Beijing International Design Festival 2023

Lead visual identity design for the 2023 Beijing International Design Festival, creating a scalable visual system applied across exhibitions, forums, public installations, and city-wide communications.

problem

The 2023 Beijing International Design Festival sought to communicate the theme of “Heritage and Return” through a contemporary visual language that could resonate with both local and international audiences. The challenge was to translate abstract cultural concepts into a clear and scalable identity system while maintaining consistency across a wide range of physical and digital touchpoints throughout the festival.

solution

I developed the festival's key visual identity based on the concept of gravity, using intersecting geometric forms and layered color fields to represent the relationship between heritage, continuity, and future innovation. The resulting visual system was designed to be highly flexible and adaptable, allowing it to scale seamlessly across posters, environmental graphics, exhibition signage, invitations, merchandise, and promotional materials while maintaining strong recognition throughout the festival.

The Beijing International Design Festival is one of China's most influential design and cultural events, bringing together designers, artists, researchers, and creative organizations from around the world.

For the 2023 edition, the festival centered around the theme “Heritage and Return,” exploring how contemporary design can reinterpret cultural memory while envisioning future possibilities.

As the lead visual designer, I was responsible for developing the festival's core visual identity and establishing a cohesive graphic system that could support hundreds of applications across multiple event venues.

The visual concept was inspired by the idea of gravity. Rather than treating heritage as a static symbol, I interpreted it as an invisible force that continuously connects people, places, and cultural narratives across time.

The identity system was deployed across a broad range of festival touchpoints, including exhibition graphics, wayfinding systems, forum stages, public installations, invitations, publications, merchandise, and city-scale promotional materials.

By creating a flexible visual framework rather than a single graphic asset, the system maintained consistency while adapting to the diverse needs of different spaces and audiences.

The final visual identity became the primary communication system for the festival and was experienced by over one million visitors throughout the event period.

The project demonstrates my ability to transform abstract cultural narratives into scalable design systems that function effectively across branding, environmental graphics, and large-scale public experiences.

year

2023

timeframe

3 Months

tools

Adobe Illustrator / Adobe Photoshop / Adobe InDesign / Figma