Meet Allie Wong | Graphic Designer

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

Hi Allie, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
From a young age, I have always loved to create my own characters, worlds, designs, etc. In high school, I loved buying blank t-shirts and puffy paint, and creating my own designs on them. My inspiration came from graphic tees (most of which I still have to this day), and my goal became to design shirts that would inspire and bring joy to others like my shirt collection brought to me. I am so blessed that my parents have always supported me in my artistic endeavors. My mom saw my love for computer graphics and told me that I could be a graphic designer one day. The possibility of sharing my creative ideas with the world and seeing my designs bring joy to the masses was really exciting to me and still motivates me to create each day.

A few years ago, I designed a small series of signs – “Signs of Hope” – which featured phrases to remind people that they’re not alone and there’s beauty to be found in brokenness. As I flushed each piece out, I found that it brought a lot of healing and encouragement to myself. When I shared this artwork with others, it was so well received. It felt like it was something people needed to see and be reminded of. It was definitely an affirming moment that this is what I was meant to do, and I’ll continue to search for more creative ways to encourage others each day!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a Graphic Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering. In my senior year of college, a couple of my classmates and I thought it would be fun to submit a project to the Disney Imaginations Design Competition by Walt Disney Imagineering since we all worked at the Disneyland Resort. At the same time, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I graduated. We were visiting offices and brainstorming career ideas, but nothing felt like the right fit for me. One day at school, we received a phone call that we became finalists in the competition! As finalists, we got to spend a week on the Imagineering campus and learn from Imagineers about what they do. I felt so at home on that campus and knew I had to find a way back. Thankfully, I was blessed with an opportunity to intern in the Graphics Studio, and I’ve been there ever since!

My encouragement to aspiring designers is to pursue what you love. When people asked me what I wanted to do for a living, my answer was always, “I want to do anything that brings me joy, and in turn will bring joy to other people.” When you’re happy, your love and passion for your product naturally flow out of your work. It’s definitely scary to put yourself out there, but I’m proud of who I am and what I create, and I hope if you’re reading this you feel encouraged to believe in yourself the same way. I also think a big part of my success is being kind to others and building relationships. As creatives, we need each other to help to get our names out there, and we also need honest feedback from people we trust, so I think it’s really important to network and build community.

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.
For the best time ever, I would start this trip by loading up on dim sum at Long’s Family Pastry in Chinatown. We would get a mix of baked bbq baos, egg snow baos, pork shumai and har gow (pork and shrimp dumplings), cheung fun (rice noodle rolls), jian dui (sesame balls), and dan tat (egg custard tarts). We would then go to the Funko Hollywood store and make our own Funko Pop characters as well as take photos with all the larger than life sized Pops! If the timing is right, we’d go see a movie at the El Capitan or a show at the Hollywood Pantages Theater, and finish off the evening with a quick bite from The Hat or Tommy’s – both are great choices so it would be tough to decide.

The next day, we’d hike Eaton Canyon or stroll around the Huntington Library. For lunch, we’d go to Din Tai Fung, and promise ourselves boba after as dessert. There’s a lot of boba places to choose from, but one of our favorites is Wushiland! If it were NBA season, we would make our way to Crypto.com Arena (Intuit Dome coming soon!) and catch the Clippers at a home game. Go Clips!

Some other really neat places to check out are the Cerritos Library, Highland Park Bowl, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and the Museum of Neon Art. Speaking of the Museum of Neon Art, they have really fun neon cruises that tour you around Los Angeles to see neon signs lit up at night. There’s so much history behind the signs and their locations so it’s great if you want to learn more about the city too.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout first goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him and His provision in my life, I would not be where I am today. Pursuing creativity as a career can be scary, but putting my faith in Jesus has given me an indescribable peace that He will open the right doors at the right time. Before I put my designs out in the world, I always pray that they would bring glory to Him.

I also want to give a huge shoutout to my parents, husband, and sister who have always supported me in my artistic endeavors. In school, my projects were always more complicated than they had to be, and my parents would stay up all night to help me figure out how to bring my vision to life. When my husband and I got married, he even joined my parents in building the decorations I drew up for our special day. My sister has always kept me up to date with current design and fashion trends. We all make a great team and their confidence in me fuels me to keep creating. Thank you guys for being my biggest fans. I love you all so much!

Instagram: thealliewong