Yuxuan Lao
I like asking questions that probably have more than one answer.
As a graphic designer, I am interested in how people read, choose, move and make sense of things. My projects often begin with an observation or a slightly strange question, which I explore through typography, publications, visual experiments and physical making.
I enjoy creating work that people can do something with — read it differently, touch it, play with it, or make their own decisions. For me, graphic design is not only about organising information, but also about creating situations where unexpected things can happen.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Back to the Future explores the relationship between humanity, the city, and nature through the visual language of lines. Beginning with observations of everyday environments—from pedestrian movement and architectural structures to trees and the trajectory of the sun—the project distinguishes between static and dynamic lines and transforms them into a graphic system. Through publication design, typography, illustration, and digital applications, the project reinterprets familiar landscapes as a “line world,” where past, present, nature, and urban life converge.
BECOME A GOD WITH IT
Become a God With It explores menstrual stigma and the ways menstruation has been represented through religion, history and culture. Starting from research into menstrual pain and historical beliefs surrounding menstruation, I questioned why a natural bodily process has often been associated with shame, impurity and restriction.
I reinterpreted religious imagery and ritual through a feminist perspective, transforming menstruation from something hidden or stigmatised into something powerful and sacred. The project developed through illustration, typography, image-making and material experiments, leading to a series of ritual posters, publications, fabric books, installations and costume design.
WHERE DO YOU BEGIN?
WHERE DO YOU BEGIN? explores how graphic design influences where and how reading begins. Through books, cards and reader testing, I investigated how visual structure, rules and chance can guide reading without fixing a single path.
The project developed into an interactive system that allows readers to move between guidance and openness, creating their own reading paths through choice.
Mechanical Voice
Mechanical Voice began with my interest in the sounds made by machines and how they can trigger different emotions. Inspired by my experience of MRI sounds, I explored five mechanical sounds and translated them into visual forms.
The project developed through asemic writing, typography and image-making, leading to a series of posters, a publication, mirror acrylic pieces and 3D-printed objects.
