Press Release
Bronze A' Design Award in Print and Published Media Design Goes to Roots Zines by Xun Zuo
The international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Xun Zuo for print and published media design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Roots Zines by Xun Zuo, designed for Xunzuodesign, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Print and Published Media Design category. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Roots Zines
This modular publication consists of zines, each crafted with a visual language reflecting the identity of storytellers. Centered around New York coffee shops, it captures how new immigrants navigate connection and belonging. The sewn and vacuum sealed format evokes impermanence and emotional tension. Through personal narratives, the project uncovers the social value of small businesses and reframes emotional design as a tool for inclusion.
About Xun Zuo
Xun Zuo is a multi-disciplinary designer whose work lives at the intersection of brand, environment, and culture. With a bold heart and a thoughtful brain, he crafts visually immersive experiences that resonate deeply with audiences. Specializing in visual identity systems, Xun is particularly skilled at bringing ideas to life through motion and 3D storytelling. His design language is playful, provocative, and unafraid to be direct. Over the past six years, Xun has collaborated with global brands including Nike, EA, Timberland, Don Julio, and MoMA, contributing to creative strategy, marketing, and pop-up retail design.
Award Record
With this recognition, Xun Zuo is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Print and Published Media Design Award
The A' Print Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good printed and published media by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to print designers, published media designers, graphic designers and typography experts from all countries. Typical entries include brochures, posters, magazines, catalogs, flyers and business cards. The awarded print designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/print
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/172635
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/172635
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!172635
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/368429
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://bit.ly/3RmR5ZP
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Roots Zines
- Function
- Zines
- Category
- Print and Published Media Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Branding & Advertising and Entertainment
- Colors
- Lavender, Royal Blue, Dark Slate Gray, Hot Pink and Blue
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Xunzuodesign
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Xun Zuo
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #172635
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- A book of zines, each a voice, a mood, a rhythm. Designed with visualized personal styles from the storyteller, these fragments emerge from coffee shops in New York, where new immigrants seek connection in a fast moving city. Loosely sewn and vacuum sealed, the form speaks of impermanence. This modular archive becomes both vessel and invitation, mapping emotion, honoring small businesses, and asking what design can do when it listens.
- Inspiration
- Coffee branding often reflects local culture and community, as coffee shops serve as social anchors. As a former international student, I saw coffee, a global symbol, as a bridge to belonging. I visited local cafes across New York, gathering stories from outsiders and navigating connections. This project is both a storytelling platform and a reflection on how brand and experience design shape human relationships.
- Research
- This research combines qualitative and quantitative methods to explore how coffee connects foreign individuals to local communities. It aims to understand how cafe branding influences consumer decision making. Data was collected through interviews, questionnaires, and cultural probes with over 40 participants. The findings emphasize the significance of emotional connections in branding and suggest that businesses can enhance consumer engagement by focusing on emotional design in real life interactions.
- Challenge
- The biggest challenge was conducting interviews with storytellers in a neutral, non leading way, helping them share their stories without guiding them toward specific narratives about their relationship with coffee and local culture. This was particularly challenging because the influence of environment, brand design, and tone on consumers, especially who are not native speakers, is often indirect.
- Realization and Technology
- A modular collection of zines, each using different paper stocks, printing methods, and a mix of sewn and Coptic binding. Every material choice was shaped by conversations with storytellers. Inspired by the Chinese Red Thread legend, the bindings reflect connection and distance. A business card included in the set acts as an invitation, extending the narrative and welcoming new voices into the ongoing story.
- Operation and Interaction
- This book, or zine collection, connects with readers through print in a tangible way. Its unique visual language tells stories while reflecting the personal style of each storyteller. The first zine introduces the inspiration of the project, followed by others sharing diverse stories, reinforcing community. The final zine guides readers on how to participate and invites them to contribute. A business card on the vacuum sealed packaging provides submission details.
- Project Duration and Location
- An ongoing project started in August 2022. The most recent update was in July 2024.
- Specifications
- 203.2 mm x 139.7 mm zine, 6 zines total, 120 pages, printed media with sewn binding, vacuum sealed in a plastic bag.
- Keywords
- Zine, Book, Ethnographic Research, Branding, Customer Experience
