
The AAIFF48 theme development process took place over several legs and was driven by the following desires:
01
Reflect themes present in the films featured in the festival’s lineup, as selected by the programming team
02
Honor fifty years of achievement and excellence of Asian CineVision, the organization that funds and organizes the Asian American International Film Festival each year
03
Capture the interest of a younger viewership through the visual identity and the film selections themselves
Through a series of design pitches and revisions, I finalized a direction that blended mixed media elements, the remedial Japanese art of kintsugi - the are of mending broken ceramic ware through the use of pine resin, lacquer, and gold - and cover images from Bridge: the Magazine of Asians in America, which was acquired by ACV in 1981. Tapping into the current wave of Y2K nostalgia, I introduced lo-fi textures, bold accents, hand lettered fonts, and created custom illustrations in a scribble style, to provide a more analog feel. The final look and feel was intended to celebrate the necessity and duty of cinema and art - particularly in trying times - and to evoke and capture the following qualities: hope, renewal, expression, momentum, purpose, and transformation.
BRIDGE Magazine covers from 50 years ago reprised in this year's festival designs in recognition of Asian CineVison's 50th anniversary
Cropping in profile feed view
Cover shown in reels tab
Reel footage
AAIFF48 animation completed by Candy Sui








To ensure consistency across the AAIFF48 brand, I developed a north star brand guidelines document for org-wide use and distribution. This document provided broad guidance and alignment on brand element usage and included a creative statement cosigned by the creative director on the origin and context of the festival theme. Additionally, I crafted a design best practices document for the design team that went into more granular detail on how to maintain brand consistency while making other, often smaller, design decisions. As design would be completed by a variety of designers with varying levels of experience and expertise, this document was intended to level set the team’s understanding of most, if not all, mechanisms and decisions driving the visual identity.

Design Best Practices



Design templates


