Chinese Zodiac Tipografia by Mengyu Cao is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award de Ferro in Disseny Gràfic, Il·lustració i Comunicació Visual Competition Category.

FerroGràfic· 2021

Chinese Zodiac Tipografia

by Mengyu Cao

Client: YiQi Hanzi

A' Design Award de Ferro Winner in Gràfic Category

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Verified Award Winner
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Colors

The Design

About Chinese Zodiac Tipografia

La tipografia del zodíac xinès inclou 12 caràcters. Rata, bou, tigre, conill, drac, serp, cavall, cabra, mico, gall, gos, porc. Combina la cal·ligrafia xinesa i el dibuix d'aquarel·la tradicional xinès. Amb el pensament del disseny, trenca les formes originals de la cal·ligrafia i afegeix dibuixos creatius harmònicament per mostrar el significat de cada personatge dins de si mateix. Els caràcters xinesos sempre semblen dibuixos complicats per a la gent que no sap xinès. L'objectiu d'aquest projecte és que els caràcters xinesos siguin comprensibles per a tothom per difondre la cultura xinesa.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Ferro

Chinese Zodiac Tipografia és un guanyador del guardó A' Design Award de Ferro, un reconeixement prestigiós concedit a bons dissenys que compleixen els requisits professionals i industrials esperats de creacions ben dissenyades. Els guanyadors de Ferro demostren una gran habilitat, una alta especialització, una comprensió experta i la capacitat creativa dels seus creadors. Es preveu que Chinese Zodiac Tipografia sigui una creació molt apreciada, admirada i estimada que és pràctica i innovadora. Aquest disseny guanyador del guardó A' Design Award de Ferro integra les millors pràctiques del sector i té característiques tècniques competents lligades al coneixement i al talent. Chinese Zodiac Tipografia és respectat per la seva minuciositat i està pensat per oferir millores en la qualitat de vida que ajuden a fer del món un lloc millor.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The Chinese Zodiac project combines Chinese calligraphy and watercolor drawing to present each character with its meaning. With design thinking, it breaks the traditional Chinese calligraphy forms and adds creative drawings to it harmoniously to show the meaning of each character. Chinese characters always look like complicated drawings to people who don't know Chinese.This project is aimed to make it understandable to everyone to spread Chinese culture.
The 12 Chinese zodiac includes Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
Dimensions & Packaging: This typography set can be used as culture posters as I shown with the images.
Tags: graphic design, Typography, creative drawing, Chinese Zodiac, Chinese culture, calligraphy, watercolor drawing, poster, posters
Production Technology: Chinese traditional calligraphy, Chinese traditional watercolor drawing
Design Challenge: Ideation is the hardest part of this project. How to merge animals form into the characters harmoniously that makes the most sense. It shouldn't break the traditional beauty of Chinese calligraphy. And it should enhance the beauty to show the meaning of the character in a fun way.
Research: Researched on Chinese calligraphy form of beatuy, Chinese traditional watercolor techniques, and culture behind Chinese Zodiac.
Inspiration: At the beginning of my design journey, I learned a lot of Chinese traditional culture. I was taught to have the mission to deliver valuable Chinese traditional cultures to the modern world, to enhance and spread it to the nation and the world.

I also found out there were not many creative creations around Chinese calligraphy compare to English lettering. I want to use my ability to design and drawing to explore more possibilities of the traditional assets, Chinese characters.
Project Duration: This project started in January 2020 in San Francisco and finished in August.
Operation Flow: This typography set can be used as physical or digital posters to promote Chinese culture. People can understand the meaning of each Chinese character when seeing the typography only without reading the description.
Team Members: Mengyu Cao