Today we’d like to introduce you to YE Yuan.
Hi YE, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been drawn to different kinds of creative work. I spent about ten years in advertising, then moved into the music industry, where I worked on music festivals, record projects, and installation art.
Around 2020, I started working as a creative director for a light festival company in New York. I began to see how light, sculpture, sound, and space could work together — not just as something people look at, but something they can actually walk into and experience.
That eventually led me to co-found Doca Universe with filmmaker Yixin Zhang and theater director Wan Zhao. Doca is a creative company that turns imagination into real experiences through art, design, and collaboration. We all came from different creative backgrounds, which is probably why the projects we make tend to mix a lot of different things together.
The main project I’m focused on now is San Jose Holiday Lights at Discovery Meadow in Downtown San Jose. It’s a walk-through holiday experience, but for me, the interesting part is really building a whole environment from an empty park. I spend a lot of time thinking about how people will move through the space, what they’ll see next, how the colors change, where kids might stop, and what moments people might remember afterward.
Over time, we’ve also added things like children’s art, local artists’ work, outdoor films, food, and other things happening around the event. I like the idea that a project can keep growing and changing instead of feeling finished.
I think that’s probably the thread connecting most of my work. I usually start by imagining something that doesn’t exist yet, then try to figure out how to make it real.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Turning a creative idea into something real usually means dealing with a lot of practical things that have nothing to do with the original idea — permits, budgets, schedules, production, weather, different teams, and sometimes just solving problems as they come up.
But I think the harder part is figuring out whether something actually means anything to people. You can build something that looks great, but that doesn’t automatically mean people will remember it.
With San Jose Holiday Lights, I think a lot about small things — whether people feel like staying a little longer, whether kids find something they really love, whether families leave with a moment they’ll still talk about later.
That part never really gets finished. Every year we see what worked, what didn’t, and what we want to do better the next time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think one thing I’m good at is imagining what something could become before it actually exists. That’s really how I work, or at least where my work starts — with imagination.
San Jose Holiday Lights is a good example. I spent a lot of time walking through the empty park, and little by little I started seeing the whole thing in my head — the layout, how people would move through the space, the colors, the sound, even what it might feel like for a child walking through it.
I think that’s how a lot of things get made. You start with some kind of foundation, imagine what it could become, and then find different ways to make it real.
At this point, I’d probably say San Jose Holiday Lights is the project that represents my work best, even though it’s still very young and keeps growing every year.
Something I’m especially proud of recently is seeing kids connect with the Doca character we created and with our original songs. A lot of kids who’ve been to the event actually remember the Doca theme song and sing it afterward. That always makes me smile.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I don’t rely on one particular book or podcast. I’m more interested in finding ideas from different places.
I use ChatGPT a lot for research, organizing information, comparing options, or just helping me work through things faster.
I still read mostly science fiction, and I spend a lot of time with films and music. I also pay attention to visual art, architecture, public spaces, and how people interact with the things around them.
I think ideas can come from anywhere, so I don’t really follow one specific resource. I just keep looking, listening, and paying attention.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sjhl.us/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanjoseholidaylights
