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Jack Yan

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Jack Yan (Chinese: 甄爵恩, Pinyin: Zhēn Jué'ēn) is a publisher, designer and businessman, born 1972 in Kowloon, Hong Kong.[1]

Yan founded his own company in 1987 while a teenager and grew it, initially, into the region's leading font software firm,[2] claiming to be the first New Zealander to design digital typefaces. He created over 100 typeface designs himself for the firm,[3] and inspired other local typeface designers such as Kris Sowersby to pursue careers in that industry. His typefaces include Ætna, a revival of Bembo.[4] In 1997, he founded Lucire,[5] a fashion magazine that made the move from web to print,[6] and serves as its publisher.

He also helms a consulting firm, where he wrote of the connection between business and spirituality,[7] and is a director of the Medinge Group think-tank.[8] Despite being interviewed as a brand consultant alongside international colleagues by CNN[9], Business 2.0[10] and the UK's The Daily Telegraph[11], he is better known outside New Zealand for this work.

From March 3, 2006, he began a weekly spot on TV One’s Good Morning, discussing men's issues. In 2007, he became a judge for Miss Universe New Zealand.

Background

Jack Yan emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand with his parents in 1976.[12] He attended St Mark's Church School (where he was Dux) and Scots College, and graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with two business and one law degrees.

Aside from English, Yan speaks Cantonese. He also speaks French.[13]

Writings

Many Australians in the design industry know Yan for his regular columns in Desktop magazine, which he began writing in 1996. He is possibly the magazine's longest-serving columnist. He was a contributor to Visual Arts Trends in New York (1999–2001), and The Journal of Brand Management in London (2003–5). [1]

Web publications that he has written for include UK-based Fontzone [2] and DZ3. He was a founding contributor to Allaboutbranding.com [3] (from 2002).

Additionally, he writes for his own publications, CAP and Lucire.

Politics

Yan has an interest in politics, and in 2001 originated the idea of the single-issue 99 MP Party in New Zealand and, for a short time, was its first president. He did not have anything to do with the party by the time it contested, in a very minor way, some seats during the 2005 General Election. By that stage, he limited himself to writing sporadic editorials on politics. When asked about his political affiliation, Yan tends to say he is a Confucianist. [4]

As part of his political interests, he gave a speech for the Alliance Party conference in October 2007 on full employment and branding. In the 2008 general election he stood as a candidate on the party's list,[14] but no candidates for the Alliance were elected.[15]

Books

  • Beyond Branding: How the New Values of Transparency and Integrity Are Changing the World of Brands, with Nicholas Ind (editor), Malcolm Allan, Simon Anholt, Julie Anixter, John Caswell, Thomas Gad, Sicco van Gelder, Tim Kitchin, Chris Macrae, Denzil Meyers, Alan Mitchell, John Moore, Ian Ryder; 2003, 2004 reprint edition, Kogan Page, ISBN 0-7494-4115-1; 2005 paperback edition, Kogan Page, ISBN 0-7494-4399-5.
  • Viewpoint: Perspectives on 21st Century Branding: User Seductive; 2004, Wai-te-ata Press.
  • Typography and Branding; 2004, Natcoll Publishing.

Controversies

In 2007 Yan registered the trademark of well known and recently defunct New Zealand magazine 'Pavement'. Yan claimed that the magazine had been "abandoned" saying "If someone throws away something, just like rubbish outside your house, I can legally go and get it". Pavement's publisher, still actively trading as 'The Pavement Company', are opposing the trademark application.

References

  1. ^ Young, Simon. 2007, "Immigration nation", Idealog, March–April, pp. 40–6.
  2. ^ Baird, Zoe. 2002: "Jack of all trades", Unlimited, July, p. 11.
  3. ^ Martinkus, Angela. 2000, "Type cast", The Age, "Emag" supplement, March.
  4. ^ Pratzel, Anne-Marie. 1996, "New faces", Publish, August, p. 107
  5. ^ Vidal, Josie. 2000, "The web that Jack built", The Evening Post, "Flair" supplement, p. 8.
  6. ^ Simpson, Emily. 2004, "Man with a plan", ProDesign, December 2004–January 2005, pp. 34–36.
  7. ^ Fernandez, Juanita. 2005, "Not your average CEO: Jack of all trades", Wellington Today, July–August, pp. 10–11.
  8. ^ Rydergren, Tobias. 2002, "Go logo! Brand-soldaterna slår tillbaka", Resumé, 22nd August, pp. 22–3.
  9. ^ Botelho, Greg (2002-12-05). "The brand name game". CNN.com. Retrieved 2006-12-25.
  10. ^ Mucha, Thomas. 2004, "Marketing the brand 'America'", Business 2.0, online edition, 13th May.
  11. ^ Booth, Jenny (2003-06-08). "We have ways of making you forget". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 2006-12-25.
  12. ^ Paki, Kui. 2004, "Polyeurasian—the new breed New Zealander", Tu Mai, February, pp. 20–2.
  13. ^ Jacobson, Julie. 2006, "Five minutes with Jack Yan", The Dominion Post, 22nd June, p. D3.
  14. ^ "Candidate profile: Jack Yan". The Alliance.
  15. ^ "Official Count Results -- Overall Status". New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
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