This whimsical design captures the essence of spring: playful, delightful, and light. Highlighter orange calligraphy sharply contrasts with the more muted tones of the photograph, yet the sense of movement persists throughout. The designer’s explorations into distinct Chinese typography make this stand out, anchoring a sense of fascination within the piece.
A fusion of fonts and bubblegum pink halftone. We’re equally delighted by this whimsical composition and its proclamation that “bread is fun”. We tried tracking down the origins of this creation, to no avail. If we ever come across Paopao Bakery in the wild, you’d better believe we’re buying a pastry for the road. Recommendations […]
Advertising everything from shoes to medicine to liángpí, this collage of ephemera captures the bold colors, diverse type treatments, and rich compositions that typically pervade Chinese language advertisements.
Featuring auspicious orchid blooms, this poster wishes the viewer a happy Lunar New Year (also known as Spring Festival in China) in the most vibrant of ways. The caption at the bottom reads: “The flower market is a unique activity that takes place during the Spring Festival in Guangdong. I extracted the moth orchid, a […]
Celebratory rabbits ring in the new year with music and performance! These bunnies bring movement and delight into focus, and the horizontal layout allows the animals to take center stage.
“Ginseng sweets, certainly there was enough sugar content to leave a kid running around in circles for 20 minutes but there is also a strong taste of ginseng, so you can add another 20 minutes from the energy supplied by ginseng. The best ginseng is known to come from the Kaesong area but these sweets […]
“Since 1993, we have run a travel company taking in tourists to the DPRK (North Korea) and this was the best sweet to buy on long journeys from Pyongyang down to Kaesong. They are the type your granny gave you with that isoamyl acetate flavor that tastes like pear or apple drops.”— Curated and contributed by […]
“A tin of apricots dressed out in its Korean and Russian attire – just after the break up of the Soviet Union and this label design was made for both the local and the Soviet market. The label was more tasteful in design than its contents.”— Curated and contributed by Nick Bonner, Founder of Koryo […]
“Summer in Moranbong Park, Pyongyang, sold from one of the ladies who push around a trolly of ices around 2010 when designs started to get a bit more modern – nice tasting lolly.”— Curated and contributed by Nick Bonner, Founder of Koryo Tours and author of ‘Made in North Korea: Graphics From Everyday Life in […]
“Not sure where I picked up the matches somewhere early 1990’s – almost every man in North Korea smokes, so not difficult to find. Contains tiny match heads on very finely cut wood sticks – not sure about the safety of keeping them so they had to go.”— Curated and contributed by Nick Bonner, Founder […]
