From designing lipstick packaging to a horror movie title sequence, the creativity of young Asian Canadians was brought together in a diverse, virtual exhibition organized in celebration of Asian Heritage Month in May.
The virtual show, Embracing Young Asian Canadians’ Talent, featured the work of young designers of Asian descent who live in the Greater Toronto Area and are studying in the Department of Design at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design.
AMPD Professor Wendy S. Wong served as the exhibition director, wanting to provide a venue to share the works of these up-and-coming designers.
“The wide range of design works reflect their creativity and potential as upcoming talents in our unique multicultural milieu in Canada,” said Wong.
The design works included brand identity design, packaging design, web and user interface design, publication design, lettering and type design, infographic design, and motion graphics. The designs were prepared for department courses in the past academic year.
The show featured the creative works of students like Kristen Chan, the designer of the show’s website. Her design embraces the concept of nurturing. Her freestyle graphic drawings of floral motifs and plants used on the site symbolize “embracing young talents,” with an added touch of Lottie animation interface to enhance users’ engagement. Through the design, her hope was to spread a love of nature through her designs.
Design student Jersey Stuart revisualized the book cover of the well-loved fairytale story The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The project includes two covers: one focusing on an image and the other on a type basis.
Jocelyn Shen, an international student from Yangon, Myanmar, designs depicted the consequences of Myanmar’s military coup with an overarching sense of strength in the spirit of the people. They are linked through consistent design elements like the three-finger salute motif — which has become the most prominent symbol of solidarity and resistance against the military — and the color palette: black, white and red.
Work from student Sam Toyama, a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian, was inspired by the aesthetic of Japanese minimalist design. For his communication design class, the designer had to catalogue a photographic collection. He chose to catalogue his collection of seashells from Japan that were collected from a beach during his childhood. He designed the facing pages on each other from the spine either through text or visuals to reflect the duality between the surface and the ocean.
The virtual show also features the work from students Sanyukta Ghag, Sam Loiselle, Catriona Nguyen, Nieves Rocillo, Jethro Sanchez, Nabiha Tasnim, Ingrid Wong, Jasmine Wong, and Jenny Yuhan Zhao. All of the designs can be accessed online. The exhibition was co-presented by the Department of Design and the York Centre for Asian Research.