Communication Design School of Design
Xiao Zhou
I am a designer-researcher with a strong focus on social issues, working across brand design, publications, and installations. My practice explores the intricate intersections between identity, the body, and contemporary consumer culture. By integrating visual language with narrative structures, I aim to make design not only a tool for expression, but also a means of observing the world and raising critical questions.
This year, my projects explored a metaphorical critique of the commodification of the body through brand design, alongside a reflective publication that traces the evolving sense of self shaped by life abroad. Through a sensitive and experimental approach, I seek to respond to the nuanced realities of contemporary society.
YAL
Brand Design / Exhibition / Installation
This project builds a fictional brand, YAL. The name comes from Yauhtli, an incense used in Aztec sacrifice. On the surface, YAL looks like a normal biomedical shipping company. But underneath, it runs a hidden black-market system for organ and tissue trade.
I created a classification method for body parts based on donor backgrounds—blood type, lifestyle, health history—referencing how products are graded in supermarkets. A neutral, professional outer package hides the product’s true nature—symbolizing how violence is often sanitized through systems of order and progress.
Throughout the process, I acted not just as a graphic designer but as a world-builder, developing visual language, internal logic, and product presentation. The overall tone is cold and precise, employing irony to expose the commodification of the body and class-based violence.
Roots Routes
Publication Design / Archive Design
This project is a personal and cultural exploration centered on a humble, hydroponically grown plant — scallions. For many Chinese students living abroad, scallions are more than a cooking staple—they carry memories, habits, and a deep sense of belonging. By caring for this small plant in a new environment, the project uses the act of growing scallions as a poetic metaphor for adaptation, identity, and emotional healing.
A publication documenting scallion growth stages, personal stories, visual reflections, and interactive pages that invite readers to take part.
As an ongoing initiative, the project also explores the potential of evolving into a culturally grounded brand that helps international students feel connected, comforted, and seen.
