New Zealand publisher, designer and businessman

Jack Yan (Chinese: 甄爵恩; pinyin: Zhēn Jué'ēn; born 1972) is a New Zealand publisher, designer and businessman, who has run twice for the post of Mayor of Wellington. He is best known as the publisher of Lucire.

He ran for mayor of Wellington in 2010, and again in 2013, but was unsuccessful in both elections.

Contents

• 1 Background
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 Writings and media
  • 2.2 Business ventures
  • 2.3 Politics
• 3 Books
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Background

Yan was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand, with his parents in 1976. 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 and French.

Career

Writings and media

Yan was a contributor to Visual Arts Trends in New York (1999–2001), and The Journal of Brand Management in London (2003–04).

Web publications that he has written for include UK-based Fontzone and DZ3. He was a founding contributor to Allaboutbranding.com (from 2002). Additionally, he writes for his own publications, CAP and Lucire.

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.

He is better known outside New Zealand for this work; he has been mentioned in Business 2.0 and the UK's The Daily Telegraph.

Business ventures

In 1997, he founded Lucire, a fashion magazine that made the move from web to print, and serves as its publisher. Yan created over 100 typeface designs himself for the firm, and inspired other local typeface designers such as Kris Sowersby to pursue careers in that industry. His typefaces include Ætna, a revival of Bembo.

He also helms a consulting firm, and is co-chair of the Medinge Group think-tank.

In 2007 Yan registered the trademark of the 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", oppose the trademark application.

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.

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 also 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, 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.
• 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, ISBN:0-7494-7544-7.

References

External links

• Official website
• Jack Yan at IMDb
• Interview with Yan on his type design career (in French)
• B&T Marketing and Media interview with Yan on his publishing work (PDF)
• Interviews with Yan on branding (MP3 files)