Jie Jian JJ
Currently at Walker Art Center.


Various Projects made at Walker Art Center, 2022–present
Design Director: Mark Owens;
With help from Brian Huddleston, Ian Babineau, Andrew Bogard, Kate Arford, Jake Yuzna and Pamela Johnson. 
Collaboration with FISK Projects on British Arrows assets. 


Sinful Magical Girls, 2022
Book Design, Type Design, 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.
Sator Square
Alphabet
Pascal’s Triangle
Length Contraction
Rubik’s Cube
Pascal’s Triangle (O/E)
OccupantGolden RatioThrough Thick & Thin
Newton’s CradleSlot MachineRed “E” 4 Anything
Anagram (1)
Ice-creamPainless Operation
Anagram (2)CrosswordNo 1 Understands
Anagram (3)Travel over “c”s
Anagram (4)Pot 8 “o”s

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.

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


Eyre, 2021
Type Design
Typeface inspired by Jane Eyre, a book by Charlotte Brontë.

Czech It!, 2022
Infographics, Poster
Typefaces: RePublic & Teimer by Tomáš Brousil from Suitcase Type Foundry in Czechia

Infographic poster of Czechia.
This poster tells you 32 pieces of information about Czechia:
(1) map of the Europe showing Czechia (2) five nearby countrie (3) five major citie (4) important geographic feature (5) political divisions (6) the country’s size in relation to South Carolina (7) population: per square kilometer, in relation to Singapore and Mongolia (8) population: change over the last 100 years (9) population: in relation to 5 other nearby countrie (10) population: under 15, 15–60, over 60, in relation to total (11) % of urban population (12) top 4 exports in relation to total exports (13) top 4 imports in relation to total imports (14) 4 main export destinations (15) and import origins (16) energy consumption: in relation to United States: total consumption, (17) and per head (18) historical timeline (19) five agricultural products (20) society: percentage of people with cars, (21) smartphones, (22) internet, (23) and house ownershi (24) number of airports & (25) railway mi/km, in relation to Germany (26) religions % (27) languages % (28)(29)(30) three items relating to weather (31) beer consumption (32) castle size


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.



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.

Karaoke, 2022
Website
Typefaces: Hoss Round, Tensentype Ruihei, Murecho.
A website about Karaoke in three languages. 


Chengdu Taste, 2021
Poster, Various Mediums
After on-site research and interview with the owner of Chengdu Taste, a Chinese Restaurant in Providence, I made a booklet of the unique spices used in the dishes and a poster of napkins to record the time and traces left after eating at the restaurant, with the help of Shitong Lyu and Skylar Wang.

An Intro to Boy’s Love Visual Novels, 2020
Book Design
Typeface: GT America
A book about boy’s love (yaoi) visual novels, sourced from wikipedia.org and fandom.com.


Dress Up, 2021
Dressing code that I’ve picked up.



Misc. 2018–present


About

JJ is an artist and graphic designer. Her work focuses on racial and gender issues, especially Asian female representations in the US, and reflections of the present through the lens of nostalgic childhood experiences in China. JJ has a passion for book and type design and she cares about en dashes. ^–^

Resume
jiejian0226@gmail.com
@jiejianjj
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 forCzech It! Infographic & Ascender Poster

IDA Design Awards
Silver for Portals

Past

Walker Art Center
Occupant Fonts
Rhode Island School of Design