Chinese Zodiac Typografi by Mengyu Cao is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award i Jern in Grafik, Illustration og Visuel Kommunikationsdesign Competition Category.

JernGrafik· 2021

Chinese Zodiac Typografi

by Mengyu Cao

Client: YiQi Hanzi

A' Design Award i Jern Winner in Grafik Category

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Verified Award Winner

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Colors

The Design

About Chinese Zodiac Typografi

Den kinesiske stjernetegns typografi indeholder 12 tegn. Rotte, okse, tiger, kanin, drage, slange, hest, ged, abe, hane, hund, gris. Den kombinerer kinesisk kalligrafi og kinesisk traditionel akvareltegning. Med designtænkning bryder den de originale kalligrafiformer og tilføjer kreative tegninger til det harmonisk for at vise betydningen af hver karakter i sig selv. Kinesiske tegn ligner altid komplicerede tegninger for folk, der ikke kan kinesisk. Formålet med dette projekt er at gøre de kinesiske tegn forståelige for alle for at sprede kinesisk kultur.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award i Jern

Chinese Zodiac Typografi er vinder af A' Design Award i Jern, en prestigefyldt anerkendelse, der tildeles gode designs, som opfylder de professionelle og industrielle krav, man forventer af veldesignede skabelser. Jernvinderne viser stor dygtighed, høj specialisering, ekspertforståelse og kreativ kapacitet hos deres skabere. Chinese Zodiac Typografi forventes at være en højt estimeret, beundret og kær skabelse, der er praktisk og innovativ. Dette design, der har vundet A' Design Award i Jern, integrerer branchens bedste praksis og har kompetente tekniske egenskaber knyttet til knowhow og talent. Chinese Zodiac Typografi respekteres for sin grundighed og er designet til at levere forbedringer af livskvaliteten, der er med til at gøre verden til et bedre sted.

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