As a graphic designer and doctoral researcher, Yishi is currently conducting visual research in the field of animation. She is interested in illustration and visual design. Currently, Yishi is undertaking her PhD to study the integration of national culture into contemporary animation for traditional Chinese animation design.
Prior to her PhD, she gained seven years of experience in graphic design, specialising in design software specifically from the Adobe range, such as Illustrator and Photoshop. During this period, her design works have expressed various aspects of Chinese culture and have been awarded in different competitions and exhibitions. For example, Her concept package design for Rio soft drink won the Gold Prize in the 3rd Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong Design Invitational Exhibition. A poster designed on the theme of ‘Peace’ won the Bronze Prize in the 3rd China & Japan Design Works Exhibition.
Yishi also has industrial experience working for a bamboo wine company where her responsibility was the brand design and its maintenance including the corporate identity system. In addition, she has teaching experience at English institutes in China, including education for the K12 curriculum and for IELTS.
Title of thesis: How National Culture Integrates with Contemporary Animation: Traditional Chinese Animation Design
Visual Culture and Visual Design in Animation
Yishi is a part of the Animation Research Group, and her research involves exploring a visual system for contemporary Chinese animations to build a clear national identity for them, to support global audiences in recognising and understanding authentic Chinese culture.
The exploration will investigate the history of Chinese animations, compare eastern and western animated feature films and analyse and decode their visual elements using theoretical tools from qualitative research.
Supervisors: Andrew Selby and Professor Phillip Lindley.