Jack Yan (; born 1972) is a New Zealand publisher, designer and businessman. He is best known as the founder and publisher of Lucire.
He ran for mayor of Wellington in 2010,
Background
Yan was born in
Kowloon, Hong Kong,
[Young, Simon. 2007, "Immigration nation", Idealog, March–April, pp. 40–46.] and emigrated to
Wellington, New Zealand, with his parents in 1976.
[Paki, Kui. 2004, "Polyeurasian—the new breed New Zealander", Tu Mai, February, pp. 20–2.] He attended St Mark's Church School (where he was Dux
) and Scots College,
and graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with three degrees – two in business and one in law.
Aside from English, Yan speaks Cantonese, French,[Jacobson, Julie. 2006, "Five minutes with Jack Yan", The Dominion Post, 22 June, p. D3.] and Taishanese.
Career
Business ventures
Beginning in the 1980s, Yan created over 100
type design himself for his firm, Jack Yan & Associates
[Martinkus, Angela. 2000, "Type cast", The Age, "Emag" supplement, March.] and was New Zealand's first digital typeface designer.
He encouraged other local typeface designers such as
Kris Sowersby to pursue careers in that industry. His typefaces include Ætna, a revival of
Bembo.
[Pratzel, Anne-Marie. 1996, "New faces", Publish, August, p. 107]
He also helms a consulting firm,[Fernandez, Juanita. 2005, "Not your average CEO: Jack of all trades", Wellington Today, July–August, pp. 10–11.] and is co-chair of the Medinge Group think-tank.[Rydergren, Tobias. 2002, "Go logo! Brand-soldaterna slår tillbaka", Resumé, 22 August, pp. 22–3.]
In 1997, he founded Lucire,[Vidal, Josie. 2000, "The web that Jack built", The Evening Post, "Flair" supplement, p. 8.][Simpson, Emily. 2004, "Man with a plan", ProDesign, December 2004 – January 2005, pp. 34–36.] and serves as its publisher.
From 2007 to 2012, he was a judge for Miss Universe New Zealand, and became a director of the licensee firm that took over in 2013.
In 2008, he founded the online car encyclopedia Autocade,[
] which he then extended into a print version in 2023.
Writings and media
Yan was a contributor to
Visual Arts Trends in New York (1999–2001),
in London (2003–11),
and
Desktop magazine in Australia (1996–2010).
Web publications that he has written for include UK-based Fontzone
He contributed chapters to Beyond Branding (2003) and Brands with a Conscience (2016), wrote Typography and Branding (2004), and ghost-wrote Greek designer Panos Papadopoulos's autobiography, Panos: My Life, My Odyssey (2022), for which they won a Highly Commended at the Business Book Awards 2023.
From 3 March 2006, he began a weekly spot on TV One's Good Morning, discussing men's issues, but resigned from that role in 2007.
In 2020, he started as a regular panellist on Radio New Zealand's The Panel.
He is better known outside New Zealand for his work; he has been interviewed by CNN,
Politics
In the 2008 general election Yan stood as a candidate on the Alliance party list,
but no candidates for the Alliance were elected.
He was a candidate in Wellington's 2010 mayoral election,
and stood again in the 2013 elections.
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, ; 2005 paperback edition, Kogan Page, .
-
Viewpoint: Perspectives on 21st Century Branding: User Seductive; 2004, Wai-te-ata Press.
-
Typography and Branding; 2004, Natcoll Publishing.
-
Brands with a Conscience: How to Build a Successful and Responsible Brand, with Nicholas Ind (editor), Malcolm Allan, Enric Bernal, Peter Brown, Giuseppe Cavallo, Thomas Gad, Ava Hakim, Sudhir John Horo, Oriol Iglesias, Philippe Mihailovich, Simon Paterson, Annette Rosencreutz, Cristián Saracco, Nikolaj Stagis, Brigitte Stepputtis, and Erika Uffindell; 2016, Kogan Page, .
-
Panos: My Life, My Odyssey, with Panos Papadopoulos; 2022, LID Publishing, .
-
Autocade Yearbook 2024, 2023, JY&A Media, .
-
Lilla boken om Panos: historien om den ikoniska badmodedesignern, with Panos Papadopoulos; 2024, Tukan förlag, .
-
Autocade Year of Cars 2025, 2024, JY&A Media, .
External links
