Today, I am speaking with someone who’s not just redesigning graphics, but redefining what it means to begin again.
Eason Yang is the founder and creative director of Not Entirely Dead, a bold and deeply human design platform and community that champions comebacks. After surviving cancer and being told his best years were behind him, Eason responded not with resignation, but with resistance and design.
At Design Matters 25, Eason shared the story behind Not Entirely Dead, a project born from personal experience but built for a much larger purpose. It’s a community and creative force challenging outdated ideas of worth, ability, and professional timelines, especially for those whose path has been interrupted.
Fast Company named his work one of the world’s most innovative. I call it necessary. In this conversation, I speak with Eason about recovery, reinvention, and why the best kind of design work often starts long before the brief.
I’m honoured to sit down with Eason and dig deeper into his philosophy, process, and what it means to design for a future that welcomes second chances.
Question 1: In very few words, what is Not Entirely Dead? 
“A comeback community. Ups and downs is the nature of life. Sometimes, it takes everything to summon the strength to rise again. But when someone does, the grit, the resilience, and the clarity of purpose that follows—it’s magnetic. Not Entirely Dead celebrates that energy, especially in cancer survivors, who show us what it means to come back stronger.”
Question 2: Much of your work with Not Entirely Dead feels like a gentle provocation, aimed at both industry norms and visual culture. What are you currently questioning most?
“It is a provocation—maybe not always gentle. Right now, I’m questioning whether this has to be a fight. Could it instead be framed around value—economic, cultural, creative—so that companies want to change the status quo, not just tolerate it?
There are progressive models out there. But too often, inclusion is reactive. What would it look like if it were proactive—driven by the belief that welcoming comebacks actually makes your organization better?”
Question 3: You turned the words “Not Entirely Dead” into a manifesto of hope and grit. When did you realise that your comeback could be a design project, not just a personal journey, but a cultural intervention?
“I didn’t “realize” it could be a thing—I realized it wouldn’t be a thing unless I kept doing it. Consistently. Relentlessly. No half-assing. Like any other creative or design-led venture, it had to earn its way into relevance.
And that’s part of what we’re celebrating through Not Entirely Dead: persistence. That stubborn refusal to go quietly. It’s hard as hell—but we do it anyway.
Sometimes people pay attention just because of that:
Wait, this guy is still doing it?”
Question 4: What would a truly comeback-friendly design culture look like? One where designers don’t have to hide their scars, but can wear them as part of their creative identity?
“It might be a fantasy for a long time—until it’s not.
Comebacks aren’t just for designers. Moms trying to return to work know the feeling. So do veterans. So do caregivers, immigrants, patients, and so many others. Life is not linear. But careers are expected to be.
Why? What are we so afraid of? Is it unconscious bias? Inertia? Or just self-preservation?
We already understand the value of comebacks—in sports, business, and art. We celebrate those stories. But somehow, in hiring and design culture, we’re still skeptical of breaks, gaps, or unconventional timelines.
Personally, I believe a truly comeback-friendly creative culture begins with this belief: the best creative work comes from life itself—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Lived experience sharpens creativity. And if we mean it when we say “hire a person, not a résumé,” this has to be part of the equation.”
Question 5: What in design culture should be ‘entirely dead’? And what is something you’re unlearning right now?
“It’s everywhere. And lately, it feels worse in hiring. We all hate it, yet somehow it persists and makes everyone cynical in the process.
If the only ones who get to stay—on the jobs, in the rooms, holding the mic—are the gatekeepers, then what kind of culture are we building? What kind of work will come from it?
Just look around.”
What I learned from this interview
Eason Yang doesn’t just speak about second chances, he designs them. With clarity, defiance, and a deep belief in lived experience as creative capital, he reminds us that the best design doesn’t emerge from uninterrupted momentum, but from interruption itself. Not Entirely Dead is more than a platform. It’s a provocation, a pulse check, a refusal to go quietly.
In a society still obsessed with perfection and linear success, Eason offers a radically human counter-narrative, that scars aren’t liabilities, they’re creative credentials. And that maybe, just maybe, the future of design doesn’t belong to those who never fell — but to those who dared to get back up, and design louder.
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Want to know more…Check out Eason and Not Entirely Dead via his platforms:
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*All images in this article have been provided by Eason Yang.
