Amy Wang

Following her parents' guidance, Wang sped along the biology track at Harvard, until her senior year when a pre-med counselor cautioned would-be applicants to apply for medical school only if they were truly passionate about medicine. For the first time in her life, she stopped to reflect on her choice and realized that while medicine was a sound career, it was not her passion.

Design as catalyst

Her decision not to pursue medicine left her wondering what career would reflect her passion. In the year after graduation, Wang taught science and math in Puerto Rico and spoke to many people regarding her options. Several friends said they saw her as a designer. The more she considered that idea, the more she liked it, though what kind of designer she would be remained a question — she had, in fact, no idea what graphic design was. It was not until she read Steve Heller's "Becoming a Graphic Designer" that she became convinced that design was the answer. She then applied for internships at firms whose work she most admired and found an opening at Sagmeister, Inc., where she began a lasting friendship with Stefan Sagmeister.

School of Visual Arts

Sagmeister recommended Wang to the School of Visual Arts' Designer as Author MFA program, in which he teaches. She was subsequently admitted to the three-year track (for students without a background in design) and began to find ways to integrate her diverse interests into her design work. For one project, she interviewed security guards around campus and wrote vignettes about them that she designed into a poster-flyer. The school liked the project so much, it printed them for students and staff, and the piece was later published in Communication Arts magazine.

Ametrica!

In her last year at SVA, Wang drew together her diverse experiences — cultural, social, and academic — to come up with what later seemed an inevitable thesis. Ametrica! is a cheeky but helpful campaign to convince the United States to join the rest of the world in converting to the metric system. It won an Adobe Design Achievement Award (ADAA) in the Environmental Design and Packaging category, as well as a grant from the Sappi Ideas That Matter program to print the project as a book. Soon she will mail the 1,000 copies to members of Congress and key industry leaders. Ametrica! also earned her a place in STEP Inside Design's 2007 Field Guide to Emerging Design Talent.

Balancing a job and continued involvement with ADAA

Today Wang works as a designer for Carbone Smolan Agency, a high-profile design firm in New York City. She redesigned the AIGA corporate sponsorship brochure for her firm and continues to work on the global rebranding of an international company.

In her spare time, she collaborates with other former ADAA winners and finalists on designing the print and interactive materials for both the 2007 and 2008 competitions.

Advice for a successful career

Wang advises students to solve design problems by seeking experiences and inspiration outside of the realm of design. After all, she reasons, their solutions must survive in the real world.