Janny Ji (Wangyingzhi Ji) is a multidisciplinary designer/artist based in Los Angeles. She is currently working at Apple’s bespoke ad agency, TBWA\Media Arts Lab. Previously, she worked for Pentagram—one of the most prestigious design agencies in the world—for two and a half years. Since the beginning of Janny’s design career, her work has been recognized by prestigious international competitions such as the Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, Graphis, Adobe, STA100, GDUSA, Applied Arts, 3×3 Illustration, and The Society of Illustrators. She was a Typographic Excellence Winner in the Type Directors Club competition from 2018 to 2020. Additionally, she has worked for famous brands including LG, Netflix, American Express, Platoon, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She designed a unique symbol for Platoon and worked on art directions for Netflix’s very own Queue journal. Further, Janny is on the jury panel of multiple world-class competitions such as the Creative Communication Award and the Indigo Design Award. Along with other leading design experts, in each competition, she evaluates and selects the best-winning pieces.

We invited Janny to share her story on her personal creative path, her professional experiences at Pentagram and Media Arts Lab, projects she has enjoyed working on, and her role as a judge in design competitions.

Q: How did you get into design? What factors helped you establish numerous accomplishments so far?

I have been interested in painting and drawing from a very young age; I enjoyed coming up with stories and illustrating them in a visual way. I did not begin to understand design comprehensively until I started my undergraduate study at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). Here, I learned the theories and techniques in illustration and improved my appreciation for art and design. My graduate school time at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) also helped me immerse myself in critical thinking, history, and the making of graphic design. There, I built a solid foundation, experimented with technology and tools, and found my passion for designing brand identities.

My largest priority throughout my studies was adopting a mindset of constant learning and curiosity. The design industry is constantly changing and evolving, thus it is important that I am always updating my skillsets. For example, I took online courses on Processing and started to utilize coding as a form-making tool. I am grateful for the many connections and mentors I’ve had in the industry that inspire me to progress creatively and aim for high accomplishments.

Q: Can you talk about your current role at Media Arts Lab and your experience working at a reputable design agency like Pentagram?

For sure! Currently, I work as a graphic designer at TBWA\Media Arts Lab (MAL) creating bespoke advertising campaigns and identities for the Apple brand. This means we are the only company Apple collaborates with on advertising campaigns for its products and services, and Apple is the only client we work with. At MAL, we work in large teams to deliver digital and print campaigns to a worldwide audience. In August of 2022, we successfully launched the “Switchers” campaign—a worldwide digital campaign that provides answers and supports to the questions people may have when switching to iPhone. Recently, I worked on and helped launch the “Apple Pay for Transit” campaign in New York City. This was followed by the design release in other US markets including Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The campaign will expand to international markets including Sydney, Shanghai, Hongkong, and Beijing this year.

My past experience working at Pentagram was highly rewarding as well. I played a significant role in a highly selective team to provide a variety of design services including brand identity design, social campaign design, editorial design, etc. Some clients we worked for include LG, Netflix, American Express, Platoon, The Met, the University of Chicago, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Moravian University. Working with these clients, I was able to be exposed to a multitude of industries.

Q: Being both an illustrator and graphic designer, is there an illustration project you are most proud of?

One illustration project that I enjoyed working on was called Choose Your Own Adventure, a series of illustrations created for Jenn Creighton’s talk at the 2019 JSCamp Conference in Barcelona. The conference was an international two-day event covering topics in JavaScript and modern web technologies. The event attracted over 600 attendees from the technology industry. Based on the Choose Your Own Adventure books, I created designs to showcase a tale of an engineer solving a perplexing mystery on a foreign planet. Each illustration visually translated a complex JavaScript problem into a metaphorical scene with its unique character.

The designs helped introduce the panel and audience to JavaScript’s iteration protocol and the opportunities of using design as a tool to communicate technological topics. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring my role as a designer and seeing its relevance in other industries. The design process required an understanding of JavaScript topics, which was challenging in the first place but ultimately successful. The project was a silver winner in Indigo Design Award in 2020, so it was rewarding to see my efforts paid off.

Q: You are on the jury panel of multiple international competitions. What is the jury experience like?

I feel very grateful that past accomplishments lead me to jury opportunities. I gained a copious amount being on the jury panel for design competitions as a practitioner and I truly value each experience. I am honored to be able to utilize my expertise and contribute my perspective while being inspired by the unique and innovative design ideas of the participants. For example, a project that particularly interested me was Kuu by Harajuku Design Agency in Japan. The series of packaging designs for a hair care brand utilized embroidered artwork to represent 11 different scents through form and color. The multisensory approach allowed a commercial project to be authentic and artistic.

I am an active member on the jury panel of the Indigo Design Award, an international competition that has participants from over 50 countries and covers 5 main visual design categories. My responsibility is evaluating the presented works and casting my votes along with international judges from Google, IBM, and other firms. Recently, we just completed selecting the winners of 2023. The award ceremony is going to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Each year, recipients of this prestigious award have their works showcased on a global platform to help them boost recognition and attract new clientele.

Last year, I was a judge for the 2022 C2A Award—Creative Communication Award—another international competition that designers, agencies, freelancers, in-house designers, and students take part in each year. There are 18 categories and I was selected as the judge for the categories in which I had the most expertise and related background experiences: branding, book design, exhibition design, advertising, typography, and packaging. I look forward to being on the panel for this competition every year as I get exposed to creative projects around the world and work with up-and-coming designers.

Q: Does your jury experience impact your own design practice?

My extensive jury experiences positively influence my design practices by allowing me to be constantly inspired and curious. Both my personal and professional projects provide me with a practical point of view that translates into valuable input during the jury process. For instance, when judging illustration projects, conceptual thinking is one of the most important criteria for me. And I will address if the approach is utilizing form to communicate an idea in a smart way in the feedback. Overall, being a jury member gives me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone, rethink the creative process, and think from other designers’ perspectives.

Q: What suggestions will you give to young designers who just entered the field?

Always hold onto a learner’s mindset, stay positive, enjoy experiments, and think bold. Design as a discipline is continuously evolving—new tools and methods are being invented. It’s important for us to be open to trying new things, experimenting, and asking questions. The design process requires us to be iterative, so it’s helpful to keep positive when experiencing failures. Lastly, never be afraid of thinking of crazy ideas.