The Edit: five projects including ZZZZZZZZZZZ: Excavating Form Within Design Education

Each and every day, we're lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks. On show throughout July 2021 at Shanghai’s IS A Gallery, ZZZZZZZZZZZ: Excavating Form Within Design Education was an exhibition of student work from Rhode Island School of Design’s ‘Newly Formed’ – an experimental graphic design course taught up Kathleen and Christopher Sleboda from North American online bookstore Draw Down. In an attempt to break their regular habits, the course taught students to focus on form over function; the result of which being eleven projects inspired by different words beginning with ‘Z.’ In order to communicate the limitations of remote work within education, the students’ experiments were showcased at the exhibition in the form of screengrabs and cropped previews instead of the usual mediums such as posters and books. Further emphasising the struggles of remote communication, the exhibition’s opposing walls were clad with two thematic statements in a typeface designed specifically for the class by Brooklyn-based designer, web developer and educator Kit Son Lee. Combining “Parisienne aesthetics with Asian street style,” Gigi is an upcoming clothing brand from Vietnamese fashion group Maison JSC. Their visual identity by Ho Chi Minh City-based studio Behalf aims to embody the refined elegance of their garments – doing so through an ornamental logotype, pared-back colour palette and a plethora of negative space. The tone of voice and loosely-tracked typography establish a charm and delicacy reminiscent of a journal, which alongside a slew of handwritten details, give the brand a personal touch that goes beyond just being another logo on another clothing collection.