Trinity Yeung is a New York City-based designer and writer originally from the Philippines, known for her fresh take on motion graphics, front-end product design, and editorials. Trinity’s work thrives at the intersection of color, texture, and narrative, drawing from her Southeast Asian heritage, pop culture, technology, and contemporary art forms. Her diverse background in feature writing, material research, and design strategy lends her a distinctive edge in design thinking.

In 2022, she earned a Merit Scholarship to pursue Communication Design at Parsons School of Design, and in 2024, she was recognized as one of GDUSA’s Students to Watch. Outside her creative pursuits, Trinity is an avid cook who loves experimenting with Japanese recipes, a collector of unique periodicals, and a self-proclaimed coffee shop explorer who takes inspiration from long city strolls. Whether designing jewelry, discovering worn objects, or soaking up live rock and techno performances, she finds inspiration in unexpected places.

We asked Trinity about her art, creative process, and inspirations.

Can you tell us about your background as a digital artist? How did you get started in this field?

Creativity has always been an integral part of my life. It was just a matter of finding the right medium. Prior to my foray into the digital arts, I was helping design jewelry and doing production work for an independent label in Manila called JOS Mundo, helping out with photoshoots, sets, and events. I experimented (and continue to do so) with so many fields and disciplines, but digital arts felt really intuitive and familiar. I had so many jobs over COVID that were off-site and that really allowed me to dip my fingers into digital design but I recently learned that maintaining a balancing act between tangible and intangible practices keeps me sane.

What inspires your art? Are there any particular themes or subjects that you enjoy exploring through your artwork?

It’s important for me to keep an open mind when it comes to getting inspiration. My process revolves around accepting changes and new ideas in my surroundings. In giving advice to young comedians, Conan O'Brien once said that humor can be found everywhere and encouraged others to read high and read low. I've somewhat integrated that into my practice — in processes and subjects alike. There's beauty and function everywhere. Look high, look low. There's always something to be inspired by and we shouldn't be discriminating against the locales we gather from. Aside from that, I've involved myself in so many odd jobs and they all somehow shaped my sensibilities. You can see hints of my experiences sprinkled across my current work.

Growing up in Manila, how has your cultural background influenced your approach to design and storytelling?

Growing up in the Philippines significantly shaped my approach. I think Manila is an overlooked treasure trove of creativity. The city itself is flooded with color and material combinations you wouldn't even expect. And the people are inherently creative, constantly maneuvering to create something new and interesting. I definitely accredit a lot of my creative instincts to my upbringing there.

Tell us about being part of Parsons School of Design and receiving the GDUSA Students to Watch recognition – how has your education shaped your goals as a designer?

It's always nice being a part of a creative community. There's a sense of purpose and pride when you're surrounded by like-minded creative practitioners and I think being at Parsons definitely hit that spot. Receiving that recognition was so heartwarming and encouraging! As creatives, it's always a struggle to individualize one's self... but creative work is deeply personal so getting recognized for my work and practice is always a great feeling.

What does your creative process look like? How do you approach brainstorming and conceptualizing ideas?

I don't necessarily have a specific approach per se. But I am a big proponent of the “shower effect,” (I totally took this from 30 Rock) which is essentially about distracting yourself for a period of time which in turn, unlocks your best ideas. I let myself wander (physically and mentally) when I’m involved in a project and that allows me to take a step back to consider and reconsider all the steps I have yet to take/have taken.

What is a dream project you’d like to make one day?

My dream is to design for music & film. I'd like to work with my favorite musicians someday like The Strokes or create a film poster for Paul Thomas Anderson.

What else fills your time when you’re not creating art?

I'm a huge fan of standup comedy and sketch comedy. I watch Saturday Night Live pretty religiously. I make memes for my friends too. Other times, I'm probably grabbing a drink with friends or taking a stroll alone!

How do you think technology is impacting creativity and design?

Technology hasn’t changed my core inspiration or design sensibilities, but it has completely transformed my process. It’s optimized each step, making everything more efficient and allowing me to explore new methods. It helps me experiment and iterate quickly, combining traditional and digital practices and the end result is a more flexible approach that keeps my ideas intact while pushing things further than I would’ve imagined on paper.

I have to ask… Lorde called you cool – what’s the story behind that?

Hahaha, that day was crazy. I ran into her at one of my favorite stores in the Lower East Side. I went up to her but I was so nervous because I'm such a huge fan. I think she sensed that so she was kind enough to compliment me as I was trying to get the words out.