We recently connected with Zhaorong Zeng and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Zhaorong thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s go back in time to when you were an intern or apprentice – what’s an interesting story you can share from that stage of your career?
Over the past three years of my undergraduate and graduate studies, I have undergone three profound internship experiences that have solidified the foundation of my professional trajectory. The academic environment resembled an ivory tower, enriching me with extensive theoretical knowledge and the privilege of meeting a group of highly creative and mutually encouraging peers. However, as I stepped into the practical world of internships, I realized a distinct deviation from the idealistic academic realm.
The professional world emphasizes efficiency, time management, cost reduction, and superior communication skills. For someone like me, who is accustomed to engaging in creative work at my own pace, this undoubtedly required significant adaptation and change. Initially, I felt uncomfortable with this shift, but over time, I came to recognize that these challenges were actually opportunities for growth and self-improvement.
Internships taught me how to respond quickly to challenges and clarified my career planning. While my education fostered a broad scope of thinking and the application of knowledge, my internship experiences served as a crucible for learning to focus and deepen my skills in a specific direction. This transition from broad to focused thinking is an essential component of my career development.
In summary, these internships and recent life experiences have made me realize that although I may not be the most talented designer, I am determined to be like a persistent tortoise, gradually optimizing and elevating myself. I firmly believe that with continuous effort, I will eventually reach the pinnacle of my professional aspirations.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Initially, I embarked on my educational journey in graphic design, under the belief that it serves as the foundational pillar for all forms of design, service, and product creation. The preliminary brainstorming, design thinking processes, and the drafting of products all begin through the medium of graphic representation. As my undergraduate studies neared completion, however, I realized the limitations of confining myself solely to graphic media. I felt compelled to explore a broader array of design and artistic expressions to enrich my portfolio.
Consequently, I ventured into the field of interactive multimedia design and am currently enrolled in the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. This program has not only honed my skills as a designer but also expanded my technical repertoire, requiring me to learn coding for creating dynamic web art, as well as modeling, fabrication techniques, and the use of engineering hardware for interactive art installations. Occasionally, I amalgamate all these skills to produce works that are not only innovative but also immensely challenging. This aspect of my work is what fills me with the most pride—continuously pushing the boundaries of my knowledge and skills, elevating my design thinking with each project completed.
Although the skills I am acquiring may not be applied in their entirety to my future career or daily life, they significantly broaden my intellectual perspective and skill set, ready to be utilized whenever necessary. This ability to adeptly utilize and integrate a diverse range of knowledge and skills in my designs sets me apart. Recently, my main focus has been on designing and implementing UI/UX for smart home applications. However, as I mentioned, I do not limit myself to this area alone and continue to explore various fields, as I am constantly updating and iterating my capabilities and mindset daily.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I feel like my story has been going on since I was 15 years old. At that time, I knew nothing about the field of art and design, and my first language was Mandarin and Cantonese, but I didn’t speak English. At that age, I was considered a failure by the people around me, and I also felt that I was a person with low talent for learning. However, teachers from other countries suddenly gave a simple greeting. How are you, Roy? This aroused my interest in learning English, and I dared to communicate with people from other countries with different cultures. After several years of hard training, I successfully got the Offer of an American university. When I just came to the United States, I didn’t know anything about the cultural customs here and even felt a little afraid of living in this new country. However, with the recognition of new friends and the long-term adaptation, I gradually fell in love with the culture, food and language of this new country. I began to consider more possibilities, which is why I chose the art and design industry, and moved from the city of San Diego where I was an undergraduate to the current art-filled New York City. Because I want to continue to explore new cultures and immerse myself in this transformation. Because I found that seven years after I came to the United States, I found that my resilience to adapt to the new environment has reached an unprecedented high, and I can even say that I enjoy the process of transition.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
It can be said that yes, I hope to be a cross-industry, serving the public and enterprises, while having my own unique style of product manager, designer and engineer.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.royzengdesign.com/
- Instagram: mr.tinymoy
- Linkedin: Zhaorong Zeng
