Hi, I’m Miaoting, a graphic designer graduated from the University of the Arts London.
My design practice centers around cultural storytelling, visual systems, and cross-media experimentation. From zines and packaging to typography, AR, and editorial design, I explore how traditional knowledge, local heritage, and visual culture can be reimagined in contemporary formats.
With a strong interest in intercultural narratives and the emotional potential of design, I aim to create work that connects people to place, memory, and meaning. I’m currently open to opportunities in culturally-driven design, branding, and creative research. Feel free to explore my portfolio and reach out.
一
Subtle Brews: Visual Explorations of Wellness Tea
A Contemporary Take on Traditional Chinese Tea Culture
This project reinterprets the visual language of Chinese wellness tea through a modern lens. Drawing from traditional herbal knowledge and aesthetic references, I designed a series of posters and tea-infused bookmarks that combine cultural motifs with vibrant, futuristic colours. The goal was to highlight the richness of wellness tea culture while experimenting with format, colour, and narrative.
Each bookmark serves as both a visual and functional object—containing real tea while acting as a storytelling tool. Despite constraints in printing materials and exhibition space, the design successfully translated cultural values into a fresh, engaging experience.
This work reflects my ongoing interest in how visual design can connect tradition with contemporary lifestyles. It encouraged me to consider audience engagement, sustainability, and storytelling as key components of culturally rooted design.
二
Zine design
Nüshu Zine — Reprographic Resistances
Collaborated with the Feminist Library
This zine explores the cultural and political significance of Nüshu—a historic writing system used exclusively by women in China—within the context of feminist publishing and DIY print culture. The project was part of Reprographic Resistances, a collaboration with the Feminist Library, and consisted of creating eight signatures inspired by feminist archival materials.
Through in-depth research on Nüshu, as well as explorations in typography, calligraphy, and layout, I developed original content to introduce this unique script and its untold stories to a contemporary audience. Visual experiments with color and form guided the final design. Although minor print misalignments occurred, the tactile quality and hand-crafted nature of the zine aligned with the spirit of independent publishing.
This project reflects how self-publishing empowers marginalized voices, bypassing traditional media gatekeeping to amplify lived experiences. Through this work, I aim to celebrate women's resilience, cultural memory, and the power of grassroots visual communication.
三
Calender design
24 Solar Terms Calendar
Digitally Interpreting Seasonal Rhythms Through Hand-drawn Continuity
This calendar project visualizes the 24 solar terms from the traditional Chinese calendar, reflecting the subtle shifts in nature and seasonal rhythms. Each illustration was created using a continuing drawing method—freehand, unbroken linework that embraces spontaneity and flow.
The texture of handmade paper was scanned and digitally integrated to retain a tactile, organic quality in the final layout. The result is a layered design that merges analog warmth with digital clarity, celebrating both material sensitivity and visual storytelling.
By combining intuitive mark-making with cultural references, this calendar functions not only as a timekeeping tool but also as a poetic reflection on our relationship with nature and tradition in contemporary life.
四
Mei’s Family Courtyard Visual Identity System
Designing for Culture, Community, and Continuity
This branding system reimagines the visual identity of Mei’s Family Courtyard, a historic architectural complex known for its fusion of Chinese and Western styles. Rooted in local culture yet shaped by waves of migration and exchange, the site becomes a starting point to explore how design can honour heritage while engaging future audiences.
Through logo development, packaging, spatial design, and cultural products, the project balances traditional aesthetics with contemporary communication. The colour palette draws from architectural textures, while the typography and layout pay homage to historical forms reinterpreted through a modern lens. The visual system is applied across both commercial and cultural touchpoints, helping local businesses and institutions share their stories with clarity and pride.
By embedding emotion, memory, and context into each visual element, this project aims to activate Mei’s Family Courtyard as not just a heritage site, but a living brand—where tradition, creativity, and community meet.
Package design
Bringing Intercultural Identity into Everyday Community Use
This packaging series was developed as part of the Mei’s Family Courtyard visual identity, specifically tailored for use by local merchants and cultural vendors. Inspired by the site's architectural motifs and surrounding environment, the design merges traditional Chinese visual elements—such as symbolic typography, folding structure, and auspicious patterns—with a clean, modern layout that speaks to contemporary sensibilities.
The colour scheme is drawn from the building itself and echoes its historical layers, creating a sense of cultural pride while maintaining accessibility. Designed for local specialties such as dried fish or handmade goods, the packaging serves as both a functional object and a medium for storytelling.
By translating the identity of Mei’s Family Courtyard into practical tools for everyday commerce, this packaging system fosters a stronger connection between heritage and community economy. It invites young audiences to engage with their cultural roots in a refreshed, relevant form—where tradition, commerce, and creativity can thrive together.
Product design
Letters from Oversea – Qiaopi-Inspired Bookmark & Letter Kit
A Cultural Gift Set Bridging Memory and Modern Use
This stationery set is a cultural reinterpretation of Qiaopi—the remittance letters historically sent by overseas Chinese to their families. Designed as a contemporary gift item, the set transforms this meaningful tradition into a nostalgic yet functional product that speaks to identity, emotion, and connection.
The package includes a foldable letter holder and a bookmark modeled after vintage remittance slips, complete with layered graphics, bilingual text, and architectural illustrations from Mei’s Family Courtyard. The red-and-cream colour scheme and tactile format echo the aesthetics of traditional Chinese paperwork, offering a strong sense of time and place.
Ideal as a meaningful souvenir, this set invites users to engage with Chinese diasporic history in a tangible way—reconnecting with the emotional ritual of sending and receiving messages. It serves not only as a collectible, but also as a storytelling object that bridges generations and geographies.
五
Book design
Process Book – Camberwell Canteen Redesign
A Sustainable Editorial Object Documenting Collaborative Design
This process book records the full development of our interdisciplinary project to redesign the Camberwell College canteen with a focus on reducing food waste. I led the design and production of the book, shaping it into both a narrative tool and a material expression of the project’s core themes.
In addition to a professionally printed edition, I created a handcrafted version that incorporates sustainability not just in content but in form. As a special feature, the book’s title—Food Waste—was crafted from handmade paper using actual food waste materials, including discarded orange peels, coffee grounds, and used paper collected during the project. This tactile title element adds a symbolic and sensory layer to the editorial design, linking concept with material.
Through layout design, content curation, and craft experimentation, this process book becomes a reflection of design thinking, team collaboration, and the creative potential of sustainable materials.
六
Voucher design(AR)
Augmented Reality Vouchers – Algorithm, Identity, and Consumption
A Critical AR Experience Inspired by TikTok Shopping Culture
This AR design project explores how social media algorithms—particularly TikTok’s “For You” page—shape identity and influence impulsive consumer behavior. Through an interactive system of animated vouchers and product labels, I created a critical commentary on algorithm-driven shopping habits and the blurred line between entertainment and marketing.
The project consists of two AR-activated designs created with Artivive:
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An animated voucher, featuring beauty product transformations and familiar sales tactics like “free shipping” and “half price”, encourages viewers to reflect on algorithmic repetition and its emotional manipulation.
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An interactive label, styled as a product review interface, reminds users to read real customer feedback before making purchases, promoting informed decision-making.
Both pieces use playful, colorful visuals inspired by designer Katy Schönborn, with elements generated from earlier creative coding experiments. Scannable through Artivive, the designs layer motion, sound, and satire to spark reflection in a familiar digital aesthetic.
This project demonstrates how AR can be used not just for engagement, but for digital literacy—encouraging users to question recommendation systems, reflect on their consumption triggers, and stay conscious in the scroll.
七
The Power of Repair (photo book)
Trace of touching - A Photobook Exploring the Emotional and Cultural Meaning of MendingThis project documents and celebrates the act of clothing repair as a form of emotional, cultural, and environmental resistance. Inspired by Worn: A People’s History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser and the photography of Rinko Kawauchi, I created a photo-based publication that explores how mending reconnects us with objects, stories, and identities often lost in modern consumer culture.
Photographed during a community repair workshop at The Remakery in London, the images capture intimate moments of observation, care, and transformation—hands sewing, fabric being renewed, people sharing techniques. The photo book is structured in five narrative stages: Touching, Examining, Repairing, Reimagining, and Sharing, reflecting the evolving relationship between people and their garments.
Visually, I worked with natural light, soft tones, and shallow depth of field to express warmth, fragility, and reverence. The final book uses thread-binding and a handwritten title font that echoes the aesthetic and symbolism of stitching itself. A landscape layout enhances both emotional closeness and spacious storytelling, while silk paper preserves the tactile details of repaired fabric.
The Power of Repair is both a quiet act of resistance against disposability and a tribute to the everyday rituals that bind us to memory, labor, and community.