DESIGNER
P o r t f o l i o
BY YUCHEN ZHANG
SELECTED WORK FROM 09.01.2012 - 18.10.2015
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EDITED COLLECTION
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About My name is Yuchen Zhang. I studied Multi-media design in Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication for 2 years, now study Graphic Design in Cambridge School of Art and will grduate on June, 2016. I am also a freelance designer working in areas such as: graphic design, book cover, book design, website design, branding, user interface, movie editting, phtograph and illustration. If you are interested in my work please check my websites or contact me by email.
Email: teresa.yczhang@gmail.com Website: http://cargocollective.com/yuchenz Behance: https://www.behance.net/yuchenz
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Contents
Graphics Book covers
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Letterpress
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Branding
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Journals
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Photographs
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Websites
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Films
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User Interface
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Illustrations
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01.11.2014 - 15.11.2014
Book cover series
Design of book covers for a serie called The Cultural Concepts Series. Inspried by oil painting and posters in each of the '-ism' times.
postmodernism
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This project involves the design of book covers for a series of books covering key ideas and movements from across Art, Architecture, Philosophy, Economics and Theology; a series of ‘isms’. I designed covers for Postmodernism and Neoplatonism. These two book covers were inspired by the artwork in each of the period. Postmodernism represent experimental and interesting art and focus on low popular culture. The Colours for postmodernism cover were picked up from the magazine cover: April Greiman with Jayme Odgers, Wet magazine, 1979. The irregular order and transparency of the triangles present the visible sign for postmodern art which are intense and independent.
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Neo-platonism
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Neoplatonism presents the traditional philosophy immerging after the third century. As for my design, I use regular ordered circles and colours picked up from Raphael's oil painting the School of Athens (1509 - 1511) to express the classic and traditional feelings. As this is a series book cover design, same typeface for the title was used. The Arial Black brings a strong and straightforward sensation to my design. The similar abstract shapes are placed under the title.
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01.11.2014 - 15.11.2014
Penguine competition
A penguine competition book cover design for Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson.
What they are looking for is a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. I read the whole book and some reviews to get inspired by the thesis and content, to know what kind of character the writer built and what did readers think of it. I chose green for the background colour, orange and black for the texts. Green is the complementary colour for orange to gave a strong impact of the first look of the cover, and worked in concert with the metaphor title. As for typeface I used the serif typeface forum to
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suggest the strict family background for the story. The small phrases around the title are the names of each chapters and suggested the the little girl in the fiction finally broke the bound and found the why she lives.
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01.10.2014 - 01.11.2014
Letterpress
A letterpress postcard. Couplet from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake (1757-1827) "The caterpillar on the leaf repeats to thee thy mother's grief." Size: A6, portrait, 105mm x 148mm
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16.11.2014 - 20.12.2014
Branding
A branding guidelines for Cambridge Arts and Cultural Leaders Including: Logo, guidelines, one issue of magazine based on guidelines, infographics.
The name of the group we are designing for is Cambridge Arts and Cultural Leaders. This is a consortium of 19 arts and cultural spaces in Cambridge – museums, galleries, venues, festivals etc. – and it is hoped that this number will grow as the project develops. The aim of project is to unite all the arts and cultural spaces in Cambridge under this banner, and to get them talking to each other. The main reason behind the
Inspiring Cambridge PDF e-magazine is to get more stakeholders on board so that in a few years, there will be increasing wills and motivations to make this a more public concern. This set of branding guide line project includes a logo for the group and a set of guidelines, a re-designed inspiring Cambridge PDF, a web version for this and two information graphics that help express some key data about the arts and cultural sector in Cambridge.
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Logo
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brand guidelines The guidelines are 27 pages including logo, colour palate, frames, typeface, imagery and design examples.
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infomation graphics One information graphic is based on the Fitzwilliam Museum's collections. The shape is inspired by the displayed image for each of the category. The Cambridge Junction Coming events design focus on the connections and comparisons.
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Re-designed Inspiring Cambridge pdf This re-designed Inspiring Cambridge pdf is based on the guidelines I designed before.
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web design
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10.02.2015 - 20.12.2015
Branding
A branding for Cambridge School of Art MA degree show website. Two visions, one is free design the other one is based on Wordpress. Vision one: free design
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Vision two: based on Wordpress.
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15.03.2015 - 15.05.2015
In between
A multi-page document based on psychological film reviews and quotes. It has two parts, one part is stories of cheerful films another part is depressed films. Size: 160mm x 160mm
Two front covers of the document.
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This multi-page document project is a collection of quotes and reviews about physiological films. I named it "In Between". Everything has two sides: the dark side and the bright side. Like the films I chose, there are three psychological thrillers when you read from left to right and there are another three healing films if you read from right to left. In all these films I chose, the protagonists are suffered from some kind of mental illness. Many people have this kind of illness because of harms brought by their close people or surroundings. However, it doesn't mean that those who suffered the illness are bad people. Most of them still keep their good minds. If people who are close to them find it
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out earlier and be nicer or kinder to them, they probably are still healthy and optimistic. Society is afraid of those who have mental illness. It see them as a threat and are terrified of it. It also looks down upon them. Some people do not think mental illness are illness and regard it merely as their imaginations. Thanks to the directors, they have a unique observation to penetrate man's heart. These films reveal the truth and let people know the truth. Since people get emotional involved when watching the film, they often identified themselves with the characters in the film. The power of the film can help people to understand better about the mental patients. Personally, I sincerely hope people can read the inner world of these patients and to give them more help through watching these films.
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05.10.2015 - 15.11.2015
pattern experiment
This is an experimental project focus on extracting the traditional Chinese elments to fuse and blend them into contemporary designs. Also, recorded the feedback and opinions about the modern patterns from the Chinese population.
This is a 6 week project which I experiment in how to make traditional Chinese flowers into modern patterns and how Chinese people feel about it. Each of the flowers in my project symbolizes a virtue of the gentleman in ancient China. I record the process and make them into a small booklet.
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15.02.2015 - 15.05.2015
websites
The webistes interface for Cambridge School of Arts MA degree show.
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05.10.2015 - 15.11.2015
User Interface
This is an app I created mainly to record the time you spend on your phone and help you to reduce the time on your phone.
The reason I created this app is because cell phones can be harmful to our healthy. The time people spent on their phones is increasing very fast. People have less time to talk face-to-face with families members or friends. This, I think, is a backward for human civilization. Thus this app is created to help people record the time on the phone and alarm you when you have used up your time. I designed 22 screens including home screens, status screens, and setting screens. The colours are inspired by the colours of the sky in daytime and nighttime.
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01.12.2014 - 15.12.2014
Line
Photography London Metro
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07.01.2015 - 28.01.2015
Rebuild
Photography Italy Venice Rome In the city
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07.04.2015 - 15.04.2015
Blue in the Blue
Photography Dorset Beach
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03.08.2015 - 15.08.2015
how are you today
Photography China Inner Mongolia Prairie
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03.15.2013 - 06.20.2013
Yin Xu
A documentary video about Yin Dynasty ruins in China. Yin Xu is the site of one of the ancient and major historical capitals of China. It is the source of the archeological discovery of oracle bones and oracle bone script, which resulted in the recognition of the earliest known Chinese writing. It is one of China's oldest and largest archeological sites, and is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Length: 5' 50"
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04.10.2014 - 07.20.2014
Tiny Times
A music video I made for my vocal club in my Chinese university in Beijing. Length: 3' 01"
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02.03.2013 - NOW
Illustrations
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