Chinese Zodiac Tipografija by Mengyu Cao

Chinese Zodiac Tipografija by Mengyu Cao is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 Železna nagrada A' Design Award in Grafično oblikovanje, ilustracija in vizualna komunikacija Competition Category.

ŽeleznaGrafika· 2021

Chinese Zodiac Tipografija

by Mengyu Cao

Client: YiQi Hanzi

Železna nagrada A' Design Award Winner in Grafika Category

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Verified Award Winner

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Colors

The Design

About Chinese Zodiac Tipografija

Tipografija kitajskega zodiaka vključuje 12 znakov. Podgana, Vol, Tiger, Zajec, Zmaj, Kača, Konj, Koza, Opica, Petelin, Pes, Prašič. Združuje kitajsko kaligrafijo in kitajsko tradicionalno akvarelno risbo. Z oblikovalskim razmišljanjem razbije izvirne kaligrafske oblike in jim harmonično doda kreativne risbe, da prikaže pomen vsakega znaka v sebi. Kitajski znaki so ljudem, ki ne znajo kitajščine, vedno videti kot zapletene risbe. Namen tega projekta je narediti kitajske pismenke razumljive vsem za širjenje kitajske kulture.

The Recognition

About the Železna nagrada A' Design Award

Chinese Zodiac Tipografija je prejemnik Železne nagrade A' Design Award, prestižnega priznanja, ki se podeljuje dobrim oblikovanjem, ki izpolnjujejo profesionalne in industrijske zahteve, pričakovane od dobro zasnovanih stvaritev. Prejemniki Železne nagrade kažejo veliko spretnost, visoko specializacijo, strokovno razumevanje in ustvarjalne zmožnosti svojih ustvarjalcev. Od Chinese Zodiac Tipografija se pričakuje, da bo visoko cenjena, občudovana in ljubljena stvaritev, ki je praktična in inovativna. To oblikovanje, nagrajeno z Železno nagrado A' Design Award, vključuje najboljše prakse panoge in ima kompetentne tehnične lastnosti, povezane s strokovnim znanjem in talentom. Zaradi svoje temeljitosti si Chinese Zodiac Tipografija zasluži spoštovanje in je zasnovan tako, da zagotavlja izboljšave kakovosti življenja, ki pomagajo narediti svet boljši kraj.

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