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When the cadence of Mandarin collides with the disorder of abstract hip-hop, Aftersound becomes an artistic presence charged with tension. My design task was to build an orderly container for this “disorder.”

In this web design, I experimented with visual minimalism. By refining the interface elements with near-ruthless discipline, I aimed to create an “erasure” experience: making the webpage itself transparent, so users can see through the design and resonate directly with the music.

It is important to emphasize that, to precisely convey the textual qualities of Abstract Hip-hop—leaning toward stream-of-consciousness and deconstruction—I deliberately avoided the rough, graffiti-like “street” aesthetic that many people associate with hip-hop. Instead, I pursued a cool, restrained, slightly aloof sense of proud luxury. This luxury is not built through expensive materials, but through expansive negative space, highly modern typography, and a stark color palette. By returning interaction to intuition and visuals to purity, the design allows users, through minimalist gestures like moving through an avant-garde gallery, to touch the hardest-core and highest-texture Chinese abstract rap scene.

Artist Xu Ziyi’s work spans a wide range, from “fossil” installations grounded in historical materiality to performance pieces that engage social issues. At its core, the practice holds both archaeological rigor and the radical intensity of performative expression. The design challenge was: how to build a digital container that is sufficiently “transparent” and “stable,” so it can clearly organize complex information without dissipating the work’s raw energy.

I did not pursue a flashy visual style. Instead, I defined the site as a “digital archive.” The overall visual tone stems from a commitment to rationality. By using standardized, highly legible sans-serif typefaces, and a layout logic resembling museum collection indexes (such as the linear alignment of work titles, editions, and dimensions), I built a rigorous, searchable information framework for the artist’s entire body of work. This sense of rational order directly responds to the work’s deep engagement with historical documents and social structures.

To hold the “madness” within the work, I used large-scale, borderless negative space to create a white cube-like stillness. This design is not decorative. It is meant to anchor the user’s attention entirely on the work itself, including the texture of the installations and the tension of the performances. With an extremely flattened structure, I removed all nonessential ornamentation and navigation layers, making the work the only visual focus and ensuring its internal energy can still be transmitted directly and raw through the screen.

Everything was simplified. The interaction logic was reduced to the most intuitive scrolling and clicking. This Invisible design makes the site itself transparent. During use, the design fades away and only the natural flow of the work remains. This non-oppressive interaction not only offers high usability, but also creates a proud, undisturbed viewing experience that matches the artist’s serious and profound expression.

After years of quiet work behind the scenes in China’s underground music world, GG Lobster broke with convention, using rap’s narrative structure to recompose vertical electronica and club music. 

While documenting the shoot for the MV, we established a central image together: “Olympix.” This is not a tribute to the sporting event, but a metaphor for a decade of rise and fall in the music industry, an invisible, long, painful marathon. The 2008 Beijing Olympics mark a point in time, and for GG Lobster, a career itself is an endless game.

To respond to the album’s intricate electronic currents, I moved away from my usual minimalist or organic approach and turned to the early-2010s sci-fi visual aesthetic. I used typefaces with a strong futuristic, metallic feel and a non-linear layout, trying to recreate that era’s fervor and unease around technological expansion. The design has a razor-sharp aesthetic, symbolizing the resolve to cut a path through the industry jungle.

The cover’s core visual is supported by two on-site documentary photos I shot. With high-contrast processing and a stark layout, the images are no longer just behind-the-scenes records, but become a monument on a kind of “spiritual ruin.” The interplay of type and image is not for decoration, but to create pressure and speed, echoing the high-frequency, tightly packed club energy in GG Lobster’s music.

My poster design practice is rooted in an in-depth exploration of archival aesthetics and contemporary industrial landscapes. By combining razor-sharp typography, found-object imagery, and multimedia sensory experience, I aim to construct an immersive visual narrative within the two-dimensional plane.

Influenced by the International Typographic Style, I prefer sans-serif typefaces such as Helvetica Bold. I treat text as a form of “spatial construction,” using extreme contrasts in weight and tightly compressed typographic layouts to create a rigor reminiscent of archival labels or industrial instruction manuals. This approach, where “information becomes ornament,” gives the poster a cool, rational undertone.

My work often extracts symbols from everyday landscapes, whether London Underground signage, industrial road signs, or sensory imagery in an anatomical sense. Through cutting, layering, and color substitution, such as high-saturation red and blue contrasts or low-contrast grayscale treatments, I blur the boundary between “public signage” and “private expression,” shifting these elements from their original functional context into a visual language with narrative force.

I pursue edges that feel “razor sharp.” Whether applying dotted patterns or slicing image borders, I strive for clean, decisive precision. This restrained visual treatment is meant to offer viewers a highly recognizable, tension-filled visual anchor amid chaotic information flows.

This series of logo designs brings together experimental typography and industrial sharpness in a highly integrated way. My design language tends to “physically” deconstruct typographic structures, giving graphic work a sense of spatiality and narrative depth.

In my personal identity design, I deliberately break the phrase “Graphic Design” into segments. This nonlinear layout disrupts habitual reading patterns, creating a professional, rational tone similar to an archival label. Design is not only a functional vessel, but also an expression of cultural attitude. 

In BacteriaClub, I use extreme stylistic contrasts—such as heavy geometric type paired with organic biological forms—to examine the misalignment and reconfiguration of identity symbols in a contemporary context. This approach lends the work a street-level rebelliousness with an “industrial cool” character. My practice is deeply influenced by interactive media and digital archives. Whether it is the sequence of circled letters at the bottom or the geometric forms that mimic cellular proliferation, these elements reflect a shift from purely graphic imagery toward a systematic, modular logic. 

This visual strategy is not only about appearance, but about establishing a complete visual protocol that can be “sampled” and applied across video, music packaging, or physical installations.

Instagram (designed by zihan)