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Doctoral candidate in Visual Communication Design at Aalto University Chao Yang is also an Associate Professor at the Communication University of Zhejiang, China. But first of all, he is an experienced designer in brand image, poster and graphics design and cross-border design projects.

In the iF Design Award 2018 Yang won a total of three awards in the category of Communication Design: two brand logo designs and one book binding design. Founded in 1953, the iF Design Award is the highest design award in the world design field.

“Design is hard work, but it's fun work. The prize is a great encouragement for my design creation and doctoral research. It has made me more determined in my own design practice creation and theory research method”, tells Chao Yang.

Yang’s interest lies especially in presenting the traditional and modern Chinese culture to the world through the way of international visual communication design. He wants to open up the Chinese culture and its rich visuality to people from different cultures so that they can better understand it.

Aiming at “Designed in China”

Yang worked at Aalto University as a visiting researcher in 2015 to carry out a research on "the status quo of Chinese brands in Helsinki". In 2016, he started as a doctoral candidate, focusing his research in improving the visual communication of Chinese brands.

“The aim of my research is to find out how brand design and visual communication can be used to change the reputation of Chinese goods from “made in China” to “designed in China””, explains Yang.

The background literature studies cover traditional Chinese aesthetics and the ancient Silk Road transporting luxury goods from China to Europe. In the second phase, Yang plans to interview the brand owners and companies in China and create alternative brand designs and strategies to be tested in Europe.

“Aalto University's design education is top class in the world. Also, Nordic design leads the world, presenting the extremely simple style with a very good practicability. Therefore, I think my studies here will help me become an influential international designer in the future. Aalto's advanced educational ideas will help me improve and affect my future teaching work in the area of design in China”, visions Yang.

Yang wants to give thanks to many who have helped and directed him In the course of his doctoral research: Marja Seliger, Lily Diaz-Kommonen, Masood Masoodian, Tiina Kotti, Tarja Nieminen ja Markus Joutsela to name a few, as he puts it.

Chao Yang has won more than 120 prizes in international and Chinese design competitions, including the Germany Red Dot Concept Design Award, Germany iF Design Award, Italy A’ Design Award and Competition Gold Award, Los Angeles the International Design Awards (IDA) Gold and Silver Prizes. He also judges some Design Competitions. In 2013-2014 he obtained the German DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) Artist Scholarship in Braunschweig University of Art.

For more information:

Doctoral candidate Chao Yang, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, chao.yang@aalto.fi