Design 360° No.103 : Do you understand Chinese?

Graphic Design with Chinese Characters outside East Asia

In the age of globalization, designers from around the world have the opportunity to engage in graphic design projects based on Chinese characters. For designers, when Chinese is an unfamiliar language, they break away from their inherent visual habits and interpret it from a new perspective, resulting in diverse and interesting expressions.

In this issue, Design360° focuses on the graphic design works with Chinese characters of designers whose native language is not Chinese, discussing the visual representation with Chinese characters from five different perspectives.

Firstly, 26 groups of designer showcase 43 works that represent their initial exploration of the visual representation with Chinese characters. Among them, 7 designers share their thoughts on design when facing different language systems. Some Western designers who reside or work in China, showing us their interpretations of graphic design with Chinese character from a cross-cultural perspective. Regarding domestic graphic design, the editor and 5 groups of designers discuss the phenomenon that Chinese designers prefer to use English in their works.

The editor does not aim to tell readers about the inherent methodology of graphic design with Chinese characters. On the contrary, it is the visual and cultural differences caused by language that allow us to see the possibilities of breaking through visual and design habits in graphic design with Chinese characters, which is heavily influenced by Western design systems in the modern era. However, as designers who are familiar with Chinese, perhaps we can refocus on the visual representation with Chinese characters through these works and discussions, and imagine future paths for its development.