Meet Yinan (rebecca) Chen | Visual Digital Designer & Creative Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yinan (rebecca) Chen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yinan (Rebecca), what is the most important factor behind your success?
I am the Visual Director of Stilllife Art Collective(@stilllife.stilllife) founded in New York in 2022, the most key factor is to choose the right team and work with people sharing the same vision and passion for the business / project. Stilllife is a next-generation hybrid art community bridging the East and West through blending a highly curated pop-up art show, a public-facing art market, a social hub, and an organic story-telling media service. We aim for community building across continents and between cultures, which has driven the team tighter as an entity to bring people together and set a clear goal for us to work on projects. Every member at Stilllife is on top of their jobs, which makes the small team so efficient and successful in our operations.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m a Multi-Media Visual Designer and Creative Technologist with an interdisciplinary background in visual design and digital arts that leads my research in the intersection of speculative design and immersive digital experience. I constantly experiment with new media and emerging technology to explore innovative ways of human and machine interaction, and better ways to communicate deeper thinking of our human existence surrounding the topics of ‘digital selves’, ‘virtual identities’, and ‘human and nature intimacy’.

After completing my master’s degree in design and technology at Parsons School of Design, and Studio Arts & Media, Culture and Communication bachelor ‘s degree at NYU, Yinan is currently working as a digital/visual designer at a New York design agency, specializing in visual identity design, 2D 3D motion, and UIUX design.

Generative arts using machine learning, immersive projections, and interactive AR / VR projects with 3D modeling has always been my personal artistic tools to explore the idea of physical being and digital metaverse, where we all live in already with everyday usage of digital products, social media platforms. With an enduring interest in expanding the boundaries of expressing self-identities in the digital world with the help of today’s various technologies.

Overall, I feel as a creative with a broad interest in roles. tools and paths, It’s challenging to position myself within the industry fresh out of school. I need to go through a lot of uncertainty, self-doubt, and confusion. I am the Visual Director of our startup, also a digital artist wanting to explore and create fun experiences, as well as working full time at a design agency for real-world clients, but after a year of adapting to all the roles, I realize I am just a designer wearing different hats and that is more than ok, even ideal! This is the best way to learn and absorb knowledge from all dimensions in the creative landscape, work with all kinds of people and there is no reason to limit ourselves at such a young stage. Open-mindedness and the incentive to improve is the most important part of my story.

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.
New York has endless events and places to visit and I personally love the Lower East Side where all the cool boutique stores are located, small designer brands, vintage stores and great bars and restaurants that I go back all the time. The Metrograph is the best place for indie films, the cinema itself is a whole experience.

Museums besides the iconic ones, I do like the Noguchi museum, the Met Cloisters that are a little farther away from the city and you can experience the architecture, the gardens much more that gives a mental escape from the city, making one feel very calm and peaceful with the artworks surrounding us.

Also the Tribeca gallery district, Chelsea, and Upper East Side has all these galleries worth checking out and it’s all free, can casually go in anytime and be surprised by the diverse art scene here in NYC.

West Village and Williamsburg, Green Point are great neighborhoods to brunch, wander around to shop, thrift, enjoy the vibes, and walk in the parks, people watching.

I would love to see a ballet or Broadway show if my friend is visiting, it’s the must do to experience the top-tier performing art scene here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I couldn’t express my love to our Stilllife team @stilllife.stilllife enough, it is our community that we built together and seeing this project start and grow from the beginning is so special to me. The vision has only gotten bigger, more ambitious, and more impactful in what we are doing across countries. I grow with the collective together, owning the project’s visual directions and brand identity that we want to communicate to the public has been the best experience and encouragement for me as a designer and creative director. I appreciate the freedom and support from our team and it is my proudest project so far in my career.

Website: https://www.yinanchendesign.com/

Instagram: @rebecca_ynchen

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yinan-chen-35a253209/

Image Credits
@stilllife.stilllife