JJ Jie Jian
Currently at Urban Art Projects & ETA Gallery
Touch, 2024
Book , 5″ × 6″
Typefaces: Times, Songti, Courier
Featuring an embossed cover, this booklet documents the chat history via text between my friend Xinhe and me, including only the sentences that contain the word “touch.” The sentences capture a wide range of experiences, from the tenderness of petting cats to the unsettling violations of being touched by sexual predators—on the subway, at work, and in other spaces. Each instance is documented with equal weight, juxtaposing the mundane with the disturbing, to confront the jarring realities of touch.
Book , 5″ × 6″
Typefaces: Times, Songti, Courier
Featuring an embossed cover, this booklet documents the chat history via text between my friend Xinhe and me, including only the sentences that contain the word “touch.” The sentences capture a wide range of experiences, from the tenderness of petting cats to the unsettling violations of being touched by sexual predators—on the subway, at work, and in other spaces. Each instance is documented with equal weight, juxtaposing the mundane with the disturbing, to confront the jarring realities of touch.
Muted Realities, 2024
Exhibition Design, Print, Vinyl
Typefaces: Chaplin, LD Huin Myeongjo, LXGW WenKai
Design: JJ
Curators: ETA Gallery (Celine Lam, Yujia Li, JJ, Ariel He)
Curated by ETA Gallery, an Asian women-owned gallery based in Brooklyn, this exhibition is made possible by the generous support of Celine Lam, Yujia Li, JJ, and Ariel He. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Werkshop Coffee Co. and Brian for providing the exhibition space and supporting AAPI artists and designers.
We have carefully selected a diverse range of typefaces drawn by talented type designers worldwide to enrich our exhibition. These include Chaplin by Amanda Guo, a graphic and type designer based in New York City, LD Huin Myeongjo by Dohee Lee from South Korea, who owns her type foundry leedotype, and an open sourse typeface LXGW WenKai by LXGW.
Exhibition Design, Print, Vinyl
Typefaces: Chaplin, LD Huin Myeongjo, LXGW WenKai
Design: JJ
Curators: ETA Gallery (Celine Lam, Yujia Li, JJ, Ariel He)
Curated by ETA Gallery, an Asian women-owned gallery based in Brooklyn, this exhibition is made possible by the generous support of Celine Lam, Yujia Li, JJ, and Ariel He. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Werkshop Coffee Co. and Brian for providing the exhibition space and supporting AAPI artists and designers.
We have carefully selected a diverse range of typefaces drawn by talented type designers worldwide to enrich our exhibition. These include Chaplin by Amanda Guo, a graphic and type designer based in New York City, LD Huin Myeongjo by Dohee Lee from South Korea, who owns her type foundry leedotype, and an open sourse typeface LXGW WenKai by LXGW.
Nutshell, 2024
Type Design
Nutshell is a low-contrast serif typeface designed for the album Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains. Named after the most played track on the album, Nutshell captures the melancholic, gloomy, and hazy essence of the ’90s grunge sounds. Its asymmetrical serifs, reminiscent of calligraphic brush strokes, and soft, rounded shapes are evocative of the rhythms in Jar of Flies. Best suited for small body text in CD booklets, Nutshell was designed with humming in mind.
Type Design
Nutshell is a low-contrast serif typeface designed for the album Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains. Named after the most played track on the album, Nutshell captures the melancholic, gloomy, and hazy essence of the ’90s grunge sounds. Its asymmetrical serifs, reminiscent of calligraphic brush strokes, and soft, rounded shapes are evocative of the rhythms in Jar of Flies. Best suited for small body text in CD booklets, Nutshell was designed with humming in mind.
Among Friends: The Generosity of Judy & Ken Dayton, Walker Art Center, 2023
Exhibition Design, Print, Vinyl
Typeface: Diatype
Design Director: Mark Owens; Art Direction: Ian Babineau.
The exhibition Among Friends pays tribute to the generosity of Judy and Kenneth Dayton, who, over the decades, enabled more than 550 artworks to enter the Walker’s collection. The Daytons’ approach to collecting was driven by curiosity, passion, and lasting relationships: some of the artists whose works had pride of place in their home—such as Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and Claes Oldenburg—became their close friends.
The identity of this exhibition focuses on the lack of hierarchy to highlight the close friendships that the Daytons shared with the artists. The concept of “Among Friends” is expressed by spotlighting the artists’ first names and adding Judy and Ken to the artists’ list. Panels that tell the personal stories between the Daytons and the artists are also shown next to their artworks.
Exhibition Design, Print, Vinyl
Typeface: Diatype
Design Director: Mark Owens; Art Direction: Ian Babineau.
The exhibition Among Friends pays tribute to the generosity of Judy and Kenneth Dayton, who, over the decades, enabled more than 550 artworks to enter the Walker’s collection. The Daytons’ approach to collecting was driven by curiosity, passion, and lasting relationships: some of the artists whose works had pride of place in their home—such as Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and Claes Oldenburg—became their close friends.
The identity of this exhibition focuses on the lack of hierarchy to highlight the close friendships that the Daytons shared with the artists. The concept of “Among Friends” is expressed by spotlighting the artists’ first names and adding Judy and Ken to the artists’ list. Panels that tell the personal stories between the Daytons and the artists are also shown next to their artworks.
Call to Remember, Walker Art Center, 2023
Newsprint & Insert
Typefaces: Freight and Halyard by Joshua Darden
Design Director: Mark Owens
Through collaborative improvisation and dance experimentation, artists from Leslie Parker Dance Project explore Black pedagogy, conjuring, and activism while emphasizing remembrance to cultivate community. Reflecting on divinity and lineage, Divination Tools: imagine home draws from Blackness in music, dance, and storytelling in real time and is the latest iteration of Parker’s epic work Call to Remember.
Newsprint & Insert
Typefaces: Freight and Halyard by Joshua Darden
Design Director: Mark Owens
Through collaborative improvisation and dance experimentation, artists from Leslie Parker Dance Project explore Black pedagogy, conjuring, and activism while emphasizing remembrance to cultivate community. Reflecting on divinity and lineage, Divination Tools: imagine home draws from Blackness in music, dance, and storytelling in real time and is the latest iteration of Parker’s epic work Call to Remember.
Skyline Mini Golf, Walker Art Center, 2023
Print, Signage, Vinyl, Merch
Typeface: Nuform Sans
Design Director: Mark Owens
Every summer Skyline Mini Golf returns to the Walker rooftop. This year’s identity is part of the 2023 Summer Campaign that focuses on color and type.
Print, Signage, Vinyl, Merch
Typeface: Nuform Sans
Design Director: Mark Owens
Every summer Skyline Mini Golf returns to the Walker rooftop. This year’s identity is part of the 2023 Summer Campaign that focuses on color and type.
Various Projects made at Walker Art Center, 2022–2023
Design Director: Mark Owens
With help from Brian Huddleston, Ian Babineau, Andrew Bogard, Kate Arford, Jake Yuzna and Pamela Johnson.
Cover Image for Walker Reader’s Gradient series You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover.
Insights Design Lecture Series AIGA email ads.
British Arrows 2022 with Collaboration with Fisk.
Walker Dispatch, Rebrand of the internal Staff Newsletter.
Design Director: Mark Owens
With help from Brian Huddleston, Ian Babineau, Andrew Bogard, Kate Arford, Jake Yuzna and Pamela Johnson.
Cover Image for Walker Reader’s Gradient series You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover.
Insights Design Lecture Series AIGA email ads.
British Arrows 2022 with Collaboration with Fisk.
Walker Dispatch, Rebrand of the internal Staff Newsletter.
Sinful Magical Girls, 2022
Book Design, Type Design, Website, Various Mediums
Typefaces: Dolores and Magical 7 Sins designed by JJ; Super Tramp designed by Vivian Dehning
Virtuous girls are confessing their sins. We are telling you our sinful stories. Just as magical girls are always symbols of love and peace, we formed a group of sinful magical girls embodying the seven deadly sins. By initiating the confessions, we regain the power, reclaim our explanation of the guilt, and carry our evilness. Accompanying this book and website of confessions, I hand-crocheted seven butterfly tops for each girl, drew one text typeface, designed one variable font, and tufted one magic circle rug. Every design element is made by a woman for women. This project celebrates our journey to face our evilness, honoring girlhood in this stupid manhood, and the struggle and pain we have experienced due to our disapproved sins.
Book Design, Type Design, Website, Various Mediums
Typefaces: Dolores and Magical 7 Sins designed by JJ; Super Tramp designed by Vivian Dehning
Virtuous girls are confessing their sins. We are telling you our sinful stories. Just as magical girls are always symbols of love and peace, we formed a group of sinful magical girls embodying the seven deadly sins. By initiating the confessions, we regain the power, reclaim our explanation of the guilt, and carry our evilness. Accompanying this book and website of confessions, I hand-crocheted seven butterfly tops for each girl, drew one text typeface, designed one variable font, and tufted one magic circle rug. Every design element is made by a woman for women. This project celebrates our journey to face our evilness, honoring girlhood in this stupid manhood, and the struggle and pain we have experienced due to our disapproved sins.
GIFs for Occupant Fonts, 2022
Animations
Typefaces: Occupant Fonts
Animations made for Occupant Fonts’ Instagram using typefaces from this type foundry, design themes including classic Math and Physics models, and wordplays such as anagrams and crosswords.
3. Anagram (2)
4. Anagram (3)
5. Anagram (4)
6. Crossword
7. Golden Ratio
8. I Scream
11. No 1 Under Stands
12. Occupant
13. Painless Operation
17. Red “E” 4 Anything
18. Rubik’s Cube
19. Sator Square
20. Slot Machine
21. Through Thick & Thin
Animations
Typefaces: Occupant Fonts
Animations made for Occupant Fonts’ Instagram using typefaces from this type foundry, design themes including classic Math and Physics models, and wordplays such as anagrams and crosswords.
1. Alphabet
2. Anagram (1)3. Anagram (2)
4. Anagram (3)
5. Anagram (4)
6. Crossword
7. Golden Ratio
8. I Scream
9. Length Contraction
10. Newton’s Cradle11. No 1 Under Stands
12. Occupant
13. Painless Operation
14. Pascal’s Triangle
15. Pascal’s Triangle (O/E)
16. Pot 8 “o”s17. Red “E” 4 Anything
18. Rubik’s Cube
19. Sator Square
20. Slot Machine
21. Through Thick & Thin
22. Travel over “c”s
The Foolish Old Man Removes a Mountain, 2022
Narrative on a Chinese Scroll
A no-word narrative of The Foolish Old Man Removes a Mountain, a well-known fable from Chinese mythology about the virtues of perseverance and willpower.
Photos Credit & Hand Model: Jingyu Feng
Narrative on a Chinese Scroll
A no-word narrative of The Foolish Old Man Removes a Mountain, a well-known fable from Chinese mythology about the virtues of perseverance and willpower.
Photos Credit & Hand Model: Jingyu Feng
Portals, 2021
Website
Typeface: Neue Haas Grotesk
A hand-coded website for Risd Graphic Design Triennial Portals with help from Jingyu Feng, Carrie Chaeeun An, Erica Yun, Utkan Dora Öncül, Zachary Scheinfeld, & Jacob Hwan Lee. The artworks of students are constantly moving in circular forms reenacting portals.
Website
Typeface: Neue Haas Grotesk
A hand-coded website for Risd Graphic Design Triennial Portals with help from Jingyu Feng, Carrie Chaeeun An, Erica Yun, Utkan Dora Öncül, Zachary Scheinfeld, & Jacob Hwan Lee. The artworks of students are constantly moving in circular forms reenacting portals.
Imagining Poems by Grandpa, 2021
Book Design, Website, Various Mediums
This is an interdisciplinary project about my recently passed away grandfather. He wrote poems about his hometown, the weather, and my grandmother. I promised to make him a book one day, but it was too late to accomplish it.
I collected all of my grandpa’s poems in the chat history, fulfilled my desire to make books for him, and recreated possible new poems using his choice of words. The website uses Rita.js to generate new poems following the correct grammar; the calligraphy booklet has most of his calligraphy pieces; the lightbox booklet is composed of his poems which make up his face when stacked together; the cipher book has cut out rectangles with red lines connecting the sequence, and lastly the physical random poem generator as the audience flip through rectangles to reveal words underneath.
This whole project is about me grieving over his death as I once again attempted to communicate with him through his poems, and I think we succeeded in finding that communication between him and me.
Book Design, Website, Various Mediums
This is an interdisciplinary project about my recently passed away grandfather. He wrote poems about his hometown, the weather, and my grandmother. I promised to make him a book one day, but it was too late to accomplish it.
I collected all of my grandpa’s poems in the chat history, fulfilled my desire to make books for him, and recreated possible new poems using his choice of words. The website uses Rita.js to generate new poems following the correct grammar; the calligraphy booklet has most of his calligraphy pieces; the lightbox booklet is composed of his poems which make up his face when stacked together; the cipher book has cut out rectangles with red lines connecting the sequence, and lastly the physical random poem generator as the audience flip through rectangles to reveal words underneath.
This whole project is about me grieving over his death as I once again attempted to communicate with him through his poems, and I think we succeeded in finding that communication between him and me.
Gerhard Richter (Biography), 2021
Book Design
Typeface: Dolly Pro
A biography of Gerhard Richter, a German visual artist, sourced from his official website www.gerhard-richter.com.
Book Design
Typeface: Dolly Pro
A biography of Gerhard Richter, a German visual artist, sourced from his official website www.gerhard-richter.com.
Karaoke, 2022
Website
Typefaces: Hoss Round, Tensentype Ruihei, Murecho.
A website about Karaoke in three languages.
Website
Typefaces: Hoss Round, Tensentype Ruihei, Murecho.
A website about Karaoke in three languages.
About
Resume
@jiejianjj
PDF Portfolio
jiejian0226@gmail.com
JJ is an artist and graphic designer. JJ has a passion for book and type design and she cares about dashes. ^–^
Resume
@jiejianjj
PDF Portfolio
jiejian0226@gmail.com
JJ is an artist and graphic designer. JJ has a passion for book and type design and she cares about dashes. ^–^
Awards
Tokyo Type Directors Club Annual Awards 2023
Excellent Works for Sinful Magical Girls
Indigo Design Award
Gold Winner in Typography for Graphic Design for Sinful Magical Girls
Gold Winner in Book Design for Graphic Design for Sinful Magical Girls
Gold Winner in Infographics for Graphic Design for Czech It!
GDUSA | 59th American Graphic Design Awards™
American Graphic Design Award for Czech It! Infographic & Ascender Poster
IDA Design Awards
Silver for Portals
Graphis
New Talent Awards 2023 for Dolls!
Tokyo Type Directors Club Annual Awards 2023
Excellent Works for Sinful Magical Girls
Indigo Design Award
Gold Winner in Typography for Graphic Design for Sinful Magical Girls
Gold Winner in Book Design for Graphic Design for Sinful Magical Girls
Gold Winner in Infographics for Graphic Design for Czech It!
GDUSA | 59th American Graphic Design Awards™
American Graphic Design Award for Czech It! Infographic & Ascender Poster
IDA Design Awards
Silver for Portals
Graphis
New Talent Awards 2023 for Dolls!
Past
Type@Cooper
Proto Innovation
Walker Art Center
Occupant Fonts
Rhode Island School of Design
Type@Cooper
Proto Innovation
Walker Art Center
Occupant Fonts
Rhode Island School of Design