Online Log
Last Updated 24.10.31
Sweeter Studio
SARAH WONG
Graphic Designer | Zine Maker | PAPER CUTTER
sarahewongdesign@gmail.com
LA-area designer, working since 2018. Loves bright colors, fun outings, and being direct. Currtly studying at ArtCenter as a graduate student.
Contact for resume and PDF portfolio.
Has Worked for
A Noise Within Theater
Vietnamese Film Festival
Nova Community Arts
Brannan Center
Loves
Evil Clowns
Tattoos
Killing Plants
Iced Coffee
CONTACT
1.15.26
I’m not going to pretend I did anything productive this past week. I ate a lot of junk food, mostly.
I suppose something that designers like to do in their blogs is pontificate on their design ethos. This is a rather difficult thing for me, because my first instinct is to make a joke. Design is such an all-encompassing part of my life, that it feels silly to narrow it down to a set of principles. It’s the best, except when it’s the worst and the most important thing except when it is not. I think whenever you dedicate yourself to one thing, that thing begins to take on different facets.
I feel like the most important things that I have dedicated myself to in my 20’s have been therapy/personal growth, family, and friends. And then in 4th place comes design. Which I guess is still pretty important, but I’m never going to be one of those people who eats, sleeps, and breathes design. Besides, if all you think about and take in is other people’s designs, your design sensibilities will become just like everyone else’s.
The things that inspire me are extreme, ridiculous, and strange. John Waters movies, Amanda Lepore, Japanese Ero guro art, and a man with IBS reviewing all of the bathrooms at Disneyland and how convenient they are for explosive diarrhea. My mind generates the most interesting ideas when pushed to the bounds of human decency and logical sense. I then harvest ideas from my vast library, like a fisherman netting a school of fish. Some ideas are terrible, some are good, and the best are the ones that are so terrible, they loop around into being good. In an almost maniacal dedication, I whittle the idea down into shapes and logos and graphics. And I suppose that is my creative process. Incredibly messy, but also disciplined, in a sense. A product of labor but also unbridled energy.
Thinking deeply about something is my strong suit in the sense that I will think about my subject matter and how it affects the community and human interaction around it. I am not a deep thinker in the sense that I will not explore the concept of the idea itself. I suppose this is a blind spot, and there are times when I ought to dissect something a little more carefully, but I think my unique way of seeing the world is something only I can do. I’m so interested in people, human connection, and building community. Loving others in all their strangeness is how I approach the world; in an almost unconditional embrace of everything.
Design is simply a tool to express the love I have for myself and all the odd people I encounter. I feel like I approach every single person as though they are an alien and I am hungry to learn about their strange new society. Granted, some people end up being quite boring and have hobbies like reading classic literature and watching The Office. But I never regret meeting such people and still consider them a small part of a whole.
In itself, design and art are not deep practices. Josh Johnson said in a recent stand-up routine that, “art can save your life, but entertainment will never be your savior.” It’s easy to make something slick, that only sits on the surface, like oil on water. Something that only hints at real human connection or meaning. Making something real is chaotic and strange and requires you to know others in an intimate way. I think good design taps into those complexities that we have as humans, therefore transforming it into art.
I’m a big believer in the transformative power of humans and love. Something leftover from the times when I was a devout Christian. I think perhaps Jesus was right about that, at least. True love can change you and make something that was vapid meaningful. One of my favorite fairytales is the Velveteen Rabbit, the story of a toy rabbit, made real through the love of a child. Though the rabbit becomes torn and shabby, the innate power of being loved turns being shabby into something beautiful and vulnerable. And I feel similarly about art and design. It’s just an empty tool until someone with love and labor makes it real. The best design is not perfect, but is covered in the fingerprints of human design.