Selected Work

Graphic Design
YearTypeProject
2024
Publication DesignLast Stand of Rock

2024
Publication Design墟·Ruins

2024
Publication DesignThe BIG GOOD

2024
Riso Poster Design
Rubik’s Cube


2024
Publication Design Jumbo the Elephant (WIP)

2023
Publication Design
Q: What Stranger will you never forget?  

2023
Publication Design痕迹·Trace

2023Publication DesignBrotherhood
2023
Letterpress PrintingHow to Pick A Sweet Watermelon

2023Letterpress PrintingHIDE
2022
Publication DesignCaslon Type Specimen Book

2022
Album Cover DesignHair

2021Ticket DesignStorm Lake

2021
Album Cover DesignHollywood Waltz

2021
Poster DedignAt the margins of memory

2020BrandingNanmen Crab Roe Bun Shop

2019
BrandingOcean Voice

2019
Album Cover RedesignMy QUEEN

Other Artworks
YearTypeProject
2026ComicsJourney of the Sorcerer Vol.2 (WIP)
2025CollageInto the Woods
2024
ComicsJourney of the Sorcerer Vol.1

2023Acrylic PaintingCat & Fish
2020
ComicsThe Tresure

2019Oil Pastel DrawingIn My Dream

GD-018Last Stand of Rock

By the 1960s, the protests of the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement gradually increased. Rock music became the “weapon” of this movement, the spirit of counter-culture conveyed by the lyrics became the “bullet” of this movement. This is not a simple re- bellion, but an awakening of freedom and a revolution in the wave of thought and culture.

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GD-017墟·Ruins

Since the 1990s, the construction of the Three Gorges Dam began in Sandouping, Yichang, Hubei, reshaping the local ecology and society on a massive scale. The project forced countless residents to leave the rice fields and rivers of their hometowns and relocate to unfamiliar places. Behind this transformation, the “Three Gorges migrants” became quiet witnesses of rapid development, carrying a lasting sense of farewell.

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GD-016The Big Good

Many Chinese believe fate and the afterlife can be influenced through spiritual practices. When feeling unwell, some turn to Five Elements and Bagua rituals, such as “cleaning the Yuan Chen Palace,” hoping to change their fortune. This belief has also fueled fortune-telling scams, as scammers exploit people’s fear and desire for quick solutions, leaving victims with financial loss and damaged relationships.
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GD-015Riso Poster Design: Rubic’s Cube

Drawing from the geometric structure and shifting surfaces of a Rubik’s Cube, this poster interprets the themes of Luxury, Maximalist, Heroic, and Futuristic through bold composition and layered visuals. The work was printed in Risograph, emphasizing its tactile and luminous qualities.

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GD-014Jumbo the Elephant (WIP)

Jumbo, once the world’s most famous elephant, became a symbol not only of wonder but of modernity in motion. As railroads and steam power reshaped the nineteenth century, the elephant was increasingly imagined alongside machines as labor, spectacle, and a force being replaced by industrial progress. Jumbo’s death in 1885, struck by a freight train, turned this metaphor into a literal collision between animal body and mechanical speed. Yet even after his death, Jumbo continued to “move” through culture. His ghost endured, haunting modern culture and leaving behind a legacy of fascination, captivity, and technological power.

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GD-013Q: What Stranger Will You Never Forget?

Q: What Stranger Will You Never Forget? documents a series of encounters with strangers I once met and never forgot. Through brief moments, gestures, and conversations, these individuals entered my life and quietly stayed. The project is printed using risograph, a process that embraces imperfection, repetition, and chance, echoing the fragmentary nature of memory itself.

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GD-012痕迹·Trace

痕迹·Trace is a material exploration of everyday objects and poetic language. Common household items are dipped in ink and used as tools to create abstract patterns, allowing accidental gestures and textures to emerge through repetition and chance. These images are paired with fragments of poetry, forming a quiet dialogue between the ordinary and the lyrical.

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GD-011Brotherhood

Brotherhood is based on the poem “Brotherhood” by Mexican philosopher, poet, and diplomat Octavio Paz. Rather than directly illustrating the poem’s content, the book pairs the text with imagery inspired by the phenomenon of a whale fall. This visual narrative echoes the poem’s reflections on connection, existence, and shared destiny, while maintaining a quiet distance from literal interpretation.

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GD-010How to Pick A Sweet Watermelon

This hand letterpress printed artist book takes the irregular shape of a single slice of watermelon. The project is designed as five separate books that can be assembled together to form one complete watermelon, transforming individual copies into parts of a larger whole.

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GD-009Hide

This hand letterpress printed accordion book is designed to create a subtle moment of humor and surprise through words, color, glyphs, and the physical act of unfolding. The project centers on two words, hide and peekaboo, forming a simple narrative in which language plays hide and seek with the reader.

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GD-008Caslon Type Specimen Book

This accordion book serves as a specimen book for the typeface Caslon. It presents a comprehensive overview of the typeface, including its designer and historical background, typographic anatomy, display applications, and related typefaces.

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GD-007Hair

This album cover is designed for Hair, capturing the spirit and emotional intensity of the musical through pattern and color. Instead of directly illustrating scenes or characters, the design translates the story’s themes of freedom, rebellion, love, and collective identity into bold, rhythmic visual elements.

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GD-006Storm Lake

These film tickets are designed for the documentary Storm Lake. The project reimagines the ticket not just as an entry pass, but as a small-scale design object that reflects the film’s themes of journalism, community, and quiet resilience. 

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GD-005Hollywood Waltz

This album cover is designed based on impressions of Eagles’ song Hollywood Waltz. Through color and the arrangement of letters, the design expresses the bittersweet emotion carried by the song. It translates the song’s emotional undercurrent into a visual language of faded glamour, tenderness, weariness, romance, and quiet disillusionment.

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GD-004At the Margins of Memory

Through cutting, weaving, arranging, and rubbing copies of several books, this poster explores the idea of marginalia as a physical and conceptual practice. Text and images are fragmented, displaced, and layered, transforming the page into a space of intervention rather than passive reading. 
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GD-003Nanmen Crab Bun Shop

This branding project is a redesign for a crab roe bun shop in my hometown, with a focus on highlighting its signature specialty. The core concept centers on making the crab roe bun not just a menu item, but the visual and emotional identity of the brand.

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GD-002Ocean Voice

The subject of this project is the voice of the ocean, a visual design of the institute of Marine psychology. It was inspired by news of w h a l e suicides o r m a s s suicides. Accord- ing to research, some scientists have found that these whales are actually psychological and emotional. Their voice can express some of their emotions, such as crying and whin- ing. I wanted to do this project through whale elements, so that the audience could pay attention to the psychology of Marine animals.

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GD-001My QUEEN


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OA-006Journey of the Sorcerer Vol.2 (WIP)

This comic continues the story from my previous volume. In this chapter, the protagonists Jack the Cat and Adam the Rabbit are still on their journey to seek the magic of truth when they pass through a robotic metropolis known as the City of Steelbond Dreams.
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OA-005Into the Woods


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OA-004Journey of the Sorcerer


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OA-003Cat & Fish
 
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OA-002The Treasure

This comic tells the story of a ghost who guards a treasure chest on a remote island. What begins as a tale of protection slowly unfolds into something more intimate and emotional.
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OA-001In My Dream

This oil pastel drawing records a dream of mine. In the dream, I found myself inside a magical forest filled with wolves, sheep, snakes, blooming flowers, and distant mountains glowing with quiet beauty. The scene felt vivid and constantly shifting, as if everything were alive and in motion.

[More…]
  Archive
Info
Ziyi Liu



Ziyi (Viola) Liu is a Chicago-based graphic designer and book artist working at the intersection of typography, paper, and tactile dimensions of design.

She explores experimental approaches to printing and bookbinding, challenging traditional conventions of materials and form. Her work draws inspiration from a wide range of interests, including creatures, musical theatre, sociology, and literature. Recently, her practice has expanded into motion graphics and digital media, where she integrates interactive design with a sustained focus on tactility and materiality. Ziyi received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently pursuing an MFA in Design at the University of Southern California.







Contact
ziyiliudesign@gmail.com






Education
University of Southern California         08/2024-05/2026
MFA in Design

School of the Art Institute of Chicago 09/2020-05/2024
BFA, Visual Communication Focus






Skills
Image Production      
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, Procreate, Clip Studio

UI/UX      
Figma, Sketch, p5.js, XD 

3D Modeling & AR Technique      
Cinema 4D, Blender, Kivi Cube 

Digital Media      
After Effect, Media Encoder, Premiere Pro, TouchDesigner 

Office & Document Management 
Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint 

Studio Skills    
Book Design & Binding, Print Making, Riso, Offset, Screen Printing, Typography, Web Design, Oil Painting, Comics, Sculpture, Bronze Casting, Storyboard Design, Ceramics, Collage, Hand Drawing, Digital Illustration, Letterpress,
2D / 3D Motion Graphics, Video Editing, Photography/Videography