YIYING LU: EMERGING
DESIGN INNOVATOR
Anyone who uses the social media site Twitter may be familiar with one of Yiying Lu’s most famous designs. Its official title is "Lifting Up a Dreamer." Lu created the image for a message to friends. After it was discovered by the founder of Twitter, the whale began to appear whenever the site was overloaded with tweets. Before long, users affectionately nicknamed it “Fail Whale."
Lu is inspired by art (Georgia O’Keefe, René Magritte are favorites), music (everything from the Beatles to Beethoven), fashion (especially Coco Chanel) and children’s books. In 2008, Lu was named one of 100 Emerging Leaders in Innovation by Australia’s largest newspaper. She is now busy creating other graphic creatures and working on illustration projects, logos and package designs.
IMAGE: © YIYING LU