The recently announced 2025 Future Science Prize has drawn attention in the scientific community. As a world-renowned scientific award, the design of its medal and certificate was crafted by a female designer from Tsinghua University-Li Jingwen, a 2014 master’s alumna of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University.
Li Jingwen’s doctoral graduation photo
Honing Skills Through Sketching in the Bitter Cold
At the age of 9, Li Jingwen’s parents took her to Beijing, where they took a photo at the gate of Tsinghua University. The young Li pointed at the school behind her and said, “I want to study here in the future.”
“Initially, my parents hoped I would learn to play the piano, but later I realized that I loved painting more than music.” At 15, the teenage Li decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with her parents, who ultimately respected her wishes and supported her switch to studying fine arts. “I am from Luoyang, and the cultural charm of this thousand-year-old imperial capital nurtured my love for art. From then on, I began to study fine arts and later entered the Academy of Fine Arts of Zhengzhou University.”
Li is a girl with strong opinions and a willingness to work hard for her dreams and passions. She recalled her experience of intensive training for the college entrance examination, when she was alone in Beijing during the depths of winter. “The teacher asked us to sketch in the hutongs. I wanted to find a more unique perspective to create a ‘new’ picture, but the spot that offered that view was not bathed in sunlight. So I stood in the shadow and started painting trees, eaves for hours, standing the entire time, frozen stiff. I deeply experienced the biting cold of Beijing’s winter shadows; it was really freezing.” Days of continuous sketching left Li with chilblains on her hands, itchy and painful. “Once, I couldn’t stand the cold anymore, so I took a photo with my camera and continued painting from the image on the screen. But when I showed the homework to the teacher later, they immediately noticed that I hadn’t sketched from life but copied from a flat image and severely criticized me. I was amazed by the teacher’s insight and also remembered my father’s words that art tolerates no falsity...” The teacher’s criticism made Li realize the importance of professional observation. The detailed gains from observation methods and the attitude of taking art seriously have benefited her greatly in her subsequent artistic design career.
“Water Droplets” Meet Science: Romance Within Rigor
Recalling the process of designing the Future Science Prize, Li still remembers her initial state: “At first, I really didn’t know where to start. How to transform the abstract spirit of scientific exploration into tangible visual language? Should it be gorgeous or restrained?” She pored over medal materials of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, etc., from the past decade and found that most use metal reliefs. However, the “futuristic” nature of the Future Science Prize required a lighter expression. For the final design, she drew inspiration from “water droplets” , symbolizing both the origin of science and the metaphor that tiny breakthroughs in scientific exploration converge into a river.
Li Jingwen’s design for the Future Science Prize certificate and medal
The certificate adopts a “blue-gold contrast” color scheme. The scientific, rigorous, and calm “blue” and the honorable “gold” convey the scientific temperament of “romance within rigor.” Among numerous specialty papers, Li chose a steady, fiber-containing paper as the certificate base. The Chinese and English inscriptions of the “Future Science Prize,” made using gold stamping and embossing techniques, feature 0.5mm high-precision concave-convex shapes that form subtle shadows under light, symbolizing the “multidimensional value” of scientific honor. On the left inner page, gold stamping outlines an artwork specially created for each scientist’s achievements; on the right, a copper mirror surface, using micro-engraving technology, bears the name, award category, and achievements of each laureate, paying tribute to scientists’ spirit of “discovering truth in details” in exploration.
Li’s design has received widespread recognition and praise. Since its adoption at the 2023 Future Science Prize award ceremony, it has been continuously used.
Presenting a Gift for the Motherland’s Birthday: Designing a Float
During her master’s and doctoral studies at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Li studied under Professor Shi Xiping and Professor Ma Sai successively. Like many Tsinghua students, she believes it is a well-deserved responsibility to convey the national image through design.
Li Jingwen explaining the float design
At the mass parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, many floats passed through Tiananmen Square. Li took on the main design work for the “One Country, Two Systems” float, feeling a heavy sense of responsibility. “The float needed to accurately convey the theme within just one and a half minutes of passing by.” The float body adopted circular elements, symbolizing reunion and completeness. Layer upon layer of circular bases supported shining bauhinia and golden lotus flowers, representing Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions of China respectively. Set against the two golden flowers, the Basic Laws of the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions at the center of the float stood solemnly and prominently. The float’s base was shaped like a boat, surrounded by wave patterns, and incorporated the skyline of buildings from both regions into the design, highlighting their geographical characteristics. She deliberated over every detail repeatedly, striving to find the optimal balance between abstraction and concreteness.
In the same year, the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, collaborated with BMW to launch the “BMW 7 Series Huacai Huiyao Collector’s Edition” intangible cultural heritage (ICH) car, as a tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China. The design of this vehicle integrates exquisite traditional Chinese craftsmanship with automobile manufacturing, and Li was also responsible for the conceptual design and design execution.
Loong pattern on the C-pillar of the ICH car
After multiple museum visits and repeated deliberations, Li drew inspiration from a Han Dynasty jade ring with Chi-Loong patterns, abstracting traditional Loong motifs to design the Loong pattern on the car’s C-pillar. For the embroidery design on the central axis armrest inside the car, she collaborated with ICH inheritor Yao Lan, selecting 4 gray threads with subtle color differences from over 4,000 types of silk threads and using the “random stitch” method to weave a Song Dynasty landscape on kesi (silk tapestry). The design went through more than ten revisions, creating light-dark contrasts and layering through different stitches to make the embroidery blend seamlessly with the car interior. The car logo and paint also adopted ICH techniques, using the colors of ji blue glaze, white porcelain, and ji red glaze from Chinese porcelain respectively. This created a reference case for “bringing ICH into modern life” and achieving “creative transformation and innovative development of China’s excellent traditional culture.”
Li Jingwen (right) communicating with the embroidery ICH inheritor
Li began her master’s and doctoral studies at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University in 2014 and 2017 respectively. During her doctoral studies in 2019, these two projects provided Li with leaping growth. Through communication and collaboration with various parties, and in the pursuit of perfect presentation of details, she took on leading roles and demonstrated excellent cross-disciplinary integration capabilities.
Can Her Designs Be “Smelled”? A Sensory-Defying Exhibition
One of Li’s design highlights is how to tell ICH stories from a new perspective to captivate people. At the 2021 “BMW China Culture Journey” Hainan exhibition area, her answer was unexpected, using the sense of smell. As the curator, she orchestrated an unconventional exhibition that could be “smelled.”
Li Jingwen explaining her design at the exhibition area, with freshly dyed threads and the scent of plant dyes in the background
“We brought freshly dyed threads directly to the exhibition site for hanging and drying.” The drying indigo-dyed threads slowly release the unique herbal smell of indigo mud, accompanied by the scent of fermenting bacteria sealed in the indigo mud, instantly transporting the audience to the scene of ICH inheritors making dyed cloth. Li chose scent carriers hoping to add a new dimension beyond vision; she planned to use 4 different scent display methods to present 6 different smells, telling the stories behind the intangible cultural heritage with scent.
Visitors experiencing ICH through smell
An installation work inspired by the traditional Li people’s backstrap loom takes the shuttle as its prototype, with abstract forms created via 3D printing. Hollow “weaving shuttles” hang on the warp threads; each can be split open, and the hollow shells contain various unique scents of Hainan. When visitors pull open the shuttles, they can smell the aroma of coconuts, the sea breeze, the light of a newly cleared sky, and the scent of the fields where inheritors work.
“Smells are highly narrative and easily evoke emotions. We recreated local scents, hoping that the audience can understand and imagine everything about ICH inheritors through smelling. Because all ICH works are created by ‘people’; if you don’t care about the ‘people,’ the ‘objects’ may gradually disappear,” Li said.
This “smellable” exhibition is a practice in olfactory design and an innovation in exhibition methods. Li’s foray into olfactory design research began during her visiting study at the MIT Media Lab in the United States. “Human cognition comes from multiple senses. Smell carries scent information that cannot be replaced or simulated by vision, hearing, or other senses. Foreign countries have conducted research on olfactory design for many years; people can gain a deeper understanding and recognition by smelling some exhibits. I want to introduce this into my exhibition design, as only then can people’s perceptual experience during exhibitions be complete.”
Engaging with the Future, Crafting Designs with a Human Touch
For Li Jingwen, design is not only about creating beauty but also about the wisdom to solve problems and convey a sense of warmth and social care.
This philosophy is embodied in her early works, such as the “Smart Pet Collar,” as well as her “JW Outdoor Furniture Series” and “Smart Mobile Charging Robot,” which were selected for the 13th and 14th National Exhibition of Fine Arts. The smart pet collar, based on programming that categorizes pet body movements, uses built-in sensors to perceive a pet’s body language and establishes a mobile social platform to help owners better understand their pet’s emotions and health status. Meanwhile, the JW Outdoor Furniture Series and the smart mobile charging robot showcase her exploration and practice in different design fields.
Li Jingwen’s passion for design is also evident in the small details of life. She designed the “Little Red Notebook” planner based on her own user habits. This seemingly simple notebook holds a clever secret: from a designer’s perspective, she identified daily pain points and integrated ruling tools with the planner, achieving a balance between portability and functionality through precise calculations. The Little Red Notebook is not just a time management tool but also a tangible representation of her “problem-solving design” philosophy, using the most concise form to meet multiple needs.
Li Jingwen’s “Little Red Notebook” planner
Li synthesizes her multidisciplinary background in visual communication, exhibition design, and industrial design. Within the interdisciplinary environment of Tsinghua University, she leverages collaborative innovation with related fields such as materials science, mechanics, automation, and artificial intelligence to achieve fruitful results in exhibition and industrial design. Other significant projects she has participated in include the outdoor public facilities project for the 2022 Sci-tech Winter Olympics venues, several exhibitions at the China Science and Technology Museum (including “Wetland Protection,” “Future of Sci-tech Innovation,” “Science Popularization and Innovation,” and “ICH Protection and Innovation Achievements”), and a project funded by the UNICEF-Tsinghua University Global Innovation Centre for Children (TUGICC). She has also served as the lead designer for numerous exhibitions at the China Science and Technology Museum, including “Science Popularization and Innovation-Exploring the Future: A 10th-Anniversary Retrospective of the National Youth Science Popularization, Innovation, Experiment, and Works Competition”; the “Starring China-Sci-tech Innovation for the Future” exhibition series, part of the “Sailing in a Golden Age - 75th Anniversary Achievements of New China” event; the “‘Nourishing Wetlands, Symbiotic Cycles’ Themed Science Popularization Exhibition”; and the “BMW ICH Protection and Innovation Achievements Exhibition.”
This year, Li Jingwen joined Tsinghua University’s Future Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow. “Many outstanding Tsinghua members are gathered here, each specializing in their own field. In the Future Lab, these fields can intersect. The creative sparks that fly from the collision of different disciplinary mindsets are truly captivating and brilliant,” she says, expressing her strong approval of the lab’s atmosphere. “We are encouraged to imagine boldly rather than being confined by current technology, which gives us a high degree of freedom for exploration. At the same time, the top-tier hardware allows wildly imaginative ideas to be rapidly developed into testable and iterable prototypes. It’s a place where imagination can become reality.” When speaking of her collaborators, Li’s eyes lit up.
Entering New Fields Time and Again, the Lifeblood of Design is Innovation
In the relatively cutting-edge field of olfactory design, Li Jingwen continues her in-depth exploration. Her visiting scholarship at the MIT Media Lab and her focus on the relationship between scent and spatial narrative made her realize that the synergy between scent and color is not merely an overlay of sensory experiences, but a multidimensional reconstruction of emotion, cognition, and spatial function. Through the interactive permeation of vision and smell, a “perceptual resonance” can be formed, creating immersive and personalized spatial narratives for the user.
Now at Tsinghua University’s Future Laboratory, she is dedicated to pushing research in olfactory design to new heights, exploring how to use scent as a core design element to create richer, more three-dimensional, multi-sensory experiences that transcend the visual.
“I am very grateful to Tsinghua. Tsinghua has provided us with an excellent platform. The long-standing, positive collaborations between senior professors and top-tier brands mean that people trust the designs from the Academy of Arts & Design. This allowed us, even as students, to access high-profile projects and grow through them. At the same time, Tsinghua members have an uncompromising pursuit of excellence, which is especially important in the field of design. The professors are incredibly responsible. We would have classes during the day and often discuss proposals late into the night. After the discussions, they’d tell us to rest, fearing we were too tired, while they continued to revise the plans themselves. Such a sense of responsibility is worth learning from and has profoundly influenced my own work ethic.”
When asked about the soul of design, Li Jingwen believes it is innovation. From studying graphic design as an undergraduate to industrial design for her master’s, then researching exhibition design for her doctorate, encountering olfactory design during her visiting scholarship, and later curating and practicing scent design, Li has stepped into new fields time and again, surpassing herself and pursuing the ultimate. She says, “You have to constantly say goodbye to your former self. Before every work is born, there is a ‘darkest hour.’ Only by walking through the darkness before the dawn can one find a new path forward.”
To always maintain passion on the path of design, a desire for new things, an exploration of the unknown world, and to explore, understand, and change the world through the eyes of a designer—this is the core of “Jingwen’s Design.”
Source | Tsinghua Alumni Newsletter, Issue Fu-103
