mengyu cao combines calligraphy and watercolor to illustrate chinese zodiac characters

designer mengyu cao combines chinese calligraphy and watercolor drawing to create the ‘chinese zodiac’ typography series. the project aims to depict the meaning of each zodiac han character, in order to help people who don’t know chinese, understand and appreciate the culture. 

all images courtesy of mengyu cao

in this project, mengyu cao breaks the traditional chinese calligraphy forms and adds a harmonious creative touch, through the use of watercolors, to illustrate the meaning of each character. the series is based on the chinese zodiac system, a classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. 

the animals featured on the chinese zodiac are: 鼠rat、牛ox、虎tiger、兔rabbit、龙dragon、蛇snake、马horse、羊goat、猴monkey、鸡rooster, 狗dog, 猪pig. ‘chinese characters always look like complicated drawings to people who don’t know chinese – this project aims to make it understandable to everyone’ the designer shares. 

project info:

name: chinese zodiac
designer: mengyu cao

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom