JANE ZHANG

ABOUT ME

I’m a recent graduate with a BFA in Communication Design and a minor in Human-Computer Interaction from Washington University in St. Louis. In my work, I strive to explore a diverse range of narratives, perspectives, and approaches through a variety of media, and I’m particularly passionate about the intersection between physical and digital media.

Recently, I’ve been interested in the nuances of multilingual typography and how the characteristics of different languages’ letterforms can be leveraged to enhance a concept across multiple linguistic demographics. Outside of my work, I love stories in any form, whether that means books, movies, or music. Lately, I’ve been watching Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and listening to Rat Boy.

Feel free to reach out with any inquiries about my work, and check out more below!

HOME / CLIENT WORK / ARCHIVE

WORMELO

The objective of this project was to create a fictional brand for an unconventional sport, then design and animate a logo and additional motion asset for the brand. I chose worm charming as my sport, and created a social media teaser as my additional motion asset.

RESEARCH

While I was researching the specifics of worm charming, I found that a common method of vibrating the soil was to play instruments into the ground. This inspired me to center my fake brand around instruments made specifically for worm charming. I also wanted an audio that sounded a bit wet and gloopy to reference the worms, but still high-energy enough to align with the intensity of the sport; thus, I settled on “Glorpin” by Eddie EWI. For color, I abstracted the generic “pink worms, green grass” idea into a high-chroma palette to match the energy of the brand and music.

DEVELOPMENT

For the logo, I wanted to keep it relatively simple while adding a moment of surprise at the end to establish the connection between the logo and worms. Because the logo was much simpler, I wanted to make use of motifs that could refer to different aspects of both worms and music in the teaser. I used lines to reference the shape of worms and the musical staff, and pulsating motion for musical beats and the squirming nature of worms. Waves could allude to musical vibrations, string instruments, and sound waves, but also the jittery, wiggly movement of worms. I also made the musical notes double as segments of a worm body.