Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christie Wu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Christie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I am currently working on a project called “Wandering Wombs” which intends to introduce the cyclical nature of the menstrual cycle to all the menstruating individuals out there. Menstruating people experience bursts of energy or lethargy and fatigue based on different phases of the cycle, which is often regarded as a hindrance in a linear society that strives for consistency and constant progress. We all learn about menstrual cycles in biology classes in high school, but we learn it in such a detached way that it is hard to imagine the four phases of the cycle happening to our body as we are speaking. We also want to challenge the idea of normality and the negative connotations that come with the subject matter in different cultures, especially since the topic is something we are taught to be hush-hush about.

It is a website that has interactive features that show bits of information alongside beautiful visuals. It is not about presenting scientific facts, we want to help menstruating people kick off a self-investigative journey to understand what is happening to their bodies and embrace the ebbs and flows of the cycles. We are just two designers who have been menstruating for years and just learned about these wild things about menstrual cycles. However, we want to use the power of design to share what we found and facilitate meaningful and informative conversations around our discovery.

Christie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a digital designer and I mainly do graphic design, web design, and interactive design. If you look at it from the industry’s point of view, I think one aspect of being a designer people often overlook is that design is a service job. Not only do designers supply creativity, we need to make the clients happy. No matter how amazing we think our work is, ultimately, our clients decide whether they put the work to use.

Nevertheless, my personal strength lies in my curiosity. When I received a brief or work with a client, I try to know everything about this project/company/individual. Not only do their stories serve as a source of inspiration, but getting to know their taste and likings is equally important because I would want them to like the work too. I also take pride in being malleable as a designer since I inject my personal wit and zhush (we got hired for that reason) into the work but I also adapt and evolve in order to create what will best fit the situation.

In addition, the malleability also applies to the type of work I do. Having design experiences in academic, corporate, commercial, and artistic environments, I learn to have fun with the work while trying to meet the client’s expectations. Having a sense of humor and incorporating fun surprises in the work goes a long way because that is what people will remember at the end of the day.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think being inspiring and informative is the throughline of the work I did. Most of my noncommercial work comes from things I learn. They are often research-driven and inspired by science, popular culture, or the hot topic of the moment. And the question I ask myself all the time is: Why should other people care about this work? I had a great time turning those research into a design that can be played, interacted and read. The most wonderful part of it is when people told me I inspire them to look at things differently because of my design.

I try to do that with teaching too. In my web design class, aside from all the skills and techniques, I try to inspire students with different usage and styles of web design, so they can go on and investigate the parts of web design that pique their interest after class whether it is 2D, 3D, animated, corporate or outlandish. In the end, my class will only be useful if they personally care about the subject matter.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

For anyone who is remotely interested in Art and Design, I have two books for them. One is “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger and “A *New* Program for Graphic Design” by David Reinfurt. Many people stay away from art because learning about art history can be a little drab and overwhelming. However, these two books do not discuss the important art and design one needs to know. “Ways of Seeing” teaches you how to look at images and why they look the way they do, which will definitely change the ways you look at TV, ads, and photography in your everyday life.

We often dismiss the power of graphic design since it is so prevalent in every corner of our lives. Benjamin Franklin is a printer before he becomes the founding father of the United States. He understands the power of printing and media which help him navigate his way to political power. I only learned that about Benjamin Franklin through “A *New* Program for Graphic Design”, which introduces you to the history of graphic design and why it is so useful and powerful in human civilization. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://christiewu.design/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/aka_digitalspinach?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christie-wu-13031a181/