The art world is expanding in every way. Artists have more and more to offer, as it has been exciting and at the same time challenging for them to apply their vision to more than one discipline. Yet it is important to honor them and get to know them. It’s very exciting to feature an artist that works with different mediums when expressing themselves in various ways. Yiran Li is one of the great artists we are happy to introduce and bring attention to.
Yiran’s work includes design and photography, and an incorporation of many skills that are used within both fields. Her work began with a long, extensive background in advertising within design. Yiran’s advertisements and design work shift from traditional media to new media. She has a great sense of bridging the gap between what defines different eras of advertisement and design, as she believes that advertising is capturing all the elements of time that have a strong sense of rhetoric and persuasion. That is, at its core, the most important aspect of advertisement. However, since she also contains the perspective of an artist, she knows the ways that advertisements can be enhanced with an artistic vision.
Yiran Li’s advertisements have appeared on newspapers, magazines, and billboards (which range from standard billboard design to dynamic graphic design). Although when most people hear about graphic design and advertising, they think that most of the work is two dimensional. However, Li’s work also brings the elements of new three-dimensional trends into sight. Li’s work has been employed by advertising agencies within China, which have served many big brands that we all know. Some of these brands include HTC, Motorola, Dettol, Oreo, etc. It is interesting to see that most of her work has been successful for technology brands, those of which always promote the future and simpler use of electronics. So it is very important and sensitive to create a graphic design advertisement that fulfills the goals of a company like that. Li’s designs have served HTC and Motorola’s flagship stores, capturing the eye of anyone who sees them.
Li’s work has been very successful and eye-grabbing in Greater China. She herself mentions that she has “often see[n] my works on the streets of Beijing.” A truly remarkable experience for an artist, to see their own work in a city that is extremely fast-paced, leaning toward the future with the advancements of technology and rich history of art and culture, all of which support the efforts of artists.
Yiran Li has had an impressive body of work that was celebrated in China. But Li has also enjoyed success by cooperating with a German design company for the Chinese version of Dettol product packaging. The packaging of these products were so successful and practical, that they are still in use and available in supermarkets across Asia, and also Asian supermarkets in the United States. These great advertisement and product design successes led Yiran Li to one of her career highlights.
Li’s works have been selected for the IAI Advertising Works and Digital Marketing Yearbook many times. This is a book that represents award-winning works within the highest level of advertising in China, as well as being a renowned international creativity award. It is an excellent highlight for anyone’s career as it is part of the history of advertising in China, and the annual yearbook is even held in a large library where visitors can read about the most successful artists who’ve made it each year. Yiran Li was honored the bronze award. She considers this one of her highest achievements, as she was honored to be named among many people who inspired her, and those she still looks up to in the world of design and advertisement.
As Yiran Li continued her career and expanded her expertise in advertising, she began gaining an interest in other mediums and forms of art. She began creating posters for movies and musicals. Although, the process she had for creating those advertisements were very different from those she created for electronics companies, or packaging products. She was able to dive into her artistic expressions and find parallels between her own perceptions and impressions of design, with the movie or musical she was working with. She believes this was one of the most enriching experiences of her career. She really enjoyed having a universe of a movie to play with.
Yiran Li relies heavily on having a unique art style. She believes that the composite effect of multiple material media is significant. While working in advertisement and creating her two dimensional and three-dimensional designs, she is also a photographer. She uses her lens to record life and to further broaden the boundaries of her visual technology, as she explains herself. She also knows that photography will assist her in finding more design inspiration, and elements that will become part of her work as being a photography requires a strong vision. In turn, that strong vision will assist a designer in finding new things in one’s environment that will be eye-catching and influential in their area of expertise, whether it is a movie poster, or an advertisement for a futuristic electronic company.
Yiran continues to work on her multimedia designs and advertising works by believing in herself the way she wishes to be. Her signature style is having childlike illustrations and a sense of humor. She’s also committed to including a combination of handmade materials and digital technology. This is how she can make an audience relate to her work; by including more and more elements every person can feel and sense that they are close to. And similar to every great artist, Li depends on her own photos as elements. She is firm on being unique without relying on resources. She is truly original in what she does, as she insists that an artist’s vision is enough for them to experience success. Yiran Li continues her work in design and advertisement, and hopes to incorporate photography and her findings within her surrounding into her upcoming works.
