Young man wearing a black suit, white shirt, and black tie against a black background.
Illustration of a wrench and a gear, symbolizing tools or mechanical work.

Logical | Integral | Flexible

Guiding you through each revolution with ingenuity and intention.

Multidisciplinary Designer

TakoyaKing Branding Project

Branding

Communication through persona.

Objective: Design a brand identity, graphic standards and applications by completing a self-initiated design project to meet professional development goals. 

The current Takoyaki market in Vancouver tends to be overpriced and lackluster. Takoyaking set out to become the King of Vancouver Takoyaki. The challenge in this project centered around how to most effectively drive the mascot character “Octo the Octopus” to the forefront of the business’s identity.

A logo for Takoyaking featuring a cartoon octopus wearing a crown, with Japanese characters above it.
Collage of images depicting Japanese street food, busy streets, and signage with Japanese characters, including takoyaki being cooked, an octopus mascot, street vendors, and a food truck, with text describing Japanese street food and culture.
A child's drawing of a person wearing a crown with three points, a round face, short hair, a dress, and arms.
A small paper container with a yellow and orange design, featuring a cartoon octopus wearing a yellow crown on a black background. Next to it is a business card with a similar octopus mascot, text in Japanese, and the word "Takoyaking" in bold yellow letters.
A raffle or game ticket display with a promotion for collecting 8 to receive a free Halloween-themed item or prize. The ticket features a cartoon crown and a string of circles with 'E' inside each, associated with the Halloween theme.
A small cardboard box with a colorful design featuring a cartoon octopus wearing a yellow crown and the brand name 'Takoyaking' printed on it, set against a black background.
A small toy food truck decorated with illustrations of takoyaki, a Japanese snack, featuring a mascot octopus with a crown and various Japanese characters on the side.
A person holding a smartphone displaying an advertisement for Takoyaki, a Japanese snack, with an image of takoyaki balls topped with sauce and green onions. The ad includes a cartoon octopus wearing a crown and text about discounts and grand opening deals.
Cover page of Takoyaking Foods' brand standards guide, dated February 4, 2025, featuring a cartoon octopus wearing a yellow crown, with the brand name Takoyaking in stylized text.
Logo with a cartoon octopus wearing a gold crown, the text 'Takoyaking' in large yellow and black letters, Japanese characters above it, and small text 'Brand Standards 1' in the bottom right corner.
A cartoon red octopus with black eyes wearing a yellow crown, positioned on the right side of the image. To the left, there is a paragraph of text introducing the octopus character named Octo, describing his origin and love for Takoyaki, a Japanese s
A cartoon character of a red octopus wearing a white chef's hat, with a cream-colored background and black bold text describing Octo's mission and brand standards.
Graphic showing brand proportions for Takoyaking, including safe area and minimum reduction guidelines, with a cartoon octopus wearing a crown, and typography examples.
Colorful logo design featuring a red octopus with a yellow crown, with the text "Takoya King" in large yellow and black letters, and Japanese characters below. The design showcases different styles and sizes for branding standards.
Various versions of a logo featuring a king octopus with a crown, in grayscale, black and white, white, and gray color schemes, with the text "Takoyaking" and Japanese characters below, also labeled as Brand Standards 6.
Comparison of social media avatar designs for YouTube, Instagram, and a combined version. The top row shows a simple brown or black icon with the username '@takoyaking'. The bottom features a dark background with white icons and text. The right side
Illustration showing different octopus variations with crowns, a chef's hat, and a flying octopus, labeled 'Octo Variations'.
Illustration of various assets including a red shrimp, a red octopus, a blue fish, a yellow crown, a takoyaki ball, and a row of Japanese lanterns with Japanese characters, under the heading 'Other Assets' and labeled 'Brand Standards 9'.
Image displays typography style samples, including primary font Potta One Regular with uppercase, lowercase, and digits, and secondary font Maiandra GD with the same characters, logo at bottom right with red underline, and label 'Brand Standards 10'.
Color palette chart showing six different brand colors with their Pantone, RGB, CMYK, and HEX codes, titled 'Brand Colours' and 'Brand Standards 11' at the bottom right.
A small model or toy building with a red octopus decoration and a yellow crown on top, set against a blurred background of other similar structures.

Takoyaking Laneway House

Interiors and Architecture | Scale Modeling

Efficient yet comfortable form.

Objective: Design a laneway house that reimagines the potential of Vancouver’s urban fabric by integrating nonresidential programs to create dynamic, mixed-use corridors. Explore how these often-overlooked spaces can evolve into vibrant community hubs, balancing residential living with broader neighborhood engagement. 

If TakoyaKing became a physical store, what would it look like? Taking heavy inspiration from efficient Japanese form factor, I set out to expand the world of TakoyaKing. Because a restaurant program on the first floor is quite loud and claustrophobic, I created an open, one piece residential space for the second floor with plenty of breathing space. The conversion of the original SketchUp 3D model to a physical 3D printed output was a great learning opportunity.

A miniature architectural model featuring white walls, a small orange door, and a red lobster figure with a yellow crown on a segment of the model.
A detailed model of a house interior with small furniture and interior design elements.
Modern living room with a kitchen island in the foreground, two chairs with upholstered seats, a large wooden bear sculpture on the far wall, a wall-mounted TV, and shelves with colorful vases and decorative items.
A view of a living area with a wooden dining table and stools, a wall-mounted TV displaying app icons, a small octopus-shaped wall decoration, and a partial view of a kitchen with wooden cabinets, a stainless steel refrigerator, a sink, and countertop.
Close-up of a 3D printer nozzle with a perforated metal cover, printing on a flat surface in a workshop setting.

Gundam Magazine Page

Scale Modeling | Typography | Print

Expression and balance through type and layout.

Objective: Design a 4-page magazine considering how text and design conveys meaning; employing text hierarchies as a way to navigate; selecting appropriate typeface pairings; creating effective image and text combinations; and creating visual continuity from page to page. 

When I was assigned this project in my typography class, I thought it would be a great opportunity to showcase a plastic model kit that I previously built as a personal project. The biggest challenge of this project was to achieve visual balance between the photos included and the type body, as well as providing photos that encompassed the features of the product without overwhelming the viewer.

A detailed model of a unicorn Gundam robot with glowing green highlights, set against a dark background with informational text in yellow and white on the right side.
Page from a design magazine featuring a detailed image of a Gundam robot with glowing green and orange accents, surrounded by text and captions about engineering and design.
A white mannequin head with labeled diagrams on the surface, inside a white decorative frame with wavy edges, and the label "PHRENOLOGY BY L. N. FOWLER" at the bottom.

Extra Ordinary Project

Experiential | Fabrication

Emotive qualities expressed through shape.

Objective: Expanding on the concepts revealed in the research and development of the Extra Ordinary Project showcase, render a 20-foot square exhibition model that explores the experience of objects in a dimensional environment. 

When I was assigned to work with this Phrenology bust, I didn’t even know what it stood for. Research of windy history and phony usages made me feel uneasy, so I decided to translate this feeling into a display for this bust. Inspired by historical phrenological instruments such as calipers, the spikes and caliper orbiters were very fun to make!

A vintage human skull model with a diagram of the human brain painted on it, showing different regions labeled with their functions, placed on a white surface with a paper display box in front that reads 'Phrenology by L. Fowler.'
Partially assembled white paper fan with triangular paper pieces on a brown work surface.
Person wearing black jacket with earphones, carefully examining a curved, chocolate-colored display case with a cutout window, in a well-lit room with white walls and decorative black and white framing.

Mirrorscape Luminous Object

Fabrication | Material Applications

Simple is profound.

Objective: Design, Document, and Fabricate a small Luminous Object, while exploring the relationship between Narrative, Form, Materiality, and Value— from concept to fabrication. 

The Mirrorscape aims to show that objects with simple form can have many dimensions of depth. I came across an image of a laser diffusing and lighting an entire piece of plexiglass and saw an opportunity. Combined with the refractive surface of plexiglass, I came up with a concept to provide a modular “hologram” landscape display.

Technical drawing of a top piece for a luminous project, showing top, bottom, left, front views, isometric view, with detailed measurements and scale.
Technical drawing of a bottom piece for a luminous project, showing top, bottom, back, front views, and an isometric view with dimensions.
Technical drawing of bottom supports for a luminous project, including top, bottom, and side views with measurements, labeled as six supports at a 1:1 scale.
Technical drawing for a luminous project showing front, bottom, and isometric views of a glass component measuring 9 inches by 9 11/16 inches, with detailed illustrations of houses, trees, and buildings, and a note about engraving images on the glass
Diagram of luminous project components showing a plexiglass piece, top piece, and bottom piece in an isometric view.
Exploded view drawing of a luminous project, showing the top and bottom components in an isometric perspective.
A red and gold paper decoration featuring a dragon and Chinese characters, with the year 2024.

New Years 2024 Wreath

Experiential | Fabrication

Problem solving through research.

Objective: Researching the multitude of meanings held within the visual cliches and motifs of Lunar New Year, handcraft a wreath executed in traditional Asian papercutting techniques. 

I went through multiple concepts and iterations attempting to combine symbols cohesively to narrate a direction, and the end result was the visual motif consisting of clouds, a dragon and bamboo. These auspicious symbols represent luck, strength, and growth, and to a happy new year!

A collage of various images including cherry blossoms, pink flowers, paper cutouts of Chinese symbols and dragons, and New Year celebration decorations.
A decorative image featuring a red dragon intertwined with traditional Chinese clouds and bamboo, with Chinese characters and the years 2024 and 2023 written on black backgrounds.
A person with dark hair is using a pair of scissors to cut a piece of red paper on a table. In the background, there are decorative items on the wall, including a circular red ornament with gold accents and a white banner with black and red markings.
Illustration of a gear with the text "Yoast SEO".

Personal Branding Project

Branding

“Guiding you through each revolution with ingenuity and intention”

Objective: Through a close look into the objectives after the program is finished and with the type of design career preferred, define the core concepts and messages needed to communicate a design for a professional visual identity. 

As I am aiming to specialize in Industrial Design, I looked for an Icon that could communicate creativity and mechanical proficiency while still staying warm and friendly. Throughout over 100 iterations, The solution to integrating both letters of my initials fluidly was to bend the “T” into the “C”.

Consistency throughout the icon, type, key words, and following who I am as a designer lead me to success.

Logical, Integral, Flexible.

Hand-drawn sketch showing various objects including a Chinese takeout bag labeled 'fun, look?', a tool box, a hammer, and a piece of paper with notes, arrows, and words like 'Golden Ratio' and 'mobile'.
Diagram illustrating the process of message transformation in a system, showing gears and a barcode with the words 'Chong' and 'Tayo' in a stylized design.
Close-up of a blue card with a yellow gear logo and the words "Tayo" and "Chang" visible, placed on a textured gray surface.
Close-up of a blue cutting mat with white measurement grid lines, featuring a rectangular label from Taiyo Graph, with social media icons, contact information, and website, and a clear plastic ruler lying partially on the label.
Open blue folder containing a resume for Taiyo Chong, highlighting skills in 3D printing, physical craft, branding, and graphic design, with a business card partially visible.
A logo with a yellow gear icon and partial text in black and blue.

Let’s Chat!

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taiyocdesign@gmail.com

@Taiyo Chong

@taiyocdesign

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