About
Designdamage.com is a blog aimed at those interested in Brand Strategy and Marketing. The purpose of this blog is to help you with all aspects of brand development with easy to understand advice on how to apply business strategy to change perception, influence preference and command loyalty.
Whether you’re a global conglomerate, a start-up business or a marketing professional, you should understand the power of today’s remarkable brands. People not only buy products and services, they buy promises and reputations in the form of brands. A brand is a desirable and exclusive idea integrated in products, places, services, people and experience. In order to deliver value continuously, businesses and individuals must stay with the rate of change on brand strategies because there simply isn’t a single sustainable brand positioning strategy that allows your brand to grow and evolve. Effective brands adapt and transform in an effort to find new opportunities that hold the greatest potential.
The information and insight published on this blog is intended to help you to appropriately address your brand at each stage of its development. It’s to help define who you are and why you matter as a brand. From corporate branding to personal branding, this blog is to discuss how brand strategy enables you to connect with your audience in cutting through the noise of an competitive landscape.
Fresh content is added regularly including analysis and industry-related data, how-to instructional articles dealing with current hot topics like social media, content marketing, effective advertising and web strategy. I’m also a contributor to Social Media Today and My Venture Pad sharing my thoughts and ideas with like-minded industry professionals.
I hope you will enjoy your visit and look forward to having your feedback regularly. I welcome suggestions and comments so feel free to dig through my old posts and let me know your thoughts, complaints, agree or disagree this is a public forum to share your opinion.
Disclosures
The views, opinions, postings on this blog are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions of my employer.
Biography
Short Version
I help innovative companies create brand strategies that bridges the gap between promise and expectation. As a design thinker and a business practitioner, I fuse concepts and functions to create engaging brand experiences that drive actions, not just aesthetics.
Professional History
(Company, Title , What I did)
Pointivity, Director of Marketing & Communications
Developed and executed brand strategies including brand architecture, alignment, marketing, SEO and design. (current contract since May 08)
Visual Duration Studio, Brand Strategist
Provided creative direction, brand strategy, marketing communication, visual design and campaign creation. Increased profitability of 15+ brands in various vertical industries. (current position since 05)
Bridgetech Holdings International, Director of Global Marketing
Developed multiple global brands that aligns with business strategies. Launched and managed health care web portal: positioning, analyzing, and defining user experience, technical platform, information architecture, wireframes and identify.
Fieldsheer Motorsports, President
Increased annual global revenue from $2 million to $4.5 million while managing $1.5 million annual global operations budget. Designed and developed products ranging from motorcycle, automobile, snow, surf, skate, and general sportswear. (contracts including US Air Force, Harley Davidson, Skin Motocross, Celtek Snow, various soccer and media products.)
Currently I work as a strategic partner helping companies improve customer loyalty, boost market share, increase revenue and deliver engaging brand experience.
Education
I hold a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the University of California Irvine focus on conceptual and digital arts.
Art and Design
I make art and create design when I get ideas, here are some of my previous and current work:
Brands, Spaces, Interactions
Social Media Exhibition
Empathy Photography Series
Font Shop International
Designdamage V3
Design and Photo Archives
Legacy Art Exhibition
Seven Degrees Gallery
Personal
I’m a first generation Chinese-American, born in Taiwan then came to the United States when I was 12. I lived in a complete different social environment until I came here and was quickly fascinated by marketing and the concept of brand development. I grew up mostly near the hear of Silicon Valley, Cupertino, where the Apple headquarter is 2 minutes from my house. Ironically I never own a Mac but i do have an iPhone.
Since I was a kid I started drawing characters to tell stories even on exam papers I would leave my marks on them. Of course it didn’t sit well with the teacher but that didn’t stop me from doing it. I was always drawn to Japanese animations, cartoons and would always dream up my own stories so I decided to publish my own comic book when I was 9. My friends would ask to borrow my comics to read and I would continue to draw after I came to the States.
I love taking photos ever since I took my first photography class in college. I became obsessed with images, getting my hands on medium and large format cameras experiencing with different printing techniques. This was just when digital camera starts to get popular but I still insisted on using film. I would take rolls and rolls of analog film, develop them as soon as I get a chance then print them until I can’t tell if I’m in the dark room or not. I will stop and take pictures regardless of where I’m at or what I should be doing (not good!).
I soon realized that photography, just like knowing how to use Photoshop or Illustrator is simply a tool, what’s in your head is what really counts. In the latter part of my college days I picked up graphic design and soon was working part time as a web designer. That’s when I launched designdamage.com as my portfolio site, posting industry news and showcasing my work.
At 25, I was lucky enough to lead a 30 year old brand that sells products I’ve never used (still today) to record sales while working with amazing people around the world from Europe to Asia. After learning the marketing dynamics I realized that marketing starts with product ideas and should be implemented throughout the development process. I then had the entrepreneurial opportunity working for a start-up that went public in the health care sector.
Over the years I managed to successfully bridge the gap between design and user experience from consumer products to marketing communication.
I’m a social media addict and can’t stay away from the internet. I used to watch a lot of History channel but now I just surf the internet. I love to eat and wish I could try some of those dishes on Food Network especially the Iron Chief stuff!
Just like most guys, I also love cars and if you know cars, this is my previous rides: Nissan 240sx, 300zx tt, VW Mk4 Jetta, Audi B5 S4, VW MK5 GTI, VW MK5 Jetta. As you can see I tend to pick turbo-charged vehicles and no, I don’t drive fast 
In my free time, I like to hang out with family and friends, play a little basketball. I play a lot of pickup games and make no mistake, I’m a pretty good 3 point shooter (close to .500 career) but can take anyone to the hole if you dare to guard me close. I enjoy watching the NBA and NFL but my teams totally suck these days because they’re from the bay area (Giants and 49er!).
I’m planning to get married in the coming year with the love of my life who happens to be a fashion designer.
Feel free to drop me a line, I read every comment and value every opinion even if you just want to tell me something about you, let me know.
