Jiayue Li
There is an old proverb that goes ‘it is the good teacher who explains, but it is the great teacher that inspires’.
For Jiayue Li, this has led to a career in graphic illustration. "At age 6 I met my art teacher. She was self-taught and had so much enthusiasm for art that I made up my mind to become a designer and illustrator as well.” Encouraging the pursuit, her parents sent her to art school on weekends to learn various drawing techniques like watercolors, pencil sketches and oil paintings.
Although born in Chengdu, China, Jiayue currently resides in San Francisco where she works as a graphic designer.
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Jiayue is a graduate of the College of Design and Innovation from Tongji University in Shanghai, and in 2019 completed the MFA Design Entrepreneurship program of the School of Visual Arts in New York. For Jiayue, that ability to "translate complex ideas into effective and impactful visual communication" has seen her work with a host of companies, ranging from the corporate rebrand of Pfizer and Amica to the product design of the soft-drink Bombay 99.
Other Commissions by Jiayue
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The New York Times Magazine: The strange comfort of jet lag
LA Times: I used to sober-drink water. How the new non-alcholic cocktail wave let me join the party
The New Yorker: Has self-awareness gone too far in fiction?
Vogue Singapore (left): The new social contract
While many would applaud the journey she has already made,it is in fact Jiayue’s own illustrations that are causing a stir in the design world.
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Working with coloured pencils on textured paper, Jiayue describes her style as “surrealistic, elusive and insightful” and often revolve around the journey of the female figure. Catching a glimpse of their face amongst a crowd of flamingos or shrouded in mushrooms, her pieces are soft and intentionally ambiguous, inviting the viewer to dive into the themes she presents. It is no wonder that this distinct style saw Jiayue win the Graphis Design Annual Gold Award in 2019, be shortlisted for the ADC 100th Annual Awards in 2022 and compose work for a host of clients including The New York Times, Vogue Singapore, Google, Apple and The New Yorker, amongst others.
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It may come as a surprise to some, but in chatting to Jiayue she revealed the ideation phase in fact typically lives in her head, pondering a concept or vision for a few weeks before eventually sitting down and putting pen to paper in a single session. -
For us, the dream that so innocently began in her childhood art class has now come seemingly full circle, creating pieces that in turn, inspire others.
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View Jiayue’s Illustration series below or view more via her website and instagram:
