Bronze Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2026

Zuojiang Huashan Day Brand Identity

by Xinyi Li and Yichen Zhu

A' Design Award 2026 Bronze Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
Awarded April 15, 2026
CLIENT: Zuojiang Huashan Day
Estimated Number of Design Views: 7,067
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About Zuojiang Huashan Day Brand Identity

Zuojiang Huashan Day is a brand identity created for a cultural event that presents Huashan rock art, a World Heritage site in Guangxi, China. The identity combines motifs from the 2000 year old carvings with contemporary graphic design. Frog-shaped figures and bronze drum patterns form a coherent visual system, and the pinyin for Huashan is styled to recall cliff carving textures. Printed items include posters, paper bags, business cards, a rock art directory and silicone wristbands. The aim is to make the heritage site legible to a global audience.

Xuguang Zhu's brand identity for a cultural heritage initiative engages the rich visual vocabulary of ancient pictographic traditions while translating these historical mark-making systems into a thoroughly contemporary graphic design framework that demonstrates sophisticated understanding of both cultural preservation imperatives and current identity design discourse. The work positions itself within a lineage of culturally responsive design practices that honor regional visual heritage without resorting to literal reproduction or nostalgic pastiche, instead proposing abstraction and formal distillation as strategies for meaningful contemporary reinterpretation. The compositional achievement lies in the carefully calibrated relationship between gestural freedom and systematic organization, where bold calligraphic marks suggesting abstracted figures and symbolic forms coexist with precise typographic information bands, creating a visual system that balances expressive cultural reference with functional communication clarity. The designer demonstrates notable facility in managing complex visual hierarchies across overlapping compositional layers, employing translucent rectangular panels as both framing devices and information carriers while maintaining clear figure-ground relationships throughout. The chromatic restraint proves particularly effective, with the cool silvery gray ground providing neutral territory that allows the carbon black marks maximum graphic impact while suggesting the material presence of stone, paper, or printed substrate. This project appears to explore questions of cultural continuity and contemporary relevance, asking how ancient visual communication systems might inform present-day brand identity frameworks and how design practice can participate in cultural heritage preservation while remaining formally innovative and visually distinctive. The gestural marks themselves evoke the directional energy and symbolic compression of rock art pictographs, their confident execution suggesting both careful study of historical sources and disciplined formal abstraction that avoids mere stylistic appropriation. The bilingual typographic system integrates seamlessly with the gestural elements, establishing temporal and geographic specificity while demonstrating the designer's understanding of how contemporary identity systems must navigate multiple linguistic and cultural contexts. The overlapping compositional strategy creates visual richness and suggests iterative development or multiple applications within a unified system, indicating thinking beyond single artifacts toward comprehensive brand architecture. One might observe how this identity negotiates the inherent tension between preservation and innovation, between honoring historical visual traditions and creating something unmistakably contemporary, inviting consideration of how design practice can serve both cultural memory and present-day communicative needs while maintaining aesthetic integrity and visual distinction.

Press Kit

Unique Properties: This Zuojiang Huashan Day brand identity uniquely merges 2000-year-old Huashan Rock Art motifs with modern internationalist design. Unlike generic cultural branding, it integrates iconic elements like frog-shaped figures and bronze drum patterns into a cohesive visual system, with Huashan pinyin styled to mimic cliff-carving textures. This fusion creates a globally resonant symbol that elevates the World Heritage Site's visibility and energizes Guangxi's cultural tourism.
Dimensions & Packaging: Posters: 297mm x 420mm A3 vertical
Paper bags: 320mm x 450mm x 120mm
Huashan Rock Art Directory: 240mm x 60mm
Business cards: 85mm x 54mm
Wristbands: 200mm x 20mm adjustable
All digital assets are provided in vector AI EPS and high resolution raster PNG PDF formats for versatile applications.
Tags: Huashan Rock Art, Cultural Heritage Branding, Visual Identity, Contemporary Design, Cultural Tourism, Guangxi Culture, Heritage Design, Visual System
Production Technology: The brand identity system was created using vector graphic software (Adobe Illustrator) for scalable high-fidelity visual assets. Posters and the Huashan Rock Art Directory are printed on 250g matte art paper with CMYK offset printing. Paper bags use 230g coated paper with reinforced handles. Business cards are printed on 300g premium cardstock with UV spot coating and wristbands are made of durable water-resistant silicone.
Design Challenge: The key challenge was balancing Huashan Rock Arts' historical authenticity with a globally resonant modern design. It was necessary to respect the Luoyue culture without oversimplifying motifs and to technically translate 2000-year-old cliff textures into scalable vectors. This was resolved by combining high-resolution scans with iterative testing, ensuring the design honors heritage while engaging contemporary audiences.
Project Duration: The project was initiated in March 2025 in Zhejiang,China,and completed in July 2025 in Zhejiang.
Operation Flow: This brand identity system is designed for the Zuojiang Huashan Day cultural event. Visual assets such as posters paper bags and wristbands are distributed to attendees to enhance event engagement. The directory showcases Huashan Rock Art sites providing cultural context. Digital files are also available for online promotion ensuring the design reaches both on-site and global audiences to amplify cultural influence.
Research: This cultural heritage revitalization project aimed to make Huashan Rock Art accessible globally via contemporary branding. Field research and expert interviews were conducted to extract motifs then Adobe Illustrator was used to create a modern visual system validated by cultural workers and designers. The result balances historical authenticity with modern aesthetics promoting cultural exchange and boosting Guangxis tourism
Inspiration: The project is inspired by Huashan Rock Art, a World Cultural Heritage Site preserving the rituals of the ancient Luoyue people. The goal was to revitalize this millennia-old heritage for a global audience. By extracting iconic rock art motifs, the design connects ancient civilization with contemporary design, creating a visual language that honors history while fostering cross-cultural exchange.
Image Credits: Image #1: Designers Xinyi Li, Yichen Zhu, Zeyu Wu, Zuojiang Huashan Day, 2025.
Image #2: Designers Xinyi Li, Yichen Zhu, Zeyu Wu, Zuojiang Huashan Day, 2025.
Image #3: Designers Xinyi Li, Yichen Zhu, Zeyu Wu, Zuojiang Huashan Day, 2025.
Image #4: Designers Xinyi Li, Yichen Zhu, Zeyu Wu, Zuojiang Huashan Day, 2025.
Image #5: Designers Xinyi Li, Yichen Zhu, Zeyu Wu, Zuojiang Huashan Day, 2025.