Meet Yue Wu | Design Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yue Wu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yue, how do you think about risk?
Here are the three things I follow when it comes to risks and how I respond to them:

1. Accept the Inevitability of Risk: Risk is unavoidable—nothing is ever 100% certain. Acknowledging this helps me approach decisions with greater caution and a mindset prepared for uncertainty.

2. Assess Holistically and Mitigate Blind Spots: Since risk is always present, I make it a point to assess it thoroughly by leveraging what I already know, seeking input from others, and doing due diligence. There’s always a chance of overlooking something, so I consciously work to cover all perspectives and minimize blind spots.

3. Commit to the Decision: Once I’ve made a decision, I trust it and execute it confidently. While reflecting on past decisions is important, I believe that at the moment of choosing, it’s the best decision I can make based on the information and insights available.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The challenge I often face is balancing the time-intensive nature of design as a craft with the fast-paced consulting environment, where answers need to be delivered quickly. This requires prioritization and often settling for an 80% solution that can be refined later, which sometimes limits the opportunity for a full design lifecycle starting from scratch. Initially, I struggled with presenting design solutions confidently without a complete process. However, I’ve learned that many established patterns and frameworks can be leveraged, as we’re rarely solving problems that haven’t been addressed in some way before. Additionally, modern tools significantly accelerate the design process. My key takeaway is to embrace providing an early answer, even if it’s imperfect, and focus on iterating and validating it using tools and experience-driven patterns.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
One of my favorite spots to recommend to friends is the murals in the MIT campus tunnels. It reflects the intersection between reality and augmented reality, as well as art and technology. As you walk past the murals, you can easily spot the different themes they convey, showcasing a blend of engineering and creativity. These artworks add a playful and imaginative touch to MIT’s otherwise tech-dominated atmosphere, making them a unique and fun experience.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Medini Landgrave, a remarkable design friend and mentor, for continually inspiring me and supporting my growth on my design journey. Her thought-provoking questions have encouraged me to reflect deeply on my aspirations and trajectory as a designer, while her example as a role model has guided me in navigating the design world with purpose and confidence.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuewumit/

Image Credits
1. The Emotion Archive: https://mhi.mckinsey.digital/crc/emotion-archive
2. Airflow considerations for businesses during the time of COVID-19: https://mhi.mckinsey.digital/crc/hvac
3. Yue Wu. Architecture, Infrastructure, and Urban Design and the Emerging Role of Infrastructure Design in the Modern City
4. Yue Wu. Farmer, Miner, Builder, Trader: Re-humanizing the distributed infrastructures of Bitcoin
4. Kelly Leilani Main, Mario Giampieri, Juncheng Yeng, Yue Wu. Bermanism