Interview with Melissa Xiao Xue Han Ruiz

Currently I work at Shenzhen as a graphic designer at TigerPan Packaging Lab. Since one year I started my career as a alcoholic beverages designer, Our studio also applies the A’ Design award every year with various designs such as beers, cognac, food, cigar, among others.

For me design is everything - everything.

My biggest passion in design is the design of alcoholic beverages, I love learning more about the development and design of the glass bottles, also the design process that goes from a sketch, ornamental lettering, illustration and the selection of the paper and all kind of materials for the bottles label. What I like most is to use several different materials in a design, such as wood, glass, paper, metal, leather, among others.

Skall Mezcal is the design that I like the most, over time I have added new details to my design, and I hope someday to turn Small into a design for outstanding brand of Mezcal in Mexico, I have other designs that I like a lot, but Small has always been the first since then.

The first thing I designed for a company was a character design for a Trip agency application in China, with help of some teachers from the University, Donny the character design was my first design job. I created Donny with more than 60 expressions and 40 movements.

My favorite material to work is paper to create all kinds of printings, I’m still learning more about. Another essential tool is my sketch book and my iPad. On my iPad I usually work with Procreate and adobe’s apps.

Creativity comes out to me with more vigor when I go for a walk alone, when I decide to discover new places around, the place that has inspired me the most last year was hongkong. Since it has a strong mix between the western and eastern, I think it is a place where one identifies and much more if one is working in the exterior as I.

One of the most important aspects when designing is not to limit my imagination in the process, know how to control every detail and style of my design without losing the essence, since in the process there are always changes and sometimes we lose important parts of the principal concept of our design.

When I´m really inspired in the processs of a design or a new idea for a new design i tend to be more active, It is like a kind of happiness or hyperactivity that makes all my activities in the day take place or pass more quickly to a normal day. I can compare this emotion as when someone takes a leadenly laden cup of coffee and feels you tremble.

This emotion is kind of the emotion i get when I am inspired, but strongest, It is like taking several shots of expresso coffee and then the second feeling is to start with a new project. My goal is to be someone else in the design community, meet more people and learn from the experts.

I think the key that makes a design successful is the performance that you put on it, the passion you invest in the design, the patience that you give to start and finish it. for me design is not just a design, for me design is like a baby that is born if your imagination, experience, beliefs, passion, time etc.

the first sight and the impression that it provokes, also the presentation of the design and who represents it.

My last exhibitions were in 2017 when I graduated from Tsinghua University. the first Exhibition was in Beijing and the last one took place in Wuhan,China. I hope to be able to do another exhibition about some of my new designs and obviously I wish with all my heart that the next one is an A Design Design Exhibition in Italy.

I always get inspiration from everything that surrounds me, also in what i feel on the moment or sometimes even my sense of humor inspires me to think of something new, something different.

I consider my designs a gothic and rude style, since I rely more on ornamental lettering, calligraphy, in the case of my illustrations i focus more on the lines and techniques of the engraving style / scratching style. And I usually work more with white, black and metallic colors.

I currently live in Shenzhen, China. From the age of 17 I moved to China with the goal to learn the language and find a job in China. Right now I'm working in a Chinese packaging studio and my job in design are alcoholic beverages packaging. In this short time I have dealt with big brands, although our studio focus more on the Chinese style designs for my part I try to polish and learn more in my own designs, since my designs have more Mexican and western style. It is cool to work in two different types of environments because I have learned a lot.

My suggestion to companies on how to select a good designer is: Companies should choose a good designer not only for their work experience but also in the work they have done, in their portfolio, there are many young designers with great talents who could be part of something great if they are discovered by talent not by the time spent in a company.

The process of my designs are usually different depending on the project theme. Skall´s design process. Skall´s design process was quite long, since my goal was to create something new and strange, in addition to all those ideas I had to create in with my own hands and find all ways to finish it. for skills leather belts I took some craft courses to learn how to cut and stitch leather.

My favorite items at home are: my computer, my moleskin home sketch notebook ( is my outwork sketchbook ), my Baies essential diffuser, my cup for morning coffee, my rooms big mirror and all my secret books for design.

Never limit the ideas for design in the process.

My sketchbook on hand all the time and my iPad for work on the weekend around the city.

My most important job experience is life and now Tigerpan. I'm learning a lot working in a Chinese studio and meeting new people and clients.

Working with Tigerpan now some of my the clients I'm working with are SnowBeer, Wanglaoji Chinese Herbal Tea and Changyu Fine Brandy

Packaging and my passion are all about Alcoholic Beverages and Ornamental typography.

Keep working hard and learn more about design, improve my skills. I want to be a big Designer in the future.

From now I'm working as a team with Tigerpan and in my free times, I use to do some self-designs. My goal is to improve my designs skills and don't lose the essence of my style

*My Linkedin account is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-xiao-xue-han-ruiz-71a23b147/*My Behance portfolio is: https://www.behance.net/memelicat18*Currently I live in China my number is: +86 13011227510*My gmail: mememlicat18@gmail.com