Qiuhan Chen

Love and Freedom: Investigate the potential of visual communication design to support gay communities in China

Project Abstract

The project mainly calls for love and freedom for the Chinese gay community. After research, the Chinese gay community, due to traditional Chinese cultural taboos and legal ambiguities, has been decriminalized but is still on the fringes of society, resulting in the community suffering from varying degrees of harm, both physically and psychologically.

By combining traditional Chinese tattoos and images of mythical beasts with famous stories of gays in ancient China, the project attempts to use metaphors, which are more suitable for Chinese culture, to call for respect and tolerance for the Chinese gay community and to encourage them to be brave enough to express themselves and to pursue love and freedom.

The project resulted in the design of two series of static and dynamic posters and related poster peripherals.

Reflection

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Fig. 1 – Combining the image of the traditional Chinese beasts as the visual subject with other traditional patterns, the symbolism of the beasts representing good wishes was utilized as a promotional tool.

Fig. 2 – Combining traditional Chinese tattoos and famous love stories between gays in ancient China, the illustrations use metaphors to express the pursuit of love
and freedom and support the gay community in China.

Fig. 3 – Combined with representative stories of ancient Chinese gay stories, the film conveys the central idea of “harmony in diversity” and calls for respect and tolerance for the Chinese gay community.