Interview with Jizheng Guan
Jizheng (Marshall) Guan is a New York–based creator working across design, technology, and business. Trained in computer science, mathematics, and financial engineering at Cornell, he currently works…
Designer of the Day Interview
28 May 2026
My interest in art and design started since childhood through painting, drawing, and learning about various cultures. I drifted away in high school when I did not see a clear path or much support and spent the next decade pursuing business and technology studies and careers. At Cornell and later in systematic trading, I acquired strong technical skills and learned how to create sophisticated systems that supported high-stake decision making. Over time, I realized design felt closest to what I truly cared about: identity, expression, and how people experience the world. Now I am able to consolidate my background in art, technology, and analytics to build beautiful and functional projects.
I focus on intention and emotional truth. I begin by making detailed observations, then translate those insights into structures. I like to think of each design as creating a world. It should have both clear operating logic and atmosphere. I use drawing, prototypes, code, and AI systems, to create designs that are structured, immersive, and expressive.
In the beginning, I start design with immense intellectual curiosity and excitement, when I feel genuinely intrigued by people’s intention and what we could achieve. There is usually a period where the idea feels unclear, and I have to sit with that uncertainty and tension. When the form begins to emerge, I feel a sense of quiet energy. It feels like discovering what the work wanted to become. At which point, I would let the design flow through me to completion.
Finance and technology taught me rigor, systems thinking, and how to implement creative ideas that scale. Drawing taught me to observe details, atmosphere, and structures. My cross-cultural background also shapes how I think about identity, belonging, and means of expression. These influences bring me to designs that are both technically grounded and emotionally meaningful.
I am exploring 67 Story Studio, interactive story worlds that help children learn across cultures and approach unfamiliar backgrounds with curiosity. I am also developing ideas around city sketch-walks and digital experiences for overlooked local places. On top of digital experiences, I am looking into how to realize industrial designs that make work and life more intuitive and comfortable.
My dream project is a creative studio where art and technology come together. It would create products and experiences for families, authentic brands, cultural places, and communities. The goal would be to help people express who they are and their imagination with clarity and beauty.
My dream project is a creative studio where art and technology come together. It would create products and experiences for families, authentic brands, cultural places, and communities. The goal would be to help people express who they are and their imagination with clarity and beauty.
I think a design is successful when it creates a living structure. It gives ideas, resources, and actions a clear way to flow. People have room to breathe inside it. I think of a good design as building a small world with its own logic, atmosphere, and purpose. It should solve the right problem and help people thrive every time they return to it.
Living in New York exposes me to different cultures and rhythms of living. My own background also makes me sensitive to questions related to identity and belonging. I build systems, meet people, and keep realizing everything is connected. Conversations, city sketches, kendo practices, language learning are all ways to understand the world. Those experiences gave me both inspiration and places to apply them.
Participating in A’Design awards created a moment of reflection for me. I had an opportunity to clarify my intention, articulate my process, and present my work to a broader creative audience. Winning the awards helped map out some directions of a bigger creative journey.
Interview about Sparkhood Generative companion UI Design Interview
Design Legend Interview
28 May 2026
I studied computer science, mathematics, and financial engineering at Cornell University, and I currently work in systematic trading and data analytics in New York. My formal background is technical, but much of my creative practice comes from drawing and sincere intellectual curiosity of cultures. Now I am able to combine my technical and creative background to make and implement new designs.
I think a design is successful when it creates a living structure. It gives ideas, resources, and actions a clear way to flow. People have room to breathe inside it. I think of a good design as building a small world with its own logic, atmosphere, and purpose. It should solve the right problem and help people thrive every time they return to it.
My dream project is a creative studio where art and technology come together. It would create products and experiences for families, authentic brands, cultural places, and communities. The goal would be to help people express who they are and their imagination with clarity and beauty.
I see design as an act that gives intention a clear and useful form. It can be an interface, an object, a space, or a system. To me, good design helps people understand and express themselves more clearly and deeply. It is where observation and intuition become structure.
I am exploring interactive story worlds that help children learn across cultures and approach unfamiliar backgrounds with curiosity. I am also developing ideas around city sketch-walks and digital experiences for overlooked local places. On top of digital experiences, I am looking into how to realize industrial designs that make work and life more intuitive and comfortable.
I think one of a designer’s responsibilities is to recognize what is worth amplifying. When I see good intentions, genuine interest, or a meaningful idea, I want to create structures that help them grow. Design shapes how attention, behavior, resources, and care move through the world. In that sense, designers contribute to the current in the river of human history, deciding what to strengthen and what to make easier.
I believe design is becoming more adaptive and less static. With AI and other cutting edge production tools, designers can understand deeper. They can move faster from idea to prototype and to final product. The future of design is more holistic and collaborative. Designers would have new opportunities to evolve and iterate with the people they design for.
I was always curious about how things worked and why things were the way they were. That curiosity applied to many aspects of my life, from school to hobbies. I was eager to learn about interesting structures and how to incorporate them in some drawings or handcrafts. This curiosity put me on track to become a designer.
Designer Interview
8 June 2026
learning about various cultures. I drifted away in high school when I did not see a clear path or much support and spent the next decade pursuing business and technology studies and careers. At Cornell and later in systematic trading, I acquired strong technical skills and learned how to create sophisticated systems that supported high-stake decision making. Over time, I realized design felt closest to what I truly cared about: identity, expression, and how people experience the world. Now I am able to consolidate my background in art, technology, and analytics to build beautiful and functional projects.
I see design as an act that gives intention a clear and useful form. It can be an interface, an object, a space, or a system. To me, good design helps people understand and express themselves more clearly and deeply. It is where observation and intuition become structure.
In the beginning, I start design with immense intellectual curiosity and excitement, when I feel genuinely intrigued by people’s intention and what we could achieve. There is usually a period where the idea feels unclear, and I have to sit with that uncertainty and tension. When the form begins to emerge, I feel a sense of quiet energy. It feels like discovering what the work wanted to become. At which point, I would let the design flow through me to completion.
I think a design is successful when it creates a living structure. It gives ideas, resources, and actions a clear way to flow. People have room to breathe inside it. I think of a good design as building a small world with its own logic, atmosphere, and purpose. It should solve the right problem and help people thrive every time they return to it.
I think one of a designer’s responsibilities is to recognize what is worth amplifying. When I see good intentions, genuine interest, or a meaningful idea, I want to create structures that help them grow. Design shapes how attention, behavior, resources, and care move through the world. In that sense, designers contribute to the current in the river of human history, deciding what to strengthen and what to make easier.
I believe design is becoming more adaptive and less static. With AI and other cutting edge production tools, designers can understand deeper. They can move faster from idea to prototype and to final product. The future of design is more holistic and collaborative. Designers would have new opportunities to evolve and iterate with the people they design for.
I focus on intention and emotional truth. I begin by making detailed observations, then translate those insights into structures. I like to think of each design as creating a world. It should have both clear operating logic and atmosphere. I use drawing, prototypes, code, and AI systems, to create designs that are structured, immersive, and expressive.
Living in New York exposes me to different cultures and rhythms of living. My own background also makes me sensitive to questions related to identity and belonging. I build systems, meet people, and keep realizing everything is connected. Conversations, city sketches, kendo practices, language learning are all ways to understand the world. Those experiences gave me both inspiration and places to apply them.
Observation is the most important skill. After that, communication, taste, systems thinking, technical fluency, and empathy all matter. A designer needs to have structure. They also need humility to test their assumptions.
My dream project is a creative studio where art and technology come together. It would create products and experiences for families, authentic brands, cultural places, and communities. The goal would be to help people express who they are and their imagination with clarity and beauty.
I am exploring 67 Story Studio, interactive story worlds that help children learn across cultures and approach unfamiliar backgrounds with curiosity. I am also developing ideas around city sketch-walks and digital experiences for overlooked local places. On top of digital experiences, I am looking into how to realize industrial designs that make work and life more intuitive and comfortable.
Interview about Sparkhood Generative companion UI Grand Interview