Danting Li
1. Congratulations on winning the London Design Awards! Can you introduce yourself and share about what inspired you to pursue design as a career?
My name is Danting Li, also known as Liz. I am a graphic designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area with a Master’s degree and more than nine years of experience. My expertise includes graphic design, branding, UI and UX, typography, motion graphics, video editing, photography, and front-end coding. I bring together creativity and technical precision to deliver thoughtful and visually compelling design solutions.
During my time at ZAM Network, I contributed to branded campaigns for major gaming companies such as PUBG Mobile, Tencent, LPL, Trovo, Ring of Elysium, and Alchemy Stars. These experiences strengthened my passion for visual storytelling and innovation. I currently serve as a graphic designer and co-founder at SparksGlo, where I lead complete design processes for logos, branding systems, and websites across static, CMS, and e-commerce platforms.
What inspired me to pursue design is the joy of creating visuals that are both aesthetically engaging and strategically effective. I also appreciate the flexibility that design provides. With just a laptop, I can create meaningful work anywhere, regardless of how challenging the environment may be.
2. What does being recognised in the London Design Awards mean to you?
This recognition is deeply meaningful to me. I am truly grateful to the London Design Awards team, and I feel honoured to be selected as a winner. Throughout my career, I have had moments of doubt about my abilities. Receiving this award validates my dedication and strengthens my confidence. It motivates me to continue pursuing meaningful and socially impactful design work.
3. How has this achievement impacted your career, team, or agency, and what opportunities has it brought so far?
This achievement has significantly enhanced my professional visibility and reaffirmed my design expertise. It has also increased exposure for my agency, allowing us to connect with more designers, creative teams, and potential clients. Since winning the award, we have received more inquiries from clients seeking design consultations and collaboration opportunities.
4. What role does experimentation play in your creative process? Can you share an example?
Experimentation is central to my creative process. A key example is conducting A/B testing on shop-related pages. By testing variations of filters, visual styles, and layouts, I can identify what performs best for users. These insights guide my final design decisions before implementation.
5. What's the most unusual source of inspiration you've ever drawn from for a project?
As a jury member at the Orpetron Web Design Awards, I review a wide range of websites that showcase advanced interaction techniques and immersive user experiences. Evaluating these submissions constantly inspires me and expands my perspective. I also enjoy exploring the winners of the London Design Awards to learn from other designers and understand diverse design approaches.
6. What’s one thing you wish more people understood about the design process?
Usability testing. In the Venus Jewellery e-commerce website design project, usability testing was essential to understanding how users interact with the site. It helped identify the most effective solutions and guided the final design and implementation. Many people underestimate the value of this phase, but it is critical to creating an intuitive and user-centred design.
7. How do you navigate the balance between meeting client expectations and staying true to your ideas?
For the Venus Jewellery e-commerce website, the priority was to meet the client’s business needs. My client Cynthia was very collaborative, and our communication was always positive and solution-oriented.
She shared her preferred design styles and the information she wanted to highlight, and I provided several design options along with professional recommendations.
Once she made her final decision, I refined and implemented the design accordingly. This balanced approach ensured both client satisfaction and design quality.
8. What were the challenges you faced while working on your award-winning design, and how did you overcome them?
Designing the “happy path” or primary user interactions is often straightforward, but identifying and addressing edge cases can be challenging because they are sometimes uncovered only during implementation.
To resolve this, I conducted thorough usability testing to discover these scenarios. I then redesigned the interface to ensure clarity and visual consistency, and collaborated closely with developers to implement a polished and seamless user experience across all cases.
9. How do you recharge your creativity when you hit a creative block?
I reconnect with nature to draw inspiration from its patterns and forms. I also stay active in design communities and participate in design events to keep up with new techniques, emerging trends, and evolving aesthetics. These experiences help refresh my perspective and spark new ideas.
10. What personal values or experiences do you infuse into your designs?
I incorporate themes of female empowerment, elegance, and confidence into my work. My background in graphic design, brand strategy, and web design shapes my approach. My design language is rooted in creating seamless user experiences while also helping brands communicate meaningful stories.
11. What is an advice that you would you give to aspiring designers aiming for success?
Learn continuously from peers and senior designers. Embrace new techniques and tools, and keep exploring ways to elevate your design impact. Growth comes from curiosity, practice, and openness to feedback.
12. If you could collaborate with any designer, past or present, who would it be and why?
I would love to collaborate with Anatol Knotek, a renowned text artist whose work spans visual and concrete poetry, installation art, and conceptual design. His pieces, which have been exhibited internationally and published widely, demonstrate a powerful ability to communicate complex ideas through text. I would be interested in exploring how our combined approaches could create impactful works that highlight themes such as environmental awareness, female empowerment, and reflections on social issues.
13. What's one question you wish people would ask you about your work, and what's your answer?
I wish people would ask whether I am also interested in print design in addition to digital design. My answer is yes. I am experienced in print design, including business cards, flyers, brochures, posters, billboards, magazines, newspapers, books, packaging, banners, bags, and labels.
