Boyi Tan monitoring a film setup with crew in a studio room Boyi Tan beside a cinema camera and monitor on set Black-and-white on-set portrait of Boyi Tan checking a phone beside camera gear Boyi Tan adjusting camera gear during an outdoor shoot Boyi Tan with actor Emily Osment on set
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TC 00:00:00:00
50MM · T2.0 · ISO 800
FIG. 01 — BOYI TANON SET ROOM
FRAME 01 — BOYI TAN01 / 05 · 24FPS
PREVIOUSLYDirector · editor · camera trainee
CURRENTLYUX designer — Toronto
ABOUT·SAME STORY, TWO CUTS·TORONTO
ABOUT·NOW SCREENING·TORONTO

I come from storytelling, but I design for understanding.

My background began in film, where I learned how framing, pacing, and structure guide an audience through a story. As a director, editor, and camera trainee, I became interested in how people make sense of what they see — what they notice, what they miss, and how a sequence of moments becomes meaningful.

That question eventually led me to UX design.

Today, I design digital experiences that help people navigate complex systems, workflows, and decisions. My work often sits between service design, interactive prototyping, visual communication, and storytelling — from designing follow-up tools for social prescribing programs, to exploring trust in art commission platforms, to building interactive documentaries about audience choice and directorial control.

It started with a camera. Directing, editing, training behind the lens — I spent years deciding where an audience looks: what they notice, what they miss, and how a sequence of moments becomes meaningful.

Then the question outgrew the frame.

Now the set is a system — care programs, commission platforms, interactive documentaries about who really holds the camera. Different crew, same direction: guide people through complexity, one clear scene at a time.

01 · OBSERVE01 · FRAMING Like a documentary maker, I observe real contexts. Where to point the camera — and what to leave outside the shot.
02 · MAP02 · PACING Like a systems designer, I map hidden structures. When to hold a shot, and when to cut, so the audience never gets lost.
03 · DELIVER03 · STRUCTURE Like a UX designer, I turn them into clear, guided experiences. Hours of footage become a story an audience can follow.