SHENZHEN

Frontier city

graphic design

Thirty years ago Shenzhen was no more than a cluster of fishing villages on the northern border of Hong Kong. In 1980 China’s new economic reform policy turned these villages into the country’s first Special Economic Zone, the world’s largest manufacturing centre. Today, Shenzhen is the youngest and newest city in China, with a population of 10 million and an average age of 27.

Shenzhen is the birthplace of contemporary Chinese graphic design. As the centre of China’s printing industry, it attracted a pioneering generation of young design students and professionals. They established graphic design as a creative discipline, set up the first independent practices and experimented with a new graphic language, completely different from the political propaganda of the past.

Today, graphic design is flourishing in many Chinese cities. It has become very diverse in form and style, with the younger generation embracing both global and local cultural influences. New directions include collaborations with artists, the use of new technologies and an identification with China’s fast-growing youth culture.