Meet Shupeng Jiang

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shupeng Jiang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shupeng, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?

That’s a great question. I’ve experienced a lot of burnout over the years and have always been trying to find ways to cope. In my experience, it’s important to understand where the burnout is coming from. I think it varies from person to person. For me, it mainly stems from uncertainty about my future career, which leads to ongoing self-doubt while working. My response has been to spend time getting to know myself better—what are my passions, my vision, my personalities, my strengths, and weaknesses? I encourage myself to pursue the most potential direction (footwear design) with the self-cognition I already have, even though things keep changing and the future is always unpredictable. This approach has really helped. I feel more at ease when working with a clearer sense of direction.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I studied industrial design for both my undergrad and graduate degrees. Throughout most of my career, my design work has spanned various fields, and I’ve had the chance to work with design teams across different industries, like Haier, Lululemon, and ResMed. As I mentioned earlier, about a year ago, I decided to focus more on sneaker design. For now I am taking an internship of footwear design in Adidas, which is a great opportunity to have practical experience and step into footwear industry.

When I’m designing, I often pay close attention to niche groups, digging into the interesting stories behind them and using design to bring those stories to life. I realized that great design always connects different groups of people, allowing the broader public to resonate with the stories of these niche communities.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

First, I think empathy always supports me keep improving in design field. In most situations, design is to build connection between brands/designers and customers/audience. Besides the design methods, empathy really helps me to understand the needs and experiences of target groups, brings me innovative insights.

In addition, the ability of teamwork is really valuable. Designers never avoid working with other roles as a group, especially in companies. It is not just about intention, it takes a learning process-better communicating skills, deeper understanding of others’ duties, deeper self cognition… Learn to work more efficiently as a team otherwise everyone will struggle.

Last, maybe I would say cultural identity. As an Asian designer studying in U.S., the skills I learned here makes my design solid while sometimes I realize the culture identity makes it special, even though I don’t express it in my design intentionally. So a better fusion of cultures would be my next topic for further working on.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

Time management is still a challenge for me. I’ve noticed that sometimes I get stuck in the design process, overthinking it without an end in sight. While it’s important for designers to be passionate, getting stuck isn’t helpful—it makes the work less efficient. You need to find a way to balance life and manage time more effectively. Poor time management has also affected my sleep schedule. Now, I’m trying to stick to a more regular routine and finish my designs within a set time. I think it’s working, but I just need some time to adjust.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shupeng.me/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shupeng_j/profilecard/?igsh=M28yeW9kamQzdmFz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shupeng-jiang-77b63a270/