Based in Chongqing, China, Signyan Design (尚壹扬设计) is an architectural and interior design studio founded by Xie Ke and Zhi Hongxin. Started in 2008, Signyan Design creates inspiring environments from resort hotels to commercial spaces and private residences. The common thread through out all of their projects is a desire to share the vision of simple and natural living. Between richness and restraint, order and complexity, these are the qualities that Signyan Design curates in order to create emotive spaces.
Our relationship with the Signyan team started in the Fall of 2022 when they reached out with the desire to create a bilingual website to better present their work and studio philosophy to a more global audience. Our involvement would later also include an updating of their brand identity which at the time lacked a consistent visual voice. As we learned more about Signyan’s design philosophy, we were truly inspired by their approach to their work and way of life. Through every project, Signyan strives to understand the history of the land, its community past and present, and their aspirations for the future. As a result of their dedication and empathetic approach, many of Signyan’s projects have helped to revitalize aging and smaller communities.
Brand Identity
From our discovery phase, we identified there to be holistic and empathetic nature to Signyan’s design philosophy and approach to life. These insights led us to select Zapf Humanist 601 as their brand typeface as we felt the humanist qualities of the typeface reflected the same tone of voice for Signyan. For the Chinese font pairing, we selected Songti SC, a well balanced Chinese typeface with thick and thin qualities. Much of the brand identity plays with placement to create visual rhythm—a visual translation of their admiration for music and how rhythm is often an invisible but essential part of design.
