Professor Pan-Song Apex Lin is known from the internet as an active member during his college years in the Department of Fine Art in National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). He was the art editor, publication designer, and graphic illustrator in several student associations like Shi-da Youth and Spring Poet Club. He was praised “a persistent class leader with clear resolution” by Professor Xiu-Xiong Wang.

　　In his junior year in NTNU, Lin was introduced to a kindergarten by Professor Wang. Apex Lin and his classmates undertook a project of image design for the kindergarten. Since then, Lin’s zeal for Corporate Identity (CI) was getting stronger and stronger. He started to read books of CIS. Among the readings, Motoo Nakanishi’s DECOMAS, which collects CI designs from worldwide corporations and introduces a detailed flow of CIS, greatly inspired Lin. It was a key to open his vision on the world. He even pleaded his father, who understood Japanese, to write a letter to Nakanishi to learn ideas about CI, hence Lin began to contact with his mentor Nakanishi.

　　Lin received the first prizes in graphic design section, 3D design section, and space design section when he was graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, NTNU. In order to study further, he rejected the school assigned by Ministry of Education for his practicum. He listened to his senior classmate, En-Sheng Yang’s suggestion and chose to be a student teacher in the Department of Art and Craft of Xie-He Vocational School instead. Right after he finished his practicum in 1981, Lin passed the entrance exam and became a graduate student of the Graduate School of Fine Arts, NTNU. He also received the invitation as a formal Art and Craft teacher in Keelung Private Er-Xin High School.

　　Lin started his writing career by the inspiration from Motoo Nakanish. Lin’s first book, Corporate Identity Systems, written during break times through his military service, was published in 1985. The advent of Corporate Identity Systems was right in time when all government organizations, state-run enterprices, and private owned business were trying to incorporate CIS. In the era of economy transformation, Corporate Identity Systems was the bible for every single Taiwanese designer and student of design. This book also became a hit in China when the country was under economic reform. Lin has become the first Taiwanese speaker of CIS and the first Taiwanese host of graphic design exposition in China. He was also one of the eight judges for the logo design of 2008 Beijing Olympics.

　　“Live to learn” has been the motto of Lin for over 30 years. During his stay in NTNU since 1986, he always seeks new ideas whenever he was an assistant, a lecturer, a vice-professor, a professor, the director of the Department of Fine Arts, the director of the Graduate School of Fine Arts, or the vice principal. He believes that “When one wants to learn, his teacher is to arrive.”, a thought he felt for the first time when he was reading Nakanishi’s DECOMAS in 1971.

　　“Be sharp at current affairs, be agile in thinking, and be brave to action.” and “Learn from books, people, and works.” have been the first words Lin wrote on the blackboard every time he met new students in the first class, and he will keep telling his future students the same words in the following 10 or 20 years.

　　Thinking is crucial for Lin. He says that design is called “意匠 (*ishou) ” in Japanese. The Chinese character “意 (thought)”is the combination of “音 (voice) ” and “心 (heart) ”. It means that designers must listen to the voice from hearts of themselves, clients, and the public, and then dedicate their design skills in return. Our kids all agree that Professor Lin is a very thoughtful person after watching the video of his study background. We think that his hardworking in study and resolution result in his success. On the other hand, we admire his zeal for CI. Because of his passion, he began to explore CI in his college years, and made CI his occupation eventually. While we were visiting Lin, we were deeply impressed by his words. He told us that it is very joyful to combine your occupation with your hobby. “Choose what you love, and love what you chose.”