We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer ALICE XI ZONG about their original and creative Book design work. ALICE XI ZONG is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original book works.
ALICE XI ZONG ("AXZ") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work ZhuZi Art Book. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
AXZ : This collection of book editions was inspired by traditional Chinese painting & Chinese calligraphy art. With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal.
AXZ : When designing the collection, abstract shapes, colors, and lines was used to create a consistent sensuality and highlight the blank space in the sketch. The effortless coincides with artists in traditional painting and calligraphy styles.
AXZ : The ZhuZi Art Book collection was selected and published as featured in the ZhuZi Art Musesum, Nanjing, China. Zhuzi Art Center fills a void in the west of Nanjing for visual art exhibition space. occupying two floors in a new purpose built complex off Jiangdong Bei Lu. The contemporary design of the first floor is offset by a futuristic windowless second floor and a side shop/tea garden in which one can browse/buy a fascinating selection of art books
AXZ : After researching for the traditional Chinese calligraphy & Chinese Painting, I interviewed each artist and collected their painting & calligraphy art pieces that they would like to feature in the books. Then I created the different theme & logos for each book. The layout of the books are done in Adobe InDesign. Then made the application with photography and Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom CC.
AXZ : With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal.
AXZ : This is a series of the Book editions for the collected works of traditional Chinese calligraphy & Chinese painting is published by Nanjing Zhuzi Art Museum.
AXZ : With all the visual concepts in mind, and with all the Chinese painting & calligraphy art collected as digital art, 4 book editions started to developed, where each book is made out of the combination of the traditional Chinese element, bringing all the inspirations together and creating a unique, delicate Chinese style of impressionistic, which shows exquisite elegance and luxuriant cultural implication of China.
AXZ : People who love traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, traditional Asian art.
AXZ : My background. My grandpa is calligraphy, so is my father. Growing up I have been watching them working on the traditional Chinese calligraphies, which is a good impact that leads to my design passion for the traditional Asian arts.
AXZ : Adobe InDesign & Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustration
AXZ : With its long history and elegant technique, the traditional Chinese paintings & calligraphy is treasured for it's highly artistic and practical appeal.
AXZ : The technology plays a great role in the ZhuZi Art Book project. With the Adobe Creative Suite design tools, especially the Adobe Indesign & Photoshop, I could work on the layout and the book cover professionally, which gives me awesome experience and a lot more exploration of the design overall.
AXZ : The challenge of this project is to keep the authenticity of the traditional Chinese painting & calligraphy and the visually pleasing modern design layout. To have a better understanding of the balance of both traditional & modern visual styles, I interviewed most of the calligraphers and Chinese painters, collected their opinions and suggestions after several draft options and finally came up with the best solution that could blend both styles well and show in the book design.
