Jo Zixuan

Atlas

A collaborative publication mapping migration through the motif of air travel

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jo.alwaysblue@gmail.com
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Jo Zixuan (
周子璇
) is a Chinese-American graphic designer and illustrator, currently based in New York City. Having graduated from SVA with a BFA in illustration and RISD with an MFA in Graphic Design, Jo specializes in visual storytelling, bi-scriptual typography, and expressive systems. Her concept- and research-driven process takes form in visual identities, books, spaces, and websites. She maintains a teaching practice through adjunct teaching, mentorship and
Illustration Roundtable.
‍
CLIENTS
The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, NPR, Columbia Global Report, Medium, NBC, PLANSPONSOR, NYT for KIDS China, The Atlantic, Narratively, Toggl, Intel, FCB Inferno, Dotdash, The Balance, Thought Co., Lifewire, TripSavvy, The Spruce,
三联《少年》
,
新世相


FEATURES
It's Nice That, Groundooh Art, Hiiibrand

AWARDS
2022 - Society of Illustrators 65 Annual
2021 - Communication Arts 63 Winner
2020 - Hiiibrand Jury Award
2020 - American Illustration 39 Winner
2020 - Society of Illustrators Annual
2019 - Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Competition Finalist
2019 - 3 x 3 International Illustration Award Merit Winner
2019 - The Batsford Prize International Category Shortlisted
2018 - Speedball New Impressions winner, Intaglio/Etching Second Place

EXHIBITIONS
2023 - eMotion, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven
2023 - Sino-German Illustration Exhibition, HISMOON gallery, Suzhou
2021 - NO SAMPLE Risograph Exhibition, Fujian
2021 - NO SAMPLE Risograph Exhibition, Xi'an
2019 - Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship, New York
2019 - Speedball National Printmaking Showcase, Davis Gallery, Sawtooth, NC
2018 - The Haves and Have-Nots, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York 2018 - Constellations, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York
2018 - HOPE Competition, SVA Westside Project Space, New York

COLOPHON
Web design
Jo Zixuan

Typeface
Authentic Sans by Christina Janus and Desmond Wong
‍Situated Sans by Thea Kim
‍

Atlas

A collaborative publication mapping migration through the motif of air travel

Category

Print

Year

2024

Spec

8.5" x 11"
216 x 279 mm
16 pages

I often see myself as a migrating bird. Building a new nest wherever I go. Instead of flying between the north and the south. I’m flying between the east and the west. In this collaborative publication, Atlas, designed together with my graduate cohort, we were asked to answer the questions of who are you? and where are you? My visual response depicts the trajectory of my life as one continuous migrating trip. I use air travel as a motif, and airplane as a symbol for myself, mapping out this trip in the change of both location and time.

The pages start with an overview of the journey—within the threshold of the nostalgic past and the unknown future. My body, which is carried by the airplanes, is constantly hopping between worlds. The abbreviations on the map is the airports I most often visited, located at the east coast of the U.S. and the east coast of China.

Geographically, this trip started from my hometown, and the current stop is Providence, Rhode Island. As of the moment of writing this thesis, I have yet to find out where the destination of this next trip would be after graduation. Emotionally, my memory of the past is starting to fade and  scatter. The order of family album is disrupted in the process of the trip.

Temporally, I am traveling through the natural cycle of time, marked out by the lunar and tidal cycles. I wrote down small pieces of thoughts regarding this new phase of my journey, regarding migration, time, and border, trying to finding a path amid the winding routes.

At a certain point, the concept of time is collapsed entirely. Everything is distored and sucked in by a worm hole.

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jo.alwaysblue@gmail.com