Bronze Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2026
Hua Shanday Cultural and Creative Design
by Chen Zilong, Huang Yan and Zhu Xuguan
- A' Design Award 2026 Bronze Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: City University of Macau
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 7,263
- Verification code 8CFB9BEB4A · Verify this award
About Hua Shanday Cultural and Creative Design
Hua Shanday is a visual identity created for the Huashan Scenic Area in Guangxi, China, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The identity draws on the 2000-year-old Huashan Rock Art made by the Luoyue people. Ancient totems showing ritual prayer and collective labor are extracted and rebuilt as clean geometric icons. The color palette keeps the red ochre tone of the original rock paintings. The system is applied to signage, posters and digital media, so that wayfinding also becomes an accessible educational experience.
Mao Yuting's Cultural and Creative Design engages the rich visual heritage of prehistoric rock art traditions, translating ancient petroglyphs and cave paintings into a contemporary graphic identity system that celebrates cultural continuity while demonstrating sophisticated chromatic and compositional command. The work positions itself within the broader discourse of cultural heritage reinterpretation, where contemporary designers mine ancestral visual vocabularies to construct meaningful connections between past and present, honoring lineage while speaking to current aesthetic sensibilities and communication needs. The systematic grid presentation suggests a comprehensive visual identity or branding system, each panel potentially representing a letter, character, concept, or component within a larger communicative framework, though the work equally succeeds as a unified artistic composition that rewards contemplation as a complete aesthetic statement. The compositional achievement lies in the delicate balance between unity and variety, the strict geometric grid providing organizational clarity and visual discipline while the chromatic diversity and gestural variation of individual panels prevent monotony and sustain visual interest across the twenty-unit array. The chromatic sophistication demonstrates advanced understanding of color theory, each panel's two-hue pairing carefully calibrated to achieve maximum vibrancy through complementary or near-complementary contrast, while the distribution of warm and cool pairings across the grid creates overall chromatic equilibrium and prevents any single temperature from dominating. The figural forms themselves reveal sensitive formal intelligence, each simplified shape maintaining legibility and graphic strength while incorporating subtle variations in pose, gesture, and internal configuration that suggest a rich vocabulary of meanings and associations. The designer seems particularly attentive to the quality of line and contour, every curve flowing with organic grace that evokes both human gesture and natural form, creating visual rhythms that echo dance, ritual, and bodily expression across cultures and epochs. The deliberate surface variations and textural suggestions in certain panels introduce material depth and archaeological resonance, grounding the bright contemporaneity of the color palette in intimations of ancient stone, weathered surfaces, and the passage of time. Thematically, the work explores questions of cultural identity, continuity, and creative transformation, asking how ancestral visual languages can be honored, preserved, and revitalized through contemporary design practice, and how ancient symbols might speak meaningfully to present-day audiences while retaining their essential character and spiritual resonance. The work invites consideration of the responsibilities and possibilities inherent in cultural heritage work, the ethical dimensions of appropriation versus appreciation, and the ways contemporary creative practice can serve as a bridge between generations, honoring what came before while creating something genuinely new and contextually relevant for today.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Designed for the Guangxi Huashan Scenic Area a UNESCO World Heritage site this project establishes the visual identity for Hua Shan Day. The core concept is the revitalization of the 2000 year old Huashan Rock Art. The design actively extracts and reconstructs ancient Luoyue totems depicting scenes of prayer and labor. By reinterpreting these raw historical symbols through a contemporary design language the project bridges the gap between deep archaeology and modern audiences. It transforms static heritage into a vibrant brand system ensuring the ancient visual legacy continues to inspire future generations.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Primary Physical Application (Banners/Posters): 600mm x 900mm.
- Tags
- Visual Identity, Huashan Rock Art, UNESCO World Heritage, Cultural Branding, Luoyue Culture, Heritage Preservation, Contemporary Reconstruction, Graphic Design, Guangxi China
- Production Technology
- The visual identity is designed with a digital first approach to minimize physical waste utilizing scalable vector graphics for online promotion and digital exhibitions. For necessary physical applications such as signage and merchandise the design strictly adheres to sustainable practices utilizing recycled paper stocks and soy based inks. The color palette remains faithful to the heritage site utilizing the specific Huashan Red ochre derived from the original hematite pigment used in the rock art ensuring visual consistency and cultural respect.
- Design Challenge
- The main challenge was to breathe new life into ancient pictograms without losing their historical authenticity. Traditional approaches often result in rigid copying or overly abstract interpretations. The challenge was to find a balance making the 2000 year old symbols speak to a digital native audience while preserving their solemn heritage value. The solution lay in the methodology of contemporary reconstruction simplifying the complex rock textures into clean iconic graphics that are adaptable across media while retaining the soul of the original Luoyue visual language.
- Project Duration
- The project started in September 2025 in Guangxi, China and finished in December 2025. The project is located in the Huashan Scenic Area, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.
- Operation Flow
- The design functions as an accessible cultural gateway. By simplifying archaeological figures into intelligible modern icons it lowers the cognitive barrier for visitors. The visual system is applied across the scenic area turning wayfinding and branding into an educational experience. Visitors can instantly recognize the motifs connecting the graphics on their tickets or phone screens directly to the cliffs in front of them. This creates a cohesive narrative loop that transforms a passive viewing of archaeological ruins into an engaging relatable cultural discovery.
- Research
- This research revitalizes the 2000 year old Huashan Rock Art UNESCO World Heritage for modern audiences. The team employed visual archaeology to decode Luoyue totems known as the Frog Man and extracted their geometric DNA from ancient pigments. These forms were reconstructed using contemporary design principles. The resulting visual system preserves historical authenticity while ensuring educational accessibility for future generations.
- Inspiration
- The design draws direct inspiration from the awe inspiring Huashan Rock Art in Guangxi created by the Luoyue people during the Warring States period to the Eastern Han dynasty. We focused on the iconic monochromatic red ochre figures specifically the distinct forms representing ritual prayer The Frog Man and collective labor. The raw power dynamic postures and the spiritual connection between humans and nature found on the cliff faces served as the primary visual source. We sought not to copy but to decipher the primitive energy of these ancestors and translate it into a modern graphic narrative.
- Image Credits
- Image #1：CHEN ZILONG；
Image #2：HUANG YAN；
Image #3：ZHU XUGUAN；
Image #4：YANG CHAO；
Image #5：LIU XINYU；GU JIAYUAN；MAO YUTING；