Color, light crosses cultural barriers

Poster design for Hangzhou Asian Games highlights city's personality

As the only foreign designer of the posters for the Hangzhou Asian Games, Richard Henderson highlights the vitality of color in his design.

Henderson, a well-known Australian designer, thinks that color is a universal device that humans respond to regardless of their background, language, and nationalities.

"The poster in Asia is a great communication vehicle, we don't do that so much here (Australia)," said Henderson, adding that poster design is not his core work in Melbourne, but he had been invited to participate in the visual design work of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games before, "that's why the opportunity to do a poster for Hangzhou was such a privilege."

The first time he went to China was to talk to the designers about the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. At that time he tried to make connections with China and he brought Chinese students into Australia to study.

Although he has never been to Hangzhou before, he did go to many other places in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, "the green of China with all the trees is absolutely amazing," said Henderson, "there's the care of the environment, there's the protection of some of the older buildings and things."

"We are seeing some of the cities in China becoming far more interested in light now, they are opening up, becoming a little bit more vibrant in terms of light," said Henderson, explaining why his poster is themed with colors.

He wants "the colors of Hangzhou to be contemporary, modern, fresh, and optimistic in a way that attracts the eye."

So when he was invited to participate in the poster design for the Asian Games, he said that he felt grateful and proud to be accepted into this Chinese design circle.

His design efforts were enhanced by becoming more connected to Chinese culture, which included having a Chinese assistant for several years to help reach a better understanding of the country.

He also has a keen interest in China's history, architecture, Chinese ceramics and artworks.

"We went on the website, we had a look at the city (Hangzhou), it is a beautiful, passionate and youthful city," said Henderson, describing his feelings for the main hosting city of the Asian Games-Hangzhou.

The waters and the temples of the city left a deep impression when he looked at pictures on the website; he said that "eastern philosophy is interesting."

When talking about how he conceived of the concept for the poster, he said the idea of a lake is quite a unique thing for him and he also started with the image of a city from the air.

"I think it's all about the fact that when you go higher, you actually lose your own national identity and you become more international, and you're global, that's how I like to work," said Henderson.

"If you look at the design, the circle 'o' has got a blue center and it actually represents the lake," said Henderson, as the Xihu Lake is one of the most famous landmarks in Hangzhou.