Megan Kwan

Megan Kwan

Art Director + Designer, She/Her

About

direction / design / feelings

Megan Kwan is a creative director, designer, artist and founder of the creative studio, Super Sensitive Studios. Her professional and personal practice focuses on multi-media storytelling to explore ever-evolving questions of identity, grief and connection. Her work strives to express the shared feelings of individual experience that ultimately connect us all through a design lens.

Projects

2024

The 128-page book features images by 60 women-identifying artists and photographers who responded to the theme of care. This collection is meant to be a reminder of the ways care shows up in your life and the different forms it can take. Care was designed by Megan Kwan, edited by Kimi Hamada and Anna Schneider.

2022

Lifestyle brand and retail shop, Merge, was looking to create a second-use packaging system for the launch of their new self-care apothecary line.

Based in the coastal surf town of Tofino, B.C, Merge’s connection to slow living, access to nature and care for the environment inspired the basis of the discovery process. As a result, the brand identity and second-use packaging deepens your connection to self, others and the environment, while also speaking to the rituals the products enable.

2021

In collaboration with Vancouver Chinatown Foundation and photographer, Jeremy Jude Lee, we created this work during the rise of Anti-Asian hate, as a tribute to Chinatown and a reminder of the resilience of the Asian community. We put together a team and set out to capture some images, very much inspired by our love of Hong Kong cinema.

Through this series, we wanted to explore and celebrate the essence of Chinatown from this renewed perspective—documenting the neighbourhood where our communities have always been present but not always visible."

2017

Of Loss & Grief is a physical and virtual collection of crowd-sourced objects and stories. It is a place where grief is always present—a place where grief can be safely addressed, explored and shared. Created to honour the ones that are no longer with us and reflect on what is left behind; the emotions, the objects and the people.

Work Experience

2021 — Now

Founder and creative director of Super Sensitive Studios — a creative studio driven by sensitive* humans. We feel deeply, create thoughtfully & maybe cry a little in the process. *Sensitive in the way we care for others, ourselves, and our environment.

2023 — 2023
Senior Concept Designer at adidas
Portland

An external contractor and contributor of the adidas Global Brand Expression team. We set the look, tone, and feel of our adidas Global brand through photography, motion, typography, art and graphics, and voice direction – from all touchpoints including in brand/product marketing campaigns, retail, OOH, etc. Specializing in communication design aiming to shape what the brand can be alongside our marketing and agency counterparts.

2022 — 2023

Creative Lead/Design Manager responsible for leading a team of designers, production artists, and external agencies, to create compelling visuals that communicate the Monos brand. Ensuring flawless execution of creative, adherence to guidelines, and continue to evolve Monos’ visual identity. Providing mentorship to the team, identifying opportunities for professional development and growth. Additionally, working cross-functionally to develop and refine art direction and strategy to support campaigns and the marketing department.

2017 — 2021
Vancouver, BC

Responsible for various local and international clients—brand conceptualization and design, research, photography production and creative direction, packaging, publication and website design.

2014 — 2021
Freelance Art Director + Designer
Worldwide
2017 — 2017
Graphic Designer at DUER
Vancouver, BC

In-house graphic designer for all digital and print assets. Working across Marketing (E-comm, Wholesale, Retail) and Design Teams to create and implement campaigns, website, trims, and promotional materials.

2016 — 2017
Vancovuer BC

Team lead for the innaugral TEDxEDUAD event. Responsible for marketing and outreach for the event—social media strategy, event promotion and brand assets, sponsorship recruitment, team deligation.

2014 — 2015
Vancouver, BC

Collaborated in a team setting on a multi-level redesign of Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children's existing report assessment system. Involved in conducting primary and secondary research, including the design and direction of co-creation session with stakeholders. Designed digital system’s format and user flows for future implementation.

Awards

2024

The Western Canadian Music Awards and Industry Awards, celebrate the best of artistic and music industry talent in western Canada.

Education

2012 — 2017
Bachelor of Design at Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Vancouver, BC

Communication Design Major

Exhibitions

2024
Vancouver

Super Sensitive Studios inaugural event—an exploration of mixed media installation and community programming highlighting the in-between and unseen that typically goes uncelebrated in a result driven society. The exhibition, community discussions, and workshop on non-violent communication, showcased the emotions and experiences of starting over; from the process to the failures, the ideas that never came to be and the unfinished projects left to be rediscovered.

Through the exhibited work, community discussions, and workshops, Begin Again, expresses the shared feelings of individual experience that ultimately connect us all.

This four day event series was hosted at Slice of Life Art Gallery from September 26 – 29 located at 1636 Venables St.

2024
Vancouver

Invited as an installation artist to show work at this inaugural community engagement series that brought together 30 artists, practitioners, and cultural workers from around the world based in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Paris, and Sài Gòn.

Nothing goes to waste; an ode to immigrant resourcefulness. Suspended lanterns and mobile made of found and repurposed materials (fused and crocheted plastic bags, fruit mesh packaging, wooden chopsticks)

2024
Vancouver

The month long exhibition, "Where I’m From" contemplates (be)longing, lineage, and the nature of evolving dreams passed down through generations as (grand)children of immigrants. The collective exhibition, led by Vancouver artists Jeremy Jude Lee and Megan Kwan, includes a site-specific installation, focusing on cinematic imagery in conversation with physical objects and familiar locations specific to their Asian-Canadian experience.

2023

Interview of collaborator and photographer Jeremy Jude Lee, featuring recent art direction work "Pretty Boys."