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Yiying Lu

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Yiying Lu
Born
Shanghai, China
EducationBachelor of Design from University of Technology Sydney
Occupation(s)Artist, designer
Known forCreating Twitter Fail Whale, co-creating the Dumpling emoji, and co-founding Emojination
Awards
  • Microsoft's "Top 10 Emerging Leader in Innovation"
  • 2008 Shorty Awards winner in Design
  • 2018 Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business
  • 2024 Pantone Spotlight Artist
Websitewww.yiyinglu.com

Yiying Lu is an artist most known for creating the 2008 Twitter Fail Whale, co-creating the dumpling emoji, and co-founding Emojination. She was born in Shanghai, China and earned her Bachelor of Design from University of Technology Sydney. She is based in San Francisco, California, US.

Career

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Yiying Lu has been using art, design, and technology to unite people across language and cultural barriers.[1] After earning her bachelor’s degree from University of Technology Sydney in 2008, Lu founded the Yiying Lu Studio.[2]  

While earning her degree, Lu created a digital artwork titled "Lifting a Dreamer" to send birthday wishes to a friend living far away.[3][4] Lu then posted the image, featuring a serene whale being lifted out of the water by eight orange birds, to a istockphoto.com, where Twitter co-founder Biz Stone discovered the image and thought it would make a good icon.[4] In May of 2008 the image of a serene whale being lifted out of the water became the Twitter Fail Whale.[4]

Due to the popularity of the fail whale, Conan O’Brien commissioned Conan O’Brien Pale Whale for Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco website and Twitter page.[5] The image became popular on the internet, including a profile page and fan club for the fail whale.[6] In July of 2008, Mashable held a competition for users to create an icon for Facebook based on the Fail Whale.[6] Lu also created the Shorty Whale for the social media Shorty Awards, another outgrowth of the fail whale.[7]

Her work bridging design and technology continued when in 2011 she created a set of illustrations of famous faces in fashion featuring QR codes.[8]

In 2015 Lu co-founded the Dumpling Project and Emojination with Jennifer 8. Lee.[9]  Between 2015 and 2020, Lu created six Unicode emojis now used by billions of people. These are the dumpling (🥟), boba tea (🧋), fortune cookie (🥠), chopsticks (🥢), takeout box (🥡), and peacock (🦚), representing sights, foods, beverages, images, and animals common in Asia and Asian American communities.[10][11]

In 2016 she designed a version of Mickey Mouse for the inaugural recruitment campaign for Disney Shanghai Resort.[2]

In 2024, Lu, Steve Sue, and Ryan Ozawa, submitted the shaka emoji (🤙) to the unicode Consortium to bolster the reach of the famous gesture from Hawaiian culture.[12][13]

Lu's Disco Winter Wonder Land & Sea, featured at the 2024 San Francisco “Let’s Glow SF” public art exhibit featured was,"a playful and whimsical celebration of the winter holiday season and animal inhabitants from different continents."[14] The piece included north pole animals such as the polar bear, red panda, koala, and whale shark to promote biological diversity and ocean conservation.[15]

In 2024 Lu won the Pantone Spotlight Artist award and she said, "Color is my language, weaving bridges between hearts and minds, connecting individuals through shared emotions, and orchestrating a symphony of unity and understanding."[16]

Yiying Lu is a San Francisco Arts Commissioner for visual arts.[17] She is a frequent guest speaker and visiting lecturer.[3] She has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, NBC News, TIME, Wired Magazine, The Verge, CNN, and the BBC.[17]

Honors and awards

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  • 2018 Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business Winner[18]
  • 2008 1st Shorty Awards winner in Design[19]
  • 2022 Australia China Alumni Award for the Arts and Creative Industries[20]
  • 2024 Pantone Spotlight Artist[16]

References

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  1. ^ Chicco, Gianfranco. "How Yiying Lu bridges art and technology across cultures with Adobe Illustrator on the iPad". blog.adobe.com. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  2. ^ a b Tan, Claudia (2021-08-02). "5Qs with Yiying Lu, Award-Winning Artist, Food Emoji Designer & TEDx Speaker". Singapore Global Network. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  3. ^ a b Lu, Yiying (2021-07-07). Yiying Lu: Empowering Through Cross-Cultural Design & Innovation, Talks at Google. Retrieved 2024-07-15 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ a b c Luckerson, Victor (2013-11-06). "How Twitter Slayed the Fail Whale". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  5. ^ "Web darling Conan rides the 'Pale Whale'". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  6. ^ a b Makice, Kevin (2009-03-24). Twitter API: Up and Running. "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". ISBN 978-0-596-15461-5.
  7. ^ "To celebrate 5 years of Shorty Awards, Yiying Lu presents us with a new mascot". Tumblr. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  8. ^ Banks, Emily (2011-08-08). "QR Codes Used To Illustrate Fashion Icons [PICS]". Mashable. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  9. ^ Kiaer, Jieun (2023-05-18). Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-13512-3.
  10. ^ "Silicon Valley Is Forced to Reset Its Moral Compass for the Pandemic". Bloomberg.com. 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  11. ^ Harris, Jenn (2020-03-06). "A boba emoji is coming. Meet the woman who designed it". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  12. ^ EIN Presswire (April 4, 2024). "Proposal for 'Shaka' Emoji Submitted to Bolster the Universal Reach of the Hawaii Hand Gesture". abc4.com. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  13. ^ "Pupu Platter 388: Liquor commission takes hit, atmosphere gets bit, shaka emoji is lit". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  14. ^ "Yiying Lu | Downtown San Francisco". downtownsf.org. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  15. ^ Vang, Gia; Ni, Christine; Horn • •, Michael (2022-12-02). "Bay Area Artist to Be Featured in 'Let's Glow SF' Event". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  16. ^ a b Pantone. "2024 Pantone Spotlight Artist Yiying Lu Bridges Cultures with Creativity and Pantone Connect". Pantone. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  17. ^ a b "Yiying Lu | San Francisco". www.sf.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  18. ^ "The Most Creative People in Business 2018". Fast Company. 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  19. ^ "The 2008 Shorty Awards Winners and Finalists". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  20. ^ "2022 Australia China Alumni Award for the Arts and Creative Industries – Australia China Alumni Awards". Retrieved 2024-07-22.
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