Interview With Wang Peng From China

First of all, it is because of my love for fine art since childhood and my dream of becoming an artist. Creativity is diverse and a challenging job that requires you to be inclusive of knowledge in various fields and have the ability to judge and think independently. Collaboration is also an indispensable part of the creative process.

Brainstorming and collaborating are required to complete successful work. In addition, creativity is a productive force by showing customers the brand image and enhancing the brand value which is an important symbol of the success of a work. I enjoyed the process mentioned above so I chose to indulge in creative sectors.

I am the founder of Pengtu Design which was founded in 2009. The whole team has been engaged in the creative process and promotion of social responsibility reporting, sustainable development reporting, and ESG reporting. 20 years passed unconsciously since the Pengtu team worked as a group for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Bidding Committee in 2001. I witnessed the success of Beijing's Olympic bid and China's economic reform process, and the design of professional reports has slowly evolved from the initial "typesetting" to today's "professional visual communication". I have experienced a lot in 20 years, as I have been striving in the same institution and the same industry for such a great amount of time. I would like to use this award speech opportunity to introduce the concepts of CSR and ESG reports that are popular today.

Creativity for me is a part of life, a dream, a mission and enjoyment.

Creativity and design is a combination of wisdom and imagination. As a business designer, I think that any proper and "good" creativity/design is creating value for customers while it can also give new ideas and innovations to the works, which makes the viewers happy, think and be inspired at the same time.

The creativity of the report can return to the original meaning of design: creative behavior of decomposition, sorting, planning and then controlling orderly. We carry out report design work from three dimensions: structural function, visual elements and editorial guidance.

1. Analysis and reconstruction of visual elements grasp the system to express the main melody of the report.

2. The establishment and design of visual elements grasp the core to convey the image and temperament of the report.

3. The order and relationship of the editorial guidelines grasp the changes and give the report a sense of readability.

I do not stick to a certain form of expression. Each project has different creative styles and will be based on different corporate brand culture, brand positioning, industry background and other characteristics to do visual design planning and then find the appropriate creative and design language to express and create new value. Being recognized by the market finally and achieving a win-win situation is my goal.

China has a long history, a vast territory and many ethnic groups which determines that Chinese traditional culture contains the long-term history, cultural evolution and accumulation of different ethnic groups or regions. It is a product of a combination between multiculturalism and art. Chinese traditional culture is an inseparable part of world culture, a huge treasure trove and a source of our unlimited creativity which requires us to explore constantly.

This is the first time for us to participate in the MUSE competition. The two reports have won the Platinum Award and the Gold Award respectively which is a recognition and encouragement of our work and our driving force to move forward.

The award-winning work is the 2021 Social Responsibility Report Project of China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd. China Southern Airlines is one of our longest-serving entrust companies and the 2021 report is the 15th social responsibility report released by China Southern Airlines. China Southern Airlines is the largest airline in China and an enterprise with great social responsibility and technological innovation capabilities.

The challenge in its communication design is how to make a long report with a lot of boring and difficult-to-understand professional descriptions, while ensuring that the data is easy for readers to understand.

For this report, we developed an easy-to-read layout grid and an easy-to-understand illustrative style by using emotional photos, vivid illustrations, and attractive diagrams to accompany the text, emphasizing them in an eye-catching way. The cover of the report innovatively adopts a bird's eye view, organically combining China Southern Airlines aircraft with colorful social responsibility elements on the ground, reflecting the achievements made by China Southern Airlines in social responsibility work such as safety operation, high-quality services, environmental friendliness, and social welfare, showing the warm, transparent and responsible image of China Southern Airlines.

To complete a successful report design, the most important part is to cooperate with customers to achieve common goals and sufficient communication, and all the while understanding is the biggest challenge in the entire creative process.

Winning the award is an affirmation of my work and will be very helpful for future business development. We believe that potential customers will contact me after seeing the award-winning news and articles.

Constantly challenge myself and create new values

Responsibility for entrusted projects

Make my own contribution to sustainable development

We are in an era of great change, great development and great integration. Openness and inclusiveness are the basis of our creation. "Understand yourself and discover your own form of beauty. Befriend others and appreciate the radiance of different people. Once everybody is ignited to find out positiveness from all angles, the wonders of the world can be spotted anywhere anytime. Then a better world can come true as a result of joint efforts." This 16-character motto of Mr. Fei Xiaotong is the best interpretation of what makes China unique in the creative industry.

The world is changing and the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to empower creativity and design to make our work more efficient.

Believe in yourself and strive for excellence in your work.

Reading a variety of professional books can improve your professional skills; reading a variety of award-winning works can improve your vision, and extensive reading will allow you to experience and understand people, alongside the world, empowering your creativity at a higher level.

I really hope to be one of the judges of the MUSE Awards in the future. It would be a great honor for me.

A world in a wild flower and a bodhi in a leaf. Any little bit in life will bring me different inspirations.

Keep doing what you love and are good at, keep thinking, read more, and communicate more.