Gold Print and Published Media Design · 2020
ZhuZi Art Book
- A' Design Award 2020 Gold Winner in Print and Published Media Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: ZHUZI Art Center
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 103,527
- Verification code 33DC9103CB · Verify this award
About ZhuZi Art Book
A series of book editions for the collected works of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting is published by Nanjing Zhuzi Art Museum. With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy are treasured for their highly artistic and practical appeal. When designing the collection, abstract shapes, colors, and lines were used to create a consistent sensuality and highlight the blank space in the sketch. The effortless coincides with artists in traditional painting and calligraphy styles.
ALICE XI ZONG's ZhuZi Art Book emerges as a distinguished example of contemporary publication design that honors the profound traditions of East Asian brush painting while embracing the visual language of modern graphic communication. The publication serves as both vessel and interpreter for traditional ink painting, achieving that delicate balance between reverent documentation and creative reframing that characterizes the finest art catalogues. The designer demonstrates exceptional sensitivity in allowing the fluid, organic qualities of brush-and-ink imagery to dominate the visual field while introducing subtle contemporary interventions—geometric constellations of circles and connecting lines that suggest scholarly annotation or perhaps celestial mapping, creating productive dialogue between the spontaneous and the systematic. The chromatic restraint, limiting the palette essentially to black, white, red, and gold, reflects both traditional East Asian color sensibilities and modernist design principles, achieving visual sophistication through limitation rather than abundance. Typography appears to follow classical vertical orientation, maintaining cultural authenticity while clean sans-serif elements suggest contemporary publication standards. The presentation of interior spreads reveals thoughtful pacing and sequencing, with full-bleed ink formations creating dramatic moments that alternate with more traditionally formatted pages displaying reproduced artworks within contemplative white space. One observes particular accomplishment in the spine design, where simple vertical stripes create immediate shelf recognition while maintaining the publication's overall refined character. The work invites consideration of how contemporary design might serve traditional art without diminishing either—how the book as object might honor the scroll, the album, and the hanging painting while functioning within current publishing conventions. Viewers might contemplate how this synthesis of old and new creates space for traditional artistic values within contemporary visual culture.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- A series of the Book editions for the collected works of traditional Chinese calligraphy & Chinese painting is published by Nanjing Zhuzi Art Museum. With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal. When designing the collection, abstract shapes, colors, and lines was used to create a consistent sensuality and highlight the blank space in the sketch. The effortless coincides with artists in traditional painting and calligraphy styles.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width 10 inch x Height 13 inch, soft cover editions
- Tags
- Book Design, Typography, Graphic Design, Layout Design, Illustration
- Production Technology
- After researching for the traditional Chinese calligraphy & Chinese Painting, I interviewed each artist and collected their painting & calligraphy art pieces that they would like to feature in the books. Then I created the different theme & logos for each book. The layout of the books are done in Adobe InDesign. Then made the application with photography and Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom CC.
- Design Challenge
- The challenge of this project is to keep the authenticity of the traditional Chinese painting & calligraphy and the visually pleasing modern design layout. To have a better understanding of the balance of both traditional & modern visual styles, I interviewed most of the calligraphers and Chinese painters, collected their opinions and suggestions after several draft options and finally came up with the best solution that could blend both styles well and show in the book design.
- Project Duration
- The first edition started in February 2019 in both China & U.S. and finished in May 2019. All four editions were published by ZHUZI Art Center.
- Operation Flow
- With all the visual concepts in mind, and with all the Chinese painting & calligraphy art collected as digital art, 4 book editions started to developed, where each book is made out of the combination of the traditional Chinese element, bringing all the inspirations together and creating a unique, delicate Chinese style of impressionistic, which shows exquisite elegance and luxuriant cultural implication of China.
- Research
- The research included traveling back to China and visiting multiple cities, people & their families, learning about the authentic traditional Chinese Painting & Calligraphy. Learning about how Chinese people are thinking about the traditional Chinese Painting & Calligraphy and why each element are so exquisite and made such luxuriant cultural implication of China.
- Inspiration
- This collection of book editions was inspired by traditional Chinese painting & Chinese calligraphy art. With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal.
- Image Credits
- Image #1 Chinese Calligrapher: Ziliang Guo
Optional Image #1 Chinese Painter: Dongli Pan
Optional Image #3 Chinese Calligrapher: Deling Zhu
Optional Image #4 Chinese Calligrapher: Zuotang Yang - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Xi Alice Zong, 2020.
Colors of ZhuZi Art Book
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G0E1 ShopDesign Interview about ZhuZi Art Book
This collection of book editions was inspired by traditional Chinese painting & Chinese calligraphy art. With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal.
When designing the collection, abstract shapes, colors, and lines was used to create a consistent sensuality and highlight the blank space in the sketch. The effortless coincides with artists in traditional painting and calligraphy styles.
The ZhuZi Art Book collection was selected and published as featured in the ZhuZi Art Musesum, Nanjing, China. Zhuzi Art Center fills a void in the west of Nanjing for visual art exhibition space. occupying two floors in a new purpose built complex off Jiangdong Bei Lu. The contemporary design of the first floor is offset by a futuristic windowless second floor and a side shop/tea garden in which one can browse/buy a fascinating selection of art books
After researching for the traditional Chinese calligraphy & Chinese Painting, I interviewed each artist and collected their painting & calligraphy art pieces that they would like to feature in the books. Then I created the different theme & logos for each book. The layout of the books are done in Adobe InDesign. Then made the application with photography and Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom CC.
With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal.
This is a series of the Book editions for the collected works of traditional Chinese calligraphy & Chinese painting is published by Nanjing Zhuzi Art Museum.
With all the visual concepts in mind, and with all the Chinese painting & calligraphy art collected as digital art, 4 book editions started to developed, where each book is made out of the combination of the traditional Chinese element, bringing all the inspirations together and creating a unique, delicate Chinese style of impressionistic, which shows exquisite elegance and luxuriant cultural implication of China.
People who love traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, traditional Asian art.
My background. My grandpa is calligraphy, so is my father. Growing up I have been watching them working on the traditional Chinese calligraphies, which is a good impact that leads to my design passion for the traditional Asian arts.
Adobe InDesign & Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustration
With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal.
The technology plays a great role in the ZhuZi Art Book project. With the Adobe Creative Suite design tools, especially the Adobe Indesign & Photoshop, I could work on the layout and the book cover professionally, which gives me awesome experience and a lot more exploration of the design overall.
The challenge of this project is to keep the authenticity of the traditional Chinese painting & calligraphy and the visually pleasing modern design layout. To have a better understanding of the balance of both traditional & modern visual styles, I interviewed most of the calligraphers and Chinese painters, collected their opinions and suggestions after several draft options and finally came up with the best solution that could blend both styles well and show in the book design.
Grand Interview about ZhuZi Art Book
I dove deep into the original ink works, then stripped them to essentials: fluid black-ink forms, one seal-red accent, and thin bronze geometry. Marrying those organic strokes with a clean modern grid and generous white space let tradition “breathe” while feeling current. Repeated prototyping with museum curators fine-tuned the balance—and that harmony of old soul and new structure won the Gold.
Emphasizing liú bái (留白) echoes the heart of Chinese painting: the void completes the form. Inspired by literati scrolls where blank silk lets mountains “breathe,” I let white space carry the rhythm so each stroke feels alive. Philosophically, it mirrors Daoist ideas of fullness within emptiness—inviting readers to pause, imagine, and participate in the scene.
On the road I found three surprises that reshaped the book:Up close, many Song-dynasty scrolls hide faint ruling-lines that masters used to balance text and image—proof that “spontaneity” was quietly scaffolded; that insight inspired the thin bronze geometry beneath our ink blots.At a rural paper mill in Anhui I saw how Xuan paper’s fibres trap wash-marks like clouds; I switched to an uncoated, high-cotton stock so printed blacks would bloom rather than sit flat.In Suzhou a calligrapher showed me how viewers read empty margins as “soundless poetry”; that personal demo emboldened me to leave whole spreads nearly blank, letting silence tell half the story.
Invisible Grid: I built a 6-column grid keyed to ancient scroll ruler-lines, so every caption or image aligns with a trace of classical proportion without feeling boxed-in.Typeface Pairing: A refined Song-serif for Chinese mirrors brush modulation; a light grotesque sans for English recedes, letting the artwork speak first.Paced Breathing: Alternating dense image spreads with near-empty pages sets a “slow–pause–linger” rhythm, echoing how a viewer strolls through a gallery.Subtle Anchors: Seal-red folios, hairline rules, and bronze dots mark entry points, guiding the eye while preserving liú bái (留白). Together, text, art, and void form one continuous calligraphic flow that honours both the masters and the tradition.
Masters told me, “let the brush lead.”I kept every stroke untouched, added only subtle bronze grids and seal-red cues that echo traditional tools, and enlarged margins after their critiques.The result: modern scaffolding that amplifies—never alters—their authentic voice.
I first traced signature brush-curves from the paintings, abstracted them into a modular library of fluid silhouettes, then paired those with hair-thin bronze arcs taken from ancient scroll guide-lines. Dropping these motifs onto a silent six-column grid, I repeated and rotated them sparingly so each spread echoes a single gesture—soft, rhythmic, never competing—giving the whole book one continuous, sensual pulse.
We broke one dense tome into four slim “rooms.”Origin – essays on philosophy and toolsStroke – pure calligraphy platesImage – paintings & sealsEcho – my design process and contemporary responsesThis modular structure lets each art form breathe, invites readers to handle the books like moving through gallery chambers, and makes cross-comparison easy—flipping two volumes side-by-side reveals how brush energy migrates from script to landscape.
During a late-night proofing session, master calligrapher Chen dipped his brush in clear water and wrote an “invisible” character across my layout, then asked, “Can you still feel the stroke?” That wordless challenge made me widen the margins, swap to absorbent uncoated stock, and dial back every decorative line until the page’s presence—even when blank—could carry the brush’s spirit.
By showing that classical craft and contemporary grids can coexist without dilution, the book becomes a living case study: proof that designers can translate intangible heritage—rhythm, void, brush-energy—into modern visual systems. I hope it sparks more “both-and” projects where tradition serves as a design engine rather than a museum artifact, widening the dialogue on how cultural memory fuels fresh, forward-looking form.
Study first, remix later. Immerse yourself in the original craft—tools, materials, philosophy—before adding anything new.Extract principles, not patterns. Translate rhythm, proportion, or symbolism, rather than copying surface motifs.Use modern elements as silent scaffolding. Let grids, typography, and tech serve the tradition, not overshadow it.Prototype with custodians of the heritage. Share drafts with artisans or scholars; their critique keeps you honest.Leave room for emptiness. Restraint—white space, quiet pauses—lets old and new breathe together.