15 
WANG XU + ASSOCIATES
GUANGZHOU, CHINA
WANG XU
Wang Xu is a graduate of the design department of the Guangzhou Fine Arts College. After working for more than ten years as a graphic designer in Hong Kong, Wang founded Wang Xu & Associates Ltd. in Guangzhou, China, in 1995. He is a professor at Hunan University and design director of Guangdong Museum of Art. His work has been featured in publications such as Print, Idea ,High Quality , and Graphis. His works are part of the collections of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Branden-burgische Kunstsammlungen Cottbus, Dansk Plakatmuseum, and Die Neue Sammlung.
INSPIRATION IS UNIQUE TO EACH PERSON, JUST AS DNA IS UNIQUE TO EACH INDIVIDUAL.
Pure inspiration does not exist. Pure concepts originate from one’s own unique experiences, judgments, and creations. Since inspiration is part of a designer’s life, it would be unique to each person, just as DNA or a person’s dreams is unique to each individual.
During my career, I don’t use my inspiration for a project just once and then discard it. If it’s a good inspiration, I’ll continue building on it.
The design collective Designers Herzblut invited me to create my version of a logo for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, but it is not a symbol; it could be called a logotype. My idea was to use different languages for “Welcome” as the image of the games. Because I used the logotype in different languages instead of just one symbol, the type could be changed appropriately.
The theme for this project was “Rethink, Redesign, Reuse, Re-fuse.” The inspiration was to rethink/design two items that play a big part in our everyday lives. By combining them into different uses, with different tastes, colors, shapes, and smells, they each take on a new, interesting place and purpose in the space. The challenge was to rediscover the role these items play in our lives—to take the function away from one thing and give it to another.
In the posters commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, I used the incomplete Kanji characters of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to express my idea. When the bombs were dropped I felt hopelessness and terror—these beautiful cities were turned to scorched earth in a second. I used the incomplete characters to express my feelings.