Crystal Yun

My business partner and I founded The Bright Web in September 2018 with the goal of illuminating the positive changes that disruptive technologies—such as blockchain and cryptocurrency—can bring. What began as an educational initiative for new technologies has evolved to now include a SaaS offering.

The Bright Web’s BlockTracker is a tech solution to help blockchain and crypto businesses manage their customers and products within a centralized, all-in-one, and user-friendly analytics platform. The Bright Web is committed to quashing misconceptions of blockchain technology’s affiliation with the Dark Web, highlighting the importance of understanding data, and offering the best tools for master data management.

If Bitcoin is Blockchain 1.0 and Ethereum is Blockchain 2.0, then the developers behind SymVerse are envisioning Blockchain 3.0.

SymVerse is a public, peer to peer blockchain platform that seeks to usher in a new age of mainstream blockchain adoption through improvements in blockchain technology for speed, scalability, simplicity, security, stackability, and sustainability. Moreover, inclusion of decentralized identity (DIDs) and server nodes (Citizen Alliance) allow SymVerse to open a new world of ID management, with data transparency and integrity, user empowerment and new value creation.

When I was approached by SymVerse to design the English version of its white paper, all SymVerse had was a logo and no brand guidelines. Since the white paper is already dense in copy, my design approach was toward crisp minimalism that accentuate the forward-thinking content. Adequate white space offers breathing room in sections that take a deep-dive into technical components, while colorful charts and graphs borrow the palette of SymVerse’s logo to reinforce the brand throughout.

I have since adopted the visual language of the white paper to create SymVerse’s other public-facing materials, such as pitch decks and newsletters. To see the full English version white paper, check out https://www.symverse.com/#whitepaper.

My absolute favorite part of wedding planning was being able to create my own wedding invitation, stationery, and signage. My husband and I share a love for all things Scandinavian—the cuisine, design, and hygge. We easily decided on Scandinavian Luxe as the theme for our intimate wedding at The Foundry in Long Island City, New York. Rather than a color palette, I adopted a materials scheme: neutral linen, dusty and herbal greens, wood, cement, matte black metals, and pops of gold.

Adhering to the theme, I selected a typeface and grid that are clean, modern, and minimal, relying heavily on black or no color at all (blind impression). The gold foil in the invitations echoes the gold decor accents sprinkled throughout our venue. At the bottom are three icons, each representing the three sequential events of our wedding day. These icons were used again but separately for other signage and print collaterals—the wedding ring and band icon for the guestbook sign, the martini icon for the drinks menu at cocktail hour, and and the utensils icon at the top of our dinner reception menus.

Special thanks to Michael at Coeur Noir, who helped make all my letterpress and blind impression dreams come true.

PERIPHERY is a zine that I curated. It features my own article, 'FLIPSIDE', along with other articles by nine fellow designers. All ten articles deal with important social issues that emphasize the marginalization of specific demographics. 'FLIPSIDE', in particular, challenges the exploitation of hunger and homelessness by the fashion industry. 

By turning the issue of homelessness into a fashion object, the fashion industry trivializes the daily suffering of homeless people, thereby recontextualizing this social issue into something trendy that is adopted by beautiful people. Rather than raising awareness, instigating change, or paying homage, the appropriation of homelessness by the fashion industry further marginalizes and highlights the “otherness” of homeless people. This zine foregrounds the sickening inappropriateness of such appropriation through the evocative juxtaposition of the voices of critics and homeless people with the fashion photography of “homeless-chic.”

Face Value is an illustrated nonfiction zine that explores the discrepancy in the cost of department store makeup and the price of drugstore cosmetics. Adopting an ethnographic approach, I based these final illustrations on sketches made on site—at Walmart, grocery stores, Nordstrom, and Sephora—to evoke a strong sense of place and atmosphere.

"Designing is like running a relay race. You work and coordinate with others. You must be flexible and need practice to excel. You may trip and fall but you pick yourself back up and push onward to the finish line. Designing requires mental strength and agility. Here is a manifesto with some pointers—each representing the lanes on a track field—to keep you on the path towards becoming an adroit designer. Read it, absorb it, repeat it, sign it. And most importantly, pass it along."

Designers, who align with the manifesto, are encouraged to sign their names on the baton and hand it to another designer.

This pair of broadsides features quotes from the opening and closing of The Hours, the Pultizer Prize-winning novel written by Michael Cunningham. These excerpts, narrated by two of the three female protagonists, highlight the overarching themes of the human fascination with mortality and the appreciation of ordinary, everyday experiences. I intended to convey the characters' struggles to resolve internal conflicts and perceived discrepancies in society by visualizing various dichotomies: insanity and sanity, defiance and acceptance, numbness and vitality. Type and image work together to draw attention to the tension between submersion and bouyancy.

A design for a fictional iPhone 5 game application called Berry Patch. In this game, Ginger Bunny must overcome several obstacles in three different settings (Meadow, Forest Floor, Forest Canopy) to collect hearts, candies, and strawberries while outsmarting the Thieving Fox.

This is an on-going series of pen and ink illustrations that depict each of the seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. The spot illustrations are unified by similar patterns and implied shapes.

A book that details the history, characteristics, and quirks of Meta, the typeface designed by Erik Spiekermann. Taking advantage of the accordion fold binding, the book—in its fully extended form—spells out 'META'.