Yang Liu

Yang Liu is a Chinese-German artist, visual designer, and educator whose work explores the intersection of art, design, and cross-cultural communication. After earning a master's degree from the University of Arts Berlin, Liu worked with design firms including Derek Birdsall, Thomas Manss in London and Berlin, and Chermayeff & Geismar in New York. She has worked as a designer in Singapore, London, Berlin, and New York, and founded her own design studio, Yang Liu Design, in Berlin. The studio specializes in logo systems, corporate identities, information design, exhibition design, wayfinding systems, cross-cultural design, content visualization, print media, and book design for institutions and companies worldwide.

Liu gained international recognition with her pictogram series, beginning with the book "East Meets West," which uses minimalistic visualizations to convey differences between Chinese and Western cultures. The book became a bestseller and was widely shared online. Liu continued the series with "Man Meets Woman," exploring gender differences, as well as "Today Meets Yesterday" and "Big Meets Little," each applying her visual language to new social and cultural themes.

The inspiration for Liu's work is rooted in her personal experiences navigating life as both Chinese and German. She creates pictograms that blend art, design, statistics, and illustration, drawing on her bicultural perspective to make complex cultural dynamics accessible to a global audience. Her work has been featured in exhibitions in 20 countries, including at the German Foreign Ministry, and she has received feedback from readers worldwide.

Liu's accolades include the Gold Design Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany, multiple Red Dot International Design Awards, and the German Design Award. Her work has won awards in international competitions and is included in museums and collections globally. In addition to her studio practice, Liu holds workshops and lectures at international conferences and has taught at universities in Germany and abroad, including an appointment as professor at BTK University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. Liu is recognized for her ability to distill the complexities of culture, gender, and society into universally understood visuals, contributing to the fields of graphic design, visual communication, and cross-cultural education.