Design Forward
A book by Nod Young
ABOUT ME
My name is Nod Young.
I have worked in the design field for over 25 years. My work spans finance, technology, consumer brands, publishing, and art, and has been used by hundreds of millions of people through real-world brands, products, and services. Most of this work took place in China between 2000 and 2022, during a period of rapid economic growth and major social change.
During these years, I worked largely within China’s vast commercial system, staying close to everyday users and real-life situations. I grew up in China and lived through the country’s transition from early market reforms to a fully connected, internet-shaped way of life. Being part of this process — not watching it from a distance — gradually shaped how I understand design, judgment, and everyday behavior.
I am the co-founder and art director of A Black Cover Design (ABCD), a studio founded in Beijing in 2015. I am also the founder of Details Co., a business platform based in California, established in 2025, focused on continuously exploring and developing new ideas.
Over the years, I have worked with many international clients, including Nike, Apple, Disney, and Cartier, and have received professional recognition along the way. Among them, I value the acknowledgment from Tokyo Type Directors Club (Tokyo TDC) for its focus on language, structure, and judgment. Other clients and awards are part of the same long-term practice and are not listed here in full.
Design Forward grew out of these long-term observations and experiences. On the surface, it is a book about design, but at a deeper level, it reflects on how ideals are tested in reality and gradually turned into forms that everyday life can carry. From this perspective, I see myself not only as a designer, but as an artist working and moving within commercial systems and daily life.
I have worked in the design field for over 25 years. My work spans finance, technology, consumer brands, publishing, and art, and has been used by hundreds of millions of people through real-world brands, products, and services. Most of this work took place in China between 2000 and 2022, during a period of rapid economic growth and major social change.
During these years, I worked largely within China’s vast commercial system, staying close to everyday users and real-life situations. I grew up in China and lived through the country’s transition from early market reforms to a fully connected, internet-shaped way of life. Being part of this process — not watching it from a distance — gradually shaped how I understand design, judgment, and everyday behavior.
I am the co-founder and art director of A Black Cover Design (ABCD), a studio founded in Beijing in 2015. I am also the founder of Details Co., a business platform based in California, established in 2025, focused on continuously exploring and developing new ideas.
Over the years, I have worked with many international clients, including Nike, Apple, Disney, and Cartier, and have received professional recognition along the way. Among them, I value the acknowledgment from Tokyo Type Directors Club (Tokyo TDC) for its focus on language, structure, and judgment. Other clients and awards are part of the same long-term practice and are not listed here in full.
Design Forward grew out of these long-term observations and experiences. On the surface, it is a book about design, but at a deeper level, it reflects on how ideals are tested in reality and gradually turned into forms that everyday life can carry. From this perspective, I see myself not only as a designer, but as an artist working and moving within commercial systems and daily life.
Design Forward
is not about design,
but about Reality.
Simplified Chinese Edition
Date: December 2025
Book Design by 王志弘
www.wangzhihong.com
This magnetic block set is based on the book form designed by Wang Zhihong for Design Forward.
The original book was translated into a three-dimensional object, keeping its structure, proportions, and visual rhythm, and turning it into something that can be held, moved, and played with. Produced as a small experimental piece, this set was made in a limited edition of 11.
- Photography by Wang Di
My approach to commercial design is grounded in long-term practice and lived experience.
Across different industries and scales, my work consistently returns to one core question:
I do not see a brand as something that exists primarily as images to be viewed, nor as something confined to screens. A brand exists first in reality—in whether people can sense its presence in daily life, and understand the values and attitudes it represents.
When these values are communicated clearly and consistently over time, and gradually align with the user’s mindset, a brand begins to take on real meaning. This meaning is not created overnight; it accumulates through time and eventually becomes a reflection of a particular era.
That is why, when we think of certain brands, what comes to mind is often not a specific image, but a distinct imprint of their time.
This is what a brand means to me.
Here, I present a selection of brand work developed by ABCD between 2015 and 2025 within China’s consumer market.
From identity systems and color strategies to brand imagery, packaging, physical spaces, and e-commerce platforms, these projects reflect a broad and integrated approach to brand expression.
© All images are sourced from the official ABCD website.
Across different industries and scales, my work consistently returns to one core question:
How design can maintain clear judgment within complex commercial and social systems—and truly become part of everyday life, rather than remaining at the level of concepts or visual form.
I do not see a brand as something that exists primarily as images to be viewed, nor as something confined to screens. A brand exists first in reality—in whether people can sense its presence in daily life, and understand the values and attitudes it represents.
When these values are communicated clearly and consistently over time, and gradually align with the user’s mindset, a brand begins to take on real meaning. This meaning is not created overnight; it accumulates through time and eventually becomes a reflection of a particular era.
That is why, when we think of certain brands, what comes to mind is often not a specific image, but a distinct imprint of their time.
This is what a brand means to me.
Here, I present a selection of brand work developed by ABCD between 2015 and 2025 within China’s consumer market.
From identity systems and color strategies to brand imagery, packaging, physical spaces, and e-commerce platforms, these projects reflect a broad and integrated approach to brand expression.
© All images are sourced from the official ABCD website.
Design Forward
Related Objects
These three works originate from Design Forward, yet they are not conceived as appendages to the book.
They emerge from contexts beyond writing itself: a marker situated in physical space, a preserved trace of everyday creative activity, and a continuous record of lived time. Presented alongside Design Forward, they extend the book’s conceptual framework into tangible, lived experience.
Art Direction: Nod Young | Design: Xing Chen, Mia Liu | Photography: Wang Di, Mia Liu | Year: 2025
Door Sign
The original model is the actual door sign from the Los Angeles office. In this iteration, the text and color scheme have been adjusted, and a magnetic structure has been integrated, allowing it to transition from a fixed marker into a movable, usable object.
Metal with kiln-fired enamel coating | Structure: Embedded magnets on reverse | Size: 47 × 154 mm
Edition: Limited to 300 sets
The original model is the actual door sign from the Los Angeles office. In this iteration, the text and color scheme have been adjusted, and a magnetic structure has been integrated, allowing it to transition from a fixed marker into a movable, usable object.
Metal with kiln-fired enamel coating | Structure: Embedded magnets on reverse | Size: 47 × 154 mm
Edition: Limited to 300 sets
Handheld Exhibition
A miniature art object containing drawings by two children. It transforms a fleeting, spontaneous act of creation into an exhibition form that can be preserved and viewed.
29 Postcards (Uniform in size) | Size: 90 × 128 mm | Packaging: Custom-made transparent protective case (plastic), wall-mountable
Edition: Limited to 300 sets
A miniature art object containing drawings by two children. It transforms a fleeting, spontaneous act of creation into an exhibition form that can be preserved and viewed.
29 Postcards (Uniform in size) | Size: 90 × 128 mm | Packaging: Custom-made transparent protective case (plastic), wall-mountable
Edition: Limited to 300 sets
Photographic Book
Photographed by Yusin, the work adopts a documentary approach, recording real fragments of family life and everyday moments, without staging or narrative intervention.
Full-color offset printing | Pages: 112 pages | Size: 128 × 184 mm
Edition: Limited to 300 sets
Photographed by Yusin, the work adopts a documentary approach, recording real fragments of family life and everyday moments, without staging or narrative intervention.
Full-color offset printing | Pages: 112 pages | Size: 128 × 184 mm
Edition: Limited to 300 sets