Press
Interview with Liu Yang
1. What have you been busy with lately?
I’m in the midst of preparing for an open air exhibition at the water forest in the outskirts of Berlin. It’s now at the production stage.
2. What course or courses do you teach in the university? Are the students from around the world?
My main courses are exhibition design, books, CI and advertising. Some adjustments would be made each semester. Our students do come from around the world. I had 20 students from 17 countries in my class yesterday.
3. You have worked with different international book fairs as a designer, and have received multiple awards. What was one of the most challenging collaborations you have encountered?
All projects have different types of challenges. Most of our projects
are carried out in collaboration with governments so there are
comparatively more decision makers, and consensus is rare. The most
difficult part of each project is its preliminary analysis. Ascertaining
confirmation of the content from everyone at the initial stage of the
design, and moving together in the same direction are important to
ensuring the design quality. There is little cultural difference between
countries in this point. Every project is a new challenge.
4. 12 years ago, East Meets West made you a bestseller author overnight. If you were to examine the comparisons made in the book today, would there be any changes?
Some of the pictures have indeed seen changes but most have not. Many
images based on religion, tradition and education have not changed very much.
Those that have changed have more to do with habits and customs.
5. What is most difficult about cross-cultural storytelling?
The same story could be understood completely differently, and even have an entirely contrary interpretation. That’s also where it’s most interesting.
6. What is the impact of artificial intelligence on the design industry? Do you find new technology interesting?
This profession has experienced many fundamental changes since I first
studied design. Many production related work will be, or has already
gradually been replaced. The creative part has never been affected all
these years however. We are at the dawn of an age of technical
transformation. The industrial era is coming to an end, and design is a
product of the industrial revolution era. I doubt if the professions we
are familiar with during the industrial revolution era will still exist
but I believe they will emerge anew in other ways.
Liu Yang will be speaking at the StoryDrive conference in Beijing (28 May - 1 June 2019).