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ERROR

Xingyu Ling

Profile picture of Xingyu Ling

I'm a designer for visual communication based in China.

In my personal projects, I frequently utilise graphic design, motion graphics design, book design, and other forms of visual media to address social issues within the humanities that I am deeply concerned about.

I'm a designer for visual communication based in China.

In my personal projects, I frequent...

This project presents leaked evidence from a fictional company, Applied Humanitics™. You will find a series of its ‘functional supplements’ alongside the company’s own development archive. Together, these objects reveal a cold system that quantifies and distorts human experience. 

But a quiet rebellion is happening. A living organism, the slime mould, invades this sterile world. It breaks the system down from the inside and reveals what was lost. We invite you to act as a detective, uncover this story, and ask a critical question: What is the error when the quantification systems we create to understand life begin to override life itself?

Final work

  • Several labelled metal cans, including one with a productivity enhancer and coffee cup logo, and a number matrix visible in the reflective label area.
  • An opened can containing white blocks, some red parts and some digital fragments.
  • Close-up of a canned food label in both Chinese and English, displaying the formula of the canned food.
  • A semi-transparent product brochure sewn with silver metallic thread.
  • Display of the inner pages of the product manual.
  • Close-up of the black book cover, featuring a silver metallic hard-brush dot matrix and the word ERROR.
  • Expertise in digital graphic design, circuit modelling, and chip simulation to bring ideas to life and clarify complex concepts.
  • The silver dots gently blended into a beautiful organic slime mold pattern, with words gracefully emerging on it.

"ERROR" — Book Design inner page display.

CONCEPT & TEXTS: 

Xingyu Ling

DESIGN: 

Xingyu Ling

SPECIAL THANKS TO: 

Oliver Wrobel

Elise Amal Connor

Elvira Grob

Gem Smith

June Mineyama-Smithson

Staffs in the workshops of London College of Communication 

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ERROR

This project presents leaked evidence from a fictional company, Applied Humanitics™. You will find a series of its ‘functional supplements’ alongside the company’s own development archive. Together, these objects reveal a cold system that quantifies and distorts human exp...

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