into polished promotional materials suited to different formats and platforms.This opportunity taught me how to manage real-time game updates, design cohesive Instagram feed layouts, post match schedules and curate contents that fulfilled the key sponsorship agreements. My design intuition was further validated when my custom jersey design was voted first out of ten competing submissions through a community vote that was later worn by the teachers, guest stars, and committee members.
Despite my growing interest in design strategy and technology, I have never neglected the fundamentals of visual expression. Since elementary school, I have consistently attended art classes, developing my skills across a range of traditional mediums, from crayons and colored pencils to graphite, acrylic, and watercolor. Not only that, I study proportion, perspective, composition, and form. Skills that continue to influence how I approach design today. I have also actively challenged myself through art competitions throughout the years. Most recently, I received Runner-Up in the high school category of the Faber-Castell Graphite Pencil Drawing Competition. I was also selected by my school to represent it in The One Academy's Annual Art Competition.
My connection to Taiwan also began through language. I have been exposed to Mandarin since childhood, but it was only when my parents gave me the opportunity to pursue my education overseas that I began approaching the language with a clear purpose. I chose Taiwan because I was drawn to its intersection of design, technology, and culture, and I committed myself to learning Mandarin as part of preparing for that transition. Within less than a year of focused study, I reached the A2 level, meeting the language benchmark I had set for myself. Having achieved that immediate goal, I deliberately shifted my attention toward developing my portfolio and strengthening the areas most important to my intended field of study.
I see these experiences not as separate achievements, but as steps that have shaped the way I understand design. Learning the fundamentals of drawing improved my ability to use color and composition to guide attention, learning Mandarin taught me how to set priorities and adapt toward a larger goal, competitions taught me to refine ideas under constraints, and my later experiences in branding, business, and digital media taught me how to apply those skills to real-world problems. Together, they have shaped my belief that effective design lies at the intersection of creativity, human behavior, technology, and strategy. At NTUST, I hope to challenge myself beyond simply becoming a better designer, but to become a thinker who can identify meaningful problems, transform insights into purposeful ideas, and turn those ideas into solutions that people genuinely connect with. Ultimately, I aspire to become a creative director and brand strategist who does not simply make things look good, but understands why they should exist, who they are for, and how design can make them matter.
