min wang Interview
Design director for the beijing 2008 olympic games.
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min wang
the beijing olympic games will begin on august 8, 2008 - and if it’s not already the case, you can expect to see the game's iconographyon just about everything in the coming weeks. with such a massive global audience guaranteed, the job of communicating the eventis no small task.one of the people taking responsibility for this is min wang, design director for the beijing 2008 olympic games. wang and histeam have been the creative force behind everything from street banners to the olympic medals.
designboom recently spoke to him about his role.
the pictograms of the beijing olympic games - by CAFA team, 2008
named ‘the beauty of seal characters’ and with strokes of seal characters as their basic form, the pictograms of the beijing 2008 olympic games integrate pictographic charm of inscriptions on bones and bronze objects in ancient china with simplified embodiment of modern graphics...
...making them recognizable, rememberable and easy to use. skillfully using the effect of sharpcontrast between the black and white colors which the typical chinese traditional artistic form of rubbings have, the pictograms of the beijing olympic games display distinct motion character, graceful aesthetic perception of movement and rich cultural connotations, thus arriving at the harmony and unity of form with conception.
the beijing olympics pictograms comprise of 35 sport icons, namely those of athletics, rowing, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoe / kayak flatwater, canoe / kayak slalom,cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, weightlifting, handball, hockey, judo, wrestling, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, water polo, modern pentathlon, softball, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, shooting, archery,triathlon, sailing, volleyball and beach volleyball.
commemorative postage stamps for the 2008 olympic games - by CAFA team, 2008
the pictograms of the beijing paralympic games - by CAFA team, 2008
the pictograms of the beijing paralympic games have adopted the creative concepts and design styles of the pictograms of the beijing olympic games, while taking into account thecharacteristics of the paralympic sports and the experience of the previous editions of theparalympic games.
design of the escort runner uniform for the torch relay - by CAFA team, 2008
design of the escort staff uniform for the torch relay - by CAFA team, 2008
aircraft for the transportation of the olympic torch - by CAFA team, 2008
the medal for the beijing 2008 olympic games - by CAFA team, 2008
the medals are designed with inspiration coming from ‘bi’, china's ancient jade piece inscribed with dragon pattern. the medals, made of gold and jade, symbolize nobility and virtue and areembodiment of traditional chinese values of ethics and honor, sending forth strong chinese flavor.
anti-smoking poster by min-wang
two anti-smoking posters, one using text 'prohibition of tobacco' by emperor of qing, 1639; one from 'a counterblast to tobacco' by king james I of england, 1604. there are many smokers in china, I was one too, I'd like to find ways to make people quit smoking, the two posters are my first attempt.
anti-smoking poster by min-wang
a poster promoting designed in china - by min wang
logos by min wang -clockwise:
adobe originals, bird house, museum of musical Instruments, eaton food, HFF fashion, madam soon foundation ( US ), the forbidden city, american china society.
min’s type design - by min wang
mythos typeface for linotype - by min wang
past, present, future
I was born in china, where I also grew up and began my studies before leaving for europe. I went to university of arts in berlin and then the school of art at yale university in the US. after studying, teaching and working in europe and the US for
over twenty years, I made the decision to come back to chinato focus my work on two things: design education and design for the 2008 beijing olympic games.
this is a 'weiji' moment in china’s design field. 'wei' means crisis,'ji' means opportunity. from crisis, opportunity arrives. in less than ten years, china has quickly added more than a thousand design schools and programs that enroll hundred of thousands students at university and college level. how to teach design in china, how to learn but not to copy the west, and how to find design expression in eastern aesthetics sense and sensibility, these become big questions. I came back to chinaintending to face, ask and answer these questions.as a western educated chinese designer, I feel being very fortunate to be the current dean of school of design at china central academy of fine arts (CAFA), the academy is
one of the most prestigious and influential art school in china, a position that enables me to make an impact in the field ofdesign education in china today. the students at CAFA today will be the future leaders and educators in china’s design
field tomorrow. it is in them, we invest the hopes and directions of design in china in the future.
what is your daily routine?
it depends where I am needed most. sometimes I go to the beijing olympic committee, other days I go to my office at or studio at CAFA.
what have been your responsibilities as the design director for the beijing 2008 olympic games?
my role as design director for the games came about in october 2006, after a lot of the design work had already begun. some was done by the art research centre for
olympic games at CAFA where I am now the director. since 2003, faculty members and students at CAFA and the olympic art research center at CAFA have been heavily involved the design work for the beijing olympics. here is a partial list of some of the projects CAFA has done:
- identity guidelines
- color system
- pictograms
- medals
- way-finding systems
- the core graphic
- the look for the torch relay
- the look of the games
for a long time, the 2008 beijing olympic committee didn’t have an art director or a design director, when I took-on the position the first thing I had to consider was how to unite everything. our slogan: 'one world, one dream' - is a very good one and in an ideal world the slogan and images should have been developed together as one unit, ie. one voice and one image. they should all speak one voice,
from beginning to end - the venues, the streets, the uniform and the publications - and the message should be very clear. but, unfortunately, from the beginning there were different voices, as designer, as design director, I have to think on how to make everything connected, coherent.
what have been the biggest challenges of such a demanding project?
how can we create an olympic look that combines the olympic spirit and chinese values? how can we create an olympic look that blends the traditional with the contemporary? how can we create an olympic look that is uniquely chinese in color and form? how can we create an olympic look that touches hearts and minds of the people? how can we create an olympic look that will enhance athletes and spectators experience?
how do you see chinese graphic design in the near future,do you think it will have an impact overseas?
I think chinese designers will catch international attention soon, right now there are bid number of chinese designers pushing the creative wave in china.
about min wang
min wang was born in china, 1956. he completed his BA in art at zhejiang academy of fine arts (now the china academy of fine arts) before studying in berlin and then later achieving an MFA at yale university school of art in 1986. since graduating from yale he has worked at adobe systems where he developed digital kanji typefaces (japanese fonts). later he worked at a graphic design studio in connecticut, while continuing in his roles as graphic designer, art director and design manager in the creative services division at adobe systems. in 1998, wang left adobe to form square two design with eddie lee and the consultancy now has offices in san francisco and beijing. in 2003 wang was appointed asthe dean of the school of design, at china central academy of fine arts (CAFA) in beijing. after the creation of the art research centre for the olympic games (ARCOG) at CAFA, wang became the design director for the beijing 2008 olympic games.
related links
square two design: http://www.square2.com
2008 beijing olympic games: http://en.beijing2008.cn
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