Graphic Designer Yanwen Hang Wins Two Platinum and One Gold Muse Awards with Works Promoting Social Awareness

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Los Angeles-based Graphic Designer Yanwen Hang brought home two Platinum Muse Awards, one Gold Muse Awards, and the Grand Winner by NYX Marcom Awards in this year's international competition.

The Muse awards programs created by the International Awards Associate (IAA), stay true to their objective of honoring professionals in both creative and design spaces, promoting the entrants' excellent works despite the changing times wrought by the pandemic. "Evidently, the new normal has brought about changes to how people operate in the world" said Kenjo Ong, CEO of IAA. "Despite the challenges, these individuals have shown remarkable tenacity in their continued excellence, which clearly demonstrated in their works."

With as many as 46 jurors onboarding from 25 countries, the awards ensures that a diverse panel of qualified professionals are adjudicating the competition. These individuals can be found working under leading companies from the creative and design industries, such as Associate Creative Director of MullenLowe Renato Barreto, Visual Communication Design Specialist at United Nations Children's Fund Shangning Wang, Creative Director of BEAMY Ronn Lee, Creative Director of ADBRAIN Inc. Masanori Eto, Dr Adjunct Associate Professor and Design Director of Irving Smith Architects Jeremy Smith, Founder and Creative Director of Kre8ive Partners Mark Turner, Owner and Founder of UArchitects Misak Terzibasiyan, etc.

Every entry is assessed based on relevant standards pertaining to their respective industries to ensure impartiality. Further, blind judging is exercised, as such jurors are only able to assess each entry purely on its own merits.

Yanwen Hang is a graphic designer from HashiCorp, a San Francisco software company. Hang believes graphic design has the power to reveal and reframe complex hidden socio-political information. She focuses on typography, editorial design, and branding. She also expanded her creative capabilities by diving into the world of physical media. From exposing film in the darkroom, etching copper plates with acid, and forming clay on a pottery wheel, her eclectic experiences in fine art help her value the creative process as much as the outcome and appreciate concepts as much as the visuals.

In addition to creating commercial values with her design works, Hang stays true to what she holds tight to, discussing social issues with graphic design. "My understanding of graphic design changes qualitatively after I entered the industry," She said that "a lot of people think that becoming a graphic designer is a profession, a way of making a living. But in my opinion, graphic design, like all other fine art media, painting, sculpture or installation, can be used as a media of artistic expression."

In one of her Platinum winning works, Cyberdada, she raised an idea to provoke new attitudes towards the relationship between tech, humans, and our future. How can our society evolve to the next stage? "When it comes to evolution, we can think about fish's success in evolving into flying birds after millions of years. The history of evolution has always been led by pioneers that couldn't be understood on the first place." She said. She hopes her project can be a possible response and a solution. to the two changeless attitudes towards technology: tech=good, and tech=threat.

To best promote her concept, she executed motion posters, experimented with generative design, curated a virtual pop-up exhibition, and prototyped an interactive drawing screen.

"Don't be too obsessed with design skills; they will eventually be perfected with time and practice," in the end of the conversation, she gave two tips to someone who wants to improve their skills in the creative industry, "The most dangerous thing you could do is focus on keeping up with trends and abandon yourself as a creative person."

Yanwen Hang was awarded as Top Talent by Adobe Design Achievement in 2019. Besides Muse Creative Awards, her works have been awarded as Grand Winner by NYX Marcom Awards, Typographic Excellence by Type Director Club, awarded as a Silver Awards by Graphis Award, have been included in The World's Best Typography and TDC66 exhibition.

SOURCE HashiCorp