It is possibly the single most windy afternoon of the year when Wei–An Jin (C ’26) and I take our seats at Tea–Do in University City. One would think being indoors would allow us to avoid the sounds of the harsh winds muddying our conversation, but alas this afternoon must also be the busiest in Tea–Do history. Thus, Wei–An and I reminisce on her time at Penn while conversing over the blaring pop music and an overworked boba–shaker machine.
It’s hard to remember exactly when I first met Wei–An. She’s sort of become embedded in every aspect of my Penn experience; she is the manifestation of everything good Penn has had to offer me. When I first began designing for Street in our freshman spring, she was there beside me as a deputy Design editor. When I declared my major in cognitive science in our sophomore fall, we began sharing at least one class every semester.
Wei–An embodies creativity and warmth. Her humility endears her to anyone and everyone who meets her. Then, you’re slapped in the face with the sheer amount of passions she has. She describes herself, humbly, as a “jack of all trades, master of none,” but I’d argue that’s better than a master of one. All these years later, I’m still caught off guard by her breadth of trades—only through this conversation learning she’s accidentally taken enough classes for a minor in philosophy.
By the time we finish our boba—a small honey black tea with aloe vera and tapioca pearls, half sugar and light ice for her and a small honey jasmine tea for me—our hourlong walk down memory lane concludes in bittersweet laughter.
Name: Wei–An Jin
Hometown: River Vale, N.J.
Field of study: Majors in design and cognitive science, minors in creative writing and fine arts
Activities: 34th Street Magazine, Penn Appétit, Pencilbite Studio, Marketing Undergraduate Student Establishment
How did you develop a passion for design?
I don’t think I can talk about design without talking about art. I don’t think I can talk about art without talking about writing.
I’ve been a pretty shy person for most of my life. I don’t think I’m a super eloquent person, either. From a young age, I was very drawn to other mediums of communication or expression, and I got really good at that to make up for my lack of confidence in speaking my own thoughts. The first facet for that was writing, like diary entries. I like personal essays. I like creative nonfiction, things like that. My first childhood dream was to be a writer and make pictures, and that naturally led to art. Design came later in college as a soft tradeoff, where initially it was because I wanted to find a job more easily. As I’ve really thrown myself into design, I found a real love for all things editorial and communication.
In an interview (which you are deeply embarrassed by) for your high school newspaper, you said you applied to Penn as a design major, but were also considering English or psychology. Nearly four years later, can you tell me about what you ended up studying?
I think my interests have remained fairly consistent with my high school aspirations. I took the steps to explore everything I was interested in, regardless of how applicable it would be to a future career. I think it's important to do things that you like. I'm leaving Penn with a certain thankfulness that I continue to pursue these areas, given the preprofessional environment here.
How has Penn’s preprofessional culture influenced you in that regard?
I feel as if I was questioned a lot whenever I told people what I wanted to do or was doing. I think when you tell people that you’re a design major, or an English major, or whatever, the first thing that people will say to you is either “Why?” or, somewhat patronizingly, “Oh, that’s so cool.” I feel that as a whole, the University is so geared toward particular pathways and career paths. I feel as though if I didn’t feel as strongly about these things, I would have changed my path a long time ago. So on that front, I feel as though being a design major here has forced me to reckon with what I like a lot or what I want to do a lot more than I would have if I was majoring in something like computer science or finance.
You mention finding supportive community at Penn despite the larger, looming preprofessional culture. Could you tell me more about that community?
I was at The Daily Pennsylvanian for three years, and in that time, I went from a design associate to a deputy designer to the eventual (former) Street design editor. I didn’t expect to like editorial design so much, but part of what drew me to it was the fast pace of it, and how that forces you to trust and bond with the people that are around you—not in a “hazing” way. You would only do this work if you want to be there, just because the hours are so long.
I dedicated so much of my life to this publication, and I’m so grateful for the people that I got to meet along the way, like my co–Design Editor Sophia Liu, all of the members of the Design department on the 140th Board. How long did we spend in the office? Like, 20, 30, 40 hours? A lot of hours a week. I felt like that was a really big way that I was able to build my community here and find people who were countercultural to “Big Penn.”
Stepping out of Street, could you tell me more about your time with Pencilbite Studio? Do you think there was still value in the work we put in, even if we never finished?
That was a really beautiful, short–lived stint of my life. Pencilbite was started by Lilian Liu, who was the 139th Board’s DP design editor. She was a fine arts and physics major, and she told me such a beautiful quote that really resonates with me. She said that she loves science like a science–fiction writer loves science, not like a scientist.
Pencilbite is not a club anymore, but for that year and a half, it was a lot of work going into this passion project. We were so in over our heads. Penn has no animation department. All these people were just random recruits who liked to draw and didn’t know anything. Yet there we were, making this huge short film about a thesis defense in some sci–fi space environment and falling in love with a monster. There’s so much merit in doing things that you’re not ready to do sometimes. It was just great to be there for the ride, even though we knew it wasn’t gonna be this amazing, award–winning thing. It was a beautiful fever dream.
When did your interests in cognitive science and philosophy come into the picture?
I came into Penn with an interest in psychology because I was pretty interested in empathy and theory of mind in high school. I was one of those annoying kids who kept talking about the human condition. I was like, “all art is the human condition.” I was exploring, juggling anthropology, psychology, sociology, and cognitive science. I landed on cognitive science just because it cast the widest net and leans a bit STEM. That’s what I was looking for at Penn. I feel I need to engage my mind in a lot of different ways, to pull from different places, if that makes sense.
I didn’t expect to be most interested in the philosophy side of cognitive science. Specifically the philosophy of science and of mind and perception, which were so weird and trippy. I couldn’t be a philosopher because I think my brain would actually explode, and frankly, I don’t really understand a lot of it, but it’s so fun parsing through the papers.
Out of all the classes you’ve taken, across all these fields, which ones are your favorites?
For design, I have to recommend all of Sharka Hyland’s courses. She‘s been so integral to developing actual design principles, solid skills, and a critical eye, and she also just knows so much about design history, and pushes you. And I think she’s really funny.
I also want to plug “Cooking With Words” with Gabrielle Hamilton. It’s a personal–essay class disguised as a food–writing course. It is my favorite class that I’ve taken this semester. Gabrielle is so charismatic, talented, and supportive as well.
Outside of Penn, how have you explored your passions?
This past summer I worked as an art intern at Quanta Magazine, where I was able to work with the art director to develop and conceptualize a bunch of different editorial illustrations. It was something I was always afraid of diving into, because it’s illustration which feels less safe, to a certain extent, than more traditional design. I really was glad to have that opportunity to develop my skills and work with someone who would give me real feedback. I cannot stress the importance of real feedback enough. I think from there, I learned not to baby my work so much, because at the end of the day, editorial work is for a greater purpose. It’s not your personal artwork. Now, I’m able to freelance with magazines and I was published in Wired, which was insane.
I also did Penn’s Global Research and Internship Program in Singapore and that was a totally different experience, because it wasn’t exactly editorial. I worked with this think tank on research and social development work to tell the story of food insecurity in Singapore. What I ended up doing was just sifting through all their big white papers of research and finding interview snippets from real people, and creating booklets that they could hand out.
You told me that you turned down the Rhode Island School of Design for Penn. Do you ever regret that decision?
I’m kind of a jack–of–all–trades and a master of none. I have always felt jealous of people who were very good at one thing, or very sure of what they wanted to do. I was never just the artist or the designer. I was doing research in high school. I was always writing. I was always very spread out.
If I had gone to RISD, I would be a lot better at design from a technical standpoint, and also a lot more sure of what kind of designer I wanted to be, professionally. But it’s also okay if you’re not amazing. I’m still not great at anything. I am good, but I have a long way to go if I want to become great. I think at Penn, I’m really grateful that I was able to spend my undergraduate years exploring everything that was very interesting to me. Thanks to Penn, I do think I have a lot of perspective and a lot of insight from a lot of different places.
One last question: What would you say has been your most memorable experience during your time at Penn?
The only thing I can think of is “Ball Ball.”
I invited all my friends that I made throughout my Penn career and threw a “Ball Ball” on Baltimore Avenue. Everyone had to bring ball–shaped food. We had mac–and–cheese balls, rice balls, and tapioca balls. I made sweet–and–sour tofu balls and fish–cake balls. Everyone had to dress up like it was a ball, in their best fits. It was a really, really lovely time.
I think I mentioned before that I have a lot of different types of friends from all different worlds at Penn. So it was really cool seeing everyone in the same place. And they say never to mix your friend groups, but I think it went pretty well, because everybody was united by balls. It was a really beautiful memory.
Lightning Round:
Soundtrack to your life right now? The soundtrack of My Neighbor Totoro by Joe Hisaishi, who I just saw live!
Favorite issue of Street that you designed? November 2024: Politics Issue
Greatest artistic inspiration? Jia Sung
Favorite word? “Lush”—I want all my art to embody it.
What part of the brain are you? The thalamus, which receives all the senses.
Hope for 2026: More long–form content!
There are two types of people at Penn … kiki and bouba!
And you are? Bouba, duh!
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Do you know that one senior who brings a smile to everyone’s face or always has the craziest stories? It’s time to give them the recognition they deserve. Ego of the Week seeks to showcase seniors not for their grades or any other academic construct, but for who they are as a person and the joy they bring to the people around them! Nominate your favorite Penn seniors for Ego of the Week!
