Interview with C.J. Yeh
C.J. Yeh is a designer and educator who believes in creating a trans-disciplinary design education model that brings together design, technology, and business thinking into a holistic whole.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
I was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and I went to Fu-Shin High School, which is considered one of the best “professional high schools” in Asia. Our training was very practical and extremely rigorous. Back then, the majority of students from Fu-Shin got hired upon graduation and started working professional right away. Fu-Shin was one of the pillars in the development of design as a professional field in Taiwan.
I came to the US in 1993. At that time, I was working as a junior art director at one of the largest advertising companies in Taiwan. I really wanted to be challenged conceptually, so I decided to study fine arts. I earned my BFA degree from Pratt Institute and my MFA degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Looking back, I really appreciate the education that I got both from Taiwan and from the United States. I believe faculty at Fu-Shin taught me the essential design skills, the ability to see details, and cultivated the appetite for the perfect executions. Through my studies in fine arts, I learned critical thinking and established my ability to create conceptual frameworks for my creativity. More importantly, I think my fine arts background helps me approach a design challenge differently than most of designers. It is not better or worse, it is just different.
Above: C.J. Yeh (left), founder of Cynda Media Lab, and Christie Shin (left), design partner of Cynda Media Lab.
How is your approach different?
In a nutshell, fine arts education emphasizes asking questions; design education focuses on seeking solutions. In my opinion, both are equally important. That’s the reason why I named my own design studio Cynda Media “lab.” At Cynda Media Lab, we believe we should never stop asking “why,” and constantly explore “what if,” blended with the courage to try the “why not.” Many of our clients walked into the door thinking they needed something specific like a social media campaign, a new logo, or a website, but, after our consultation phase which always starts with asking lots of “why,” we help them identify what is really needed to achieve their business goals.
“In a nutshell, fine arts education emphasizes asking questions; design education focuses on seeking solutions. In my opinion, both are equally important.”
The GUND rebranding project is a perfect example of that. They originally contacted me because they wanted a social media campaign. After consultation, we established the need for a new brand identity that embodied a message fitting for the world of social media. More importantly, the yearlong branding process served as a transition period during which we did “internal branding” to help unified the stakeholders’ understanding of their brand message. With that foundation in place, the rest is much easier. Their Facebook fan based was around 50K, and it quadrupled to 200K within 18 months after the launched of the new brand.
When did you start teaching and what attracted you to the field?
I started teaching as a TA while I was at University at Pennsylvania. I really enjoyed the experience of being a mentor and helping others learn. Even more importantly, it was during that time I truly realized teaching is the best way to learn. In order to teach something, I have to take my understanding of the subject to a whole new level. Besides knowing all the details anticipating interesting and challenging questions from the students, the part that I enjoy the most is trying to figure out what the potential trouble spots for the students are.
I started teaching part-time at Pratt Institute and Parsons in 2011, and I became a full-time faculty at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in 2013.
Above left (top): GUND’s new identity designed draws focus on the most emotionally expressive elements of GUND’s signature products.
Above left (bottom): Brand identity and style guide designed by Cynda Media Lab.
Above right: Event poster designed by C.J. Yeh and Christie Shin for the Museum at FIT press event.
You were the Assistant Chair of the Communication Design program at FIT for the past five years and now serve as the Coordinator and Curriculum Chair for the Creative Technology & Design (CT&D). One of the new initiatives you spearheaded is a co-curricular activity, Guided Experiential Learning (GEL), that fosters collaboration between the school, students, and industry. Could you tell us a about the endeavor and the reasons for introducing the venture?
Our CT&D program area offers a user experience design certificate, a minor degree in creative technology, and 16 specialized courses to 6 different majors. We consider CT&D a “hub” where many of FIT’s majors connect. Guided Experiential Learning (GEL) is an important component in our CT&D three-pronged approach for curriculum innovations. GEL projects are co-curricular, so students do not receive grades or credits. They do receive a stipend from our industry partner.
To protect the students, we have a strict policy on competitions and external projects at FIT. Our legal department works with faculty and our industry partners to make sure student participants are rewarded fairly for their hard work and creativity. The stipend is different for every project because we have to take into consideration multitude of factors including but not limited to the duration, complexity of the project, the possible learning opportunities embedded in the project.
The value of the project in students’ portfolios is also an important factor. To date, we have had great opportunities working with brands/companies such as Infor—one of the largest enterprise software company, Pentagram—one of the most recognized graphic design firms in the world, and NFL—a world-renowned sports brand. Just imagine walking into a job interview with a design in your portfolio that’s already on the shelves for NFL fans worldwide, what a great conversation starter that could be!
For each GEL project, we publish call for applications with qualification requirements, and participants are selected through a rigorous portfolio review process. For our recent projects, the number of participants ranging from 4 to 25, and the duration ranging from two weeks to one year. Each project has its own unique framework, which is designed to maximize students’ learning and, at the same time, ensure our industry partners receive innovative design solutions at the end of the project.
I believe your first client for the course was the NFL—could you describe the brief and the outcomes?
Yes, the NFLxFIT was the first official GEL project. We coined the term, Guided Experiential Learning, when we were compiling the documents to get ready for the NFLxFIT exhibition.
The project brief was to reimagine the NFL’s 32 professional clubs’ visual system and create new graphic elements and treatments that distinctly represent each football club. The primary objective was to apply the new visual system for the NFL merchandise that appeals to fans between the ages of 18 and 24. The award-winning design is now on NFL merchandize available worldwide. The complete information about the GEL project can be found on this website: http://nflxfit.info.
Top left: The award-winning design from the NFLxFIT project is now available worldwide.
Top right: Augmented reality (AR) app designed C.J. Yeh and Christie Shin for the Museum at FIT press event.
Bottom: The NFLxFIT product launch event at the Museum of Art and Design.
What was your primary role as a faculty member in this collaboration? Were there any obstacles in moving this project forward?
Professor Christie Shin and I are the faculty advisors for this project. NFL contacted us in April 2016. We drafted the proposal that was approved by NFL and FIT. Contract review and negotiations started around June, and it was finally signed in September 2016. While the contract negotiations were in progress, professor Shin and I also prepared the “curriculum” identifying the key learning outcomes, prepared the lectures, exercises, the project schedule, and the planning of related events/activities.
From September 2016 to April 2017 professor Christie Shin and I met biweekly with the students. We designed lectures and workshops to teach students the necessary skills and guided them through the entire creative process. We also coordinated the exhibition and the award press event as well as the design and production of the all of the collateral from invitation card to website. It was definitely a lot of work for faculty to take on in addition to our regular workload. It was a labor of love.
The biggest challenges are legal negotiation and time commitment for faculty and students. Legal is complicated for obvious reasons, but it is necessary to protect the rights of everyone involved.
Our student participants for all the GEL projects have been great. In one instance, unfortunately, we had to remove one student from the project because her lack of participation was really having a negative impact on the team dynamics. Fortunately, we have that process outlined in the contract that all students sign upon commencement of the project.
Below: The FITxPentagram project team. From left to right: Lawrence Staebler, Melissa De Olivera, Kelly Wang, Loisse Ledres, Yewon Shin, Christie Shin, Desiree Mohammadi, C.J. Yeh
What were the outcomes, for students and the NFL, of the project?
The NFL received these beautiful designs that are very different from their typical style from the past. More importantly, because people from their marketing department as well as their design department participated throughout the process, they gained the firsthand insights into the millennials’ perspective on sports brands.
For our student participants, they learned design principles, skills, as well as professional practices. Some of these things just can’t be taught, you have to experience it, and our GEL project framework provided a “safe space” for that.
Top: A digital product design from the FITxInfor guided experiential learning project.
Bottom: This 200-foot long poster is an infographic documenting the entire 12-month process of the NFLxFIT project.
What is your advice for design educators looking to replicate your model?
Focus on the learning. The most important job for a GEL faculty advisor is being advocate for the student. We are very selective when it comes to what projects we take into our program. We are not in the business of providing cheap design services. Our goal is education through a collaborative process with our industry partners.
We look for projects that pose unique challenges with the potential of stimulating the learning of new skills as well as understanding of advanced design principles that students don’t get from the traditional studio classes. Our faculty advisors become students’ mentors and we expect our industry partners to participate in the teaching/learning process. These are experiences that can’t be simulated in traditional classroom settings.
Do you believe this type of project to be a replacement for traditional internships or a preliminary experience in preparation for traditional internships?
We don’t see this as a replacement for the traditional internship. GEL is more like a mentorship or what you might call a new form of apprenticeship. Our faculty advisors work closely with the students to support them through every step of the creative process. The experience is unique from a classroom or traditional internship. We believe it is the missing link between the theoretical academic studies and the, often time, unforgiving professional work environments.
The problem with traditional internship class at FIT is the fact that students can only go to their internship for two days a week. This is a huge problem for the employer. In today’s fast-paced design world, you can’t really give the interns important tasks and then wait for them to come back next week to finish it. Over the years, we are seeing more and more design studios and agencies that only take interns over Summer or Winter breaks, the periods interns can work every day.
An important element that separate GEL from the traditional internship is the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Some of the industry professionals are great mentors as well, but, in general, industry professionals don’t have experience teaching. And to be fair, teaching is not their job.
Professors who have extensive industry experience as well as teaching experience ensure every participant is provided the mentorship to completed the GEL projects.
The NFLxFIT award-winning team and faculty advisors. From left to right: Eunsu Yoo, Christie Shin, Wing-Sze Ho, Arpi Dayian, Iwona Usakiewicz, C.J. Yeh