About
I’m Jaclyn, but most people call me Jakki.
This website has been my digital playground since 2009, and is primarily where I experiment with art and code, and show off all the stuff I work on. My journey with digital design began when I was around 12 when I was obsessed with Neopets and Geocities. These hobbies had a profound impact on my aesthetic and career, and these platforms helped me to explore and experiment with code and design.
Ever since then I’ve enjoyed dabbling in different mediums and techniques, and am constantly trying to evolve my skills and point of view. One thing has always stayed constant though, and that is my love for problem-solving and creating things with pixels (preferably with sparkles and rainbows too). 
I particularly like exploring the relationship between nature and technology, and value simplicity and meaningful storytelling.
And when I’m not dipping my toes in the world wide web, you can probably find me reading, sketching, baking, sewing, or finding something new to learn.
Technical Skills
- Figma
- Adobe CC
- Clip Studio Paint
- VS Code
- WordPress
- HTML
- CSS / Sass
- JavaScript
- PHP
- a11y fundamentals
- UI/UX design patterns
- crafting mobile<->desktop experiences
- Mac & PC proficient
Education
- University of Western Australia
Bachelor of Arts (Communications) - Central Institute of Art
Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design
Links
- Email
jaclyntan02@gmail.com - Github
https://github.com/jaclyntan - Figma
https://www.figma.com/@jaclyntan
Support me
If you like what I do and want to support me, consider buying me a coffee! A lot of my free time is spent on passion projects and blogging to share tutorials and insights on things that I’ve learnt on my journey. I always endeavour to pay it forward to other open source and quality projects I love. 
Things I like
fluffy loungewear . asian stationery . pastel colours . iridescence . learning new things . retro-futurism . american kitsch . epic high fantasy . imagining life in a space opera . when things just work . a perfectly cooked steak . open fields . the feel of grass beneath my feet . morning light streaming through the window . cute animals . the beauty in imperfection . crafting sessions . cute plushies . athleisure . full-bodied coffee . sylvanian critters . collecting pretty books and nice brochures . hearts and rainbows . daydreaming . summer drives at dusk with the windows down . walking under blue skies . nostalgic happy memories
Tools of the trade
- Clip Studio Paint
If you are interested in digital art I cannot recommend this program enough. It has many useful tools that Photoshop doesn’t even have, such as symmetrical rulers, custom perspective lines, and drop-in 3d pose-able models. It lacks a liquify tool and it’s typesetting features are very lacklustre, but everything else is top-tier. Oh and the best thing is it’s a one-off payment – they make most of their money off their third party asset store, so you can support independent creators in the process. It’s a win-win. - Dash
Dash is an incredibly handy app that saves documentation for offline reference. It also has an incredibly useful snippet feature, which I use pretty much every day to code. The snippet feature is super easy and simple to use and set up, and works on both Mac and PC. If you use it with a naming convention, you can insert a custom snippet pretty much anywhere, in any app, using a typed shortcut. For example, you could type!srcsetto insert a snippet that has predefined srcset sizes, with placeholders to insert any custom attributes etc. It is as amazing as it sounds!!! - Eagle
Eagle is an incredibly useful app for anyone who designs or makes art. It is Pinterest on steroids. It is a one-time payment and works across two devices, on both Mac & PC. It is what Adobe Bridge always wanted to be but never got there. Eagle is essentially a visual database where you can save websites, graphics, snippets, pdfs, ETC, and catalogue them for future reference. You can easily link it to an online cloud storage like Google Drive or Adobe Cloud, and it is incredibly useful when you need inspiration for a design, on the fly. I encourage any designer to get this app because it is honestly so useful and has helped me be way more efficient at designing extremely quickly, because a lot of my research is done in my day-to-day browsing. - Logitech M590
This mouse is by far the BEST mouse I have ever owned. I am a big Logitech fangirl because their technology just WORKS. The most amazing thing about this mouse though, is that you can seamlessly use it between two devices, Mac or PC! As someone who uses both a Mac and PC daily, it is a productivity boost I’ll never get over. At $64 I consider this mouse to be an epically underrated bargain. - Apple’s wired keyboard with numeric keypad
This keyboard is discontinued, but I maintain this is the best keyboard ever (and I’ve used a lot of keyboards). This keyboard is compact and low-profile, and very easy and efficient to type on – the perfect keyboard, honestly. Oh and wired is a MUST- because they are instant, require no setup, and they constantly and reliably just work. As someone who values efficiency in typing and coding, the keys on this keyboards are the perfect size and distance that allows for maximum speed and accuracy. I nerd out over this keyboard. But it’s going to be hard to beat the quality on this one, even for Apple.
Have a wander down memory lane & explore some of my digital adventures.
Below is an assortment of digital media I’ve made over the years in the pursuit of creative expression and aesthetic improvement, starting from when I was around 12 years old. I have a habit of saving each and every thing I do, because I know that one day I’d want to look back and remember where I began.
I think to grow as a creative it’s important to remember that art is a constant journey, especially today where we consume so much content and the pressure to produce stuff feels constant. When I get art block, or when I feel uninspired, it helps me to remember why I create in the first place- to see how much I’ve learned and improved over the years, and also just to simply marvel at how much trends change with time (I always get a kick out of seeing old, outdated aesthetics).
