Explore, accept guidance, collaborate, adapt. These are some of the principles that guide Willy Wong’s design practice and have influenced his career path for 20+ years.
Willy Wong advises executives, entrepreneurs, and community leaders on creative strategy, brand experience design, venture development, and marketing. He is on the faculty at the School of Visual Arts and Pratt and is an advisor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Times Square Arts. Wong previously served as Chief Creative Officer of NYC & Company, the official marketing and tourism organization for New York City, to rebrand the city’s profile in cooperation with the Mayor’s office and city agencies, and has collaborated on hundreds of communications/policy initiatives. With his new studio, Ars Marinus, he is exploring local creativity and community.
When Wong was selected as a New Visual Artist in 2004, he was in the process of shifting from a career in management consulting and software engineering to graphic design.
I had just begun my design career when PRINT selected me as a New Visual Artist. The recognition gave me a big boost of confidence that I was headed in the right direction.
Willy Wong, 2024
As he completed his degree at Yale School of Art, Wong built up a roster of clients and was juggling a number of freelance design projects for clients in NY and Boston and for departments across Yale University
Jonathan D. Katz and Rachel Pepper with the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies gave me a lot of room to explore. From design and content for their publications to branding conferences, I was able to consider how to work on discrete events and programs that collectively defined their look and voice.
Willy Wong, 2024
Wong’s experience during that time also included projects for Bob Stern and Dean Sakamoto at the Yale School of Architecture, which had an ambitious publishing and exhibitions program. Under the guidance of Michael Bierut from Pentagram, Wong designed its marquee publications, including the architecture journal Perspecta and the annual student catalog Retrospecta.
I recall we all worked independently on our thesis projects at the MFA design studio, and most efforts were done solo. I missed having work colleagues and teammates, so I would invite a different classmate to collaborate with me on most of these engagements. Each made those projects more fun, and I learned from each one of them and reflexively learned about how I worked.
Willy Wong, 2024
Today, Wong is still questioning, exploring, collaborating, and adapting. After two decades in Manhattan, Wong relocated to Maine to connect more deeply with the land and water. The name he gave to his studio and venture in Maine, “Ars Marinus,” is a nod to the area’s maritime heritage and creative ethos, a gesture toward new beginnings in his practice, and a commitment to the local community.
When he first arrived in Maine, Wong was delighted by the physical beauty and kindness of the people. However, he also realized it’s easy to feel isolated, especially during winter. He heard about Jane’s Walk Maine, part of a global festival of free, volunteer-led walking conversations inspired by community activist Jane Jacobs.
Jane’s Walks combines the simple act of exploring a place with personal observations, local history, and civic engagement—a perfect fit for his experience and commitment to collaboration and an opportunity to adapt to his new community.
Wong worked with Maine Preservation and coordinating partners to expand the event by creating a core festival identity and platform, designing a new organizer outreach campaign, a walk leader training toolkit, and marketing and promotional efforts to support the festival—all to engage more Mainers in this annual tradition and empower them toward social impact. Wong also applied for a Sappi Ideas that Matter grant for the campaign, for which he received a 2023 grant to support the cost of completing the communication materials.
After many galleries closed down during the pandemic, Wong also helped revive the community event, Artwalk Waldoboro. Working with local gallery owners, past participants, and new creative residents, he refreshed the event identity, designed flyers to be hung in cafes up and down the coast, spread the word on social media, and built a website. Three months in, the local creative community and residents are excited about the revival.
Wong recently joined Maine Preservation’s board as a trustee to dive deeper into the area’s rich history. He helped redesign the organization’s visual identity, drawing inspiration from the first Maine flag, which featured an iconic north star and pine tree design. Wong pulled in his friend Jesse Ragan to help finetune the wordmark.
The world deserves to see your work. Your efforts could inspire someone, perhaps even change their life for the better, so put it out there!
Willy Wong, 2024
Do you work collaboratively or solo? Is your visual work a part of a passion project or other exploration? Are you adapting to a new career? Are you inspired to support your community physically, ideologically, emotionally, or beyond? Whatever your work and wherever you are in the process, PRINT wants to recognize you in the 2024 New Visual Artists showcase.
