Contemporary Chinese Graphic Design Practice

(Hardback)

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Drawing from a rich body of archival documents, case studies and interviews, this book explores the ways in which graphic designers in China sought to establish graphic design as a profession and discipline from the 1980s to the present day. Yun Wang traces the impact of cultural, economic and social conditions on Chinas developing design industry in a period of rapid transformation, focusing on Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as industry centres. From the influence of the newly implemented reform and opening up policy in 1978, to membership of the World Trade Organization in 2001, and international events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Wang maps the increased demand for design talent and the evolution of a creative industry. This book provides a critical and extensively researched narrative of how graphic design developed locally and regionally, through practice, in education and within the publishing landscape, and pays particular attention to the ways in which designers in different cities in the Peoples Republic of China intersected with international networks. Including material from interviews with over 50 designers and other stakeholders, archival research into graphic work, design journals and exhibition catalogues, and 100 illustrations and photographs throughout, this book provides an in-depth exploration of graphic design developments in recent decades. It also features personal and institutional accounts, in addition to the authors unique insight and reflections on the growing design industry in contemporary China.

Author Bio

Yun Wang is Researcher at the China Design Museum, where she has worked since 2013 on projects including the Design as Enlightenment exhibition in the National Museum of China. She received her PhD from the V&A/RCA History of Design programme, UK, in 2020, and is an active editor, writer and translator for Zhuangshi, Chinas pre-eminent journal for design. She also wrote a chapter in the edited volume, International Design Organizations (Bloomsbury, 2022).