Meet Haolun Yang | Interaction Designer & Artist

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

Hi Haolun, why did you pursue a creative career?
I grew up in a middle-class Chinese family. Neither my father nor my mother had a background in the arts. Yet somehow, through their unwavering support for my curiosity and a desire to immerse me in the best resources they could offer, I grew up surrounded by diverse forms of great work that quietly shaped me – tech products defined by craftsmanship, films rich in cinematic color, music layered with thoughtful arrangement…

It felt completely intuitive to think, I don’t want to just consume – I want to create work that feels this good. I often find myself looking at the world, sensing a kind of absence – something I wish existed so much that I feel compelled to make it. That instinct led me to take photographs, produce music, and build apps – pieces I felt should be part of this world but weren’t yet. And over time, that impulse drew me into interaction design, where I now live at the intersection of craft, aesthetics, and creativity.

Please tell us more about your art. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Unabashedly, I think what sets me apart in art and design is my taste.

At the heart of it, I believe it’s about a deep, almost obsessive appreciation for good work – across all forms. I rarely find inspiration for interfaces by looking at other interfaces. Instead, I turn to philosophy and poetry, cinema and fine art – those timeless expressions of human thought and feeling.

The process of making meaningful work, I believe, starts with immersing yourself in the greatest creations humanity has to offer. You try to create something worthy of standing alongside them. You fail. And then you try again.

It hasn’t been an easy journey. Not only because it’s hard to make something truly good, but also because the real world is full of constraints. You have to train yourself – almost like a kind of pattern recognition – to speak the language of society. At times, it feels uninspiring. Yet, strangely, you learn from it too. These constraints don’t always obstruct. I’ve come to see them as part of yin and yang.

I once considered telling the world a grand story about myself. However, one thing I’ve come to realize at 22 is that everything – ideology, culture, identity, nationality, even the idea of human progress – is just one narrative wrapped in the perception of objective truth. And so, I feel far too young to define myself with a label or reduce who I am to a “personal brand.”

The only story I truly want to tell is of someone who keeps making and searching – never arriving at a final answer, but continually exploring. In that restless pursuit of what is ultimate and pure, perhaps something meaningful might quietly emerge. I want to begin inviting others to walk alongside me, to see what I’ve been learning and creating lately. And maybe, one day, my search might illuminate something in yours.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles is deeply special to me. While it may not feel perfectly authentic, it has everything – it’s as if the world has been distilled into a single place. Whether you want to wander through a Chinese garden, eat Thai food at a night market, visit an art museum, or watch the sun set over the ocean, you can do it all in this city.

Here are a few of my favorites:
– The Broad, LACMA, and the Getty Center – my top three museums
– Tea at Shiloh – my go-to tea house
– Open Venice Studio – my favorite space for yoga and meditation

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to my mother and father – for supporting me in pursuing the things I truly care about (and in discovering what they are).

Shoutout to my friend Jakub Zegzulka – for showing me what diligence and compassion look like, simply by living them.

Shoutout to Steve Jobs and Jony Ive – for creating wonderful tools that inspired me as I grew up.

Website: https://www.haolunyang.com

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

Twitter: https://x.com/Haolun_Yang