What makes a design feel like it belongs — to a culture, a community, or a moment in human experience? In this closing keynote, Yiying Lu draws on two decades of cross-cultural creative work to reveal how color, typography, and iconography shape the way we see ourselves and each other. Through deeply personal and professional case studies — from the Twitter Fail Whale that turned a moment of failure into a beloved cultural icon, to designing Asian culture onto billions of phone keyboards through the Unicode Dumpling 🥟 and Boba Tea 🧋 emojis, to localizing Disney’s brand for Shanghai and building visual identities that transcend linguistic barriers for global brands — she shares her creative process of using color, typography, and iconography to make cultures feel seen and felt, and communities feel connected. She closes with a creative healing project born from the pandemic: inviting people worldwide to tell their own story as a dumpling, finding community and connection through a shared symbol. Because the most intentional design doesn’t just communicate — it makes you feel like you’ve finally come home.
Designing for Belonging: How Color, Typography, and Iconography Shape Culture, Community, and the Human Experience
