https://nodyoung.info Nod Young Thu, 26 Mar 2026 22:22:21 +0000 https://nodyoung.info en https://nodyoung.info/Cover Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:47:15 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/Cover Design ForwardA book by Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/who-am-I Thu, 26 Mar 2026 22:22:21 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/who-am-I ︎ WHO AM I A short film by Nod Young Cinematography: Yusin Law | Music: Xing Chen | Editing: Nod Young 2025 · 5 min 05 sec English, Chinese and Japanese subtitles available. https://nodyoung.info/about-nod Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:52:32 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/about-nod 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. https://nodyoung.info/Book Mon, 23 Mar 2026 23:18:52 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/Book DESIGN FORWARD In it, I reflect on my 25-year professional journey in mainland China—having lived through one of the fastest periods of economic growth, and witnessed the rise of the internet, the widespread adoption of digital payments, and the rapid development of consumer brands.&nbsp; I wrote this book at that particular point in time. It is difficult to define what kind of book it is. It seems to be about design, but not exactly. What it really explores is how a designer faces choices, how one relates to the world, and how to approach the future. Book Design: www.wangzhihong.com Design Forwardis not about design, but about Reality. Buy the Book https://nodyoung.info/Design-Forward-Toy Mon, 15 Dec 2025 20:40:01 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/Design-Forward-Toy 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 https://nodyoung.info/works Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:47:15 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/works 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: 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. https://nodyoung.info/Toys Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:47:16 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/Toys https://nodyoung.info/Related-Objects Sun, 11 Jan 2026 08:47:39 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/Related-Objects Related ObjectsThese 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<img width="1000" height="1000" width_o="1000" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/907bc722a933543f42af0b1a51fabe1045c80cebc3f5d027c95804ddfd77441d/M03.jpg" data-mid="246423751" border="0" data-scale="61" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/907bc722a933543f42af0b1a51fabe1045c80cebc3f5d027c95804ddfd77441d/M03.jpg" /> ︎ 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<img width="1000" height="1000" width_o="1000" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3da0f7f548f2f61ec22d6c7325c48e25e392125a1752239611b9d6bbf429b876/M02.jpg" data-mid="246423750" border="0" data-scale="68" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3da0f7f548f2f61ec22d6c7325c48e25e392125a1752239611b9d6bbf429b876/M02.jpg" /> ︎ 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<img width="1000" height="1000" width_o="1000" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/83d50a1052d81637dbfe110a576cb5e6cf8b34b281cd4f8e1ddf13226d1abb28/M01.jpg" data-mid="246423749" border="0" data-scale="76" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/83d50a1052d81637dbfe110a576cb5e6cf8b34b281cd4f8e1ddf13226d1abb28/M01.jpg" />︎ https://nodyoung.info/Our-Life Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:47:16 +0000 Nod Young https://nodyoung.info/Our-Life DONT WALKPhotography by Yusin Law&nbsp; DONT WALK is an image-based project grounded in our Real life.All photographs were taken by Yusin Law during everyday moments—at home, around the children, and within unplanned time. These images were not created for the purpose of photography. They are traces left behind as life unfolded naturally. At first, they existed only as private memories for our family. In Nod’s book project Design Forward, life appears mainly as a background through words and reflection. DONT WALK serves as a visual supplement to that work, allowing readers to see the same life from another angle—beyond language. From this long-term record, 112 photographs were selected and compiled into the photography book DONT WALK. Photography: Yusin Law&nbsp; |&nbsp; Editing: Nod Young&nbsp; |&nbsp; Design: Mia Liu © 2025 Yusin Law &amp; Nod. All Rights Reserved. Made in China.&nbsp;Limited edition of 300 copies. 本书所收录的文字与影像，均受版权法保护。 未经书面许可，不得复制、转载或以任何形式使用。 Publication: December 2025 Design Forward TO BE CONTINUED