Press Release
Xiang Xu and Tengyu Zhao Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Chrys Burn Recovery Pressure System in Social Design
Xiang Xu and Tengyu Zhao acknowledged for social design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 16, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Social Design category for Chrys Burn Recovery Pressure System by Xiang Xu and Tengyu Zhao. The award was conferred within the 2025 - 2026 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.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About Chrys Burn Recovery Pressure System
Chrys is a parametric pressure garment designed for pediatric burn recovery. Utilizing a gradient topology lattice structure, the system automatically densifies over scar tissue to deliver a precise therapeutic pressure of 25 mmHg, while maintaining breathability across healthy skin. The design features a modular identity system that separates medical functionality from the aesthetic layer. This enables young patients to customize the garment with interchangeable visual elements, mitigating treatment-related psychological stress through engaging personalization.
About Xiang Xu and Tengyu Zhao
Xiang Xu is a product system designer and graduate student at Donghua University. Her research and practice focus on human-computer interaction, healthcare design, and gamification. She applies psychological principles to develop systems for medical rehabilitation, pain management, and elderly care. Her design methodology relies on user-centered research to address structural challenges in public health and social support. Xiang Xu has been recognized with over 140 domestic design awards for her industrial and product system concepts. Her work explores the intersection of industrial design, human behavior, and accessible healthcare infrastructure.
Award Record
This recognition makes Xiang Xu and Tengyu Zhao a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Social Design Award
The A' Social Design Award is an international design competition recognizing excellence in social design by social impact designers and think-tanks worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to social designers, social brands, social manufacturers and social design professionals from all countries. Typical entries include community projects, social campaigns, public installations, educational programs, sustainable initiatives and healthcare solutions. The awarded social designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/social
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/182324
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/182324
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!182324
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/380758
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
- Chrys Burn Recovery Pressure System
- Function
- Burn Recovery Pressure System
- Category
- Social Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Social Impact
- Colors
- Sienna, Goldenrod, Chocolate, Sandy Brown and Sea Green
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Xiang Xu and Tengyu Zhao
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #182324
Credits
- Team
- Xiang Xu, Tengyu Zhao, Yaqin Xia and Kaiyuan Chen
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Chrys is a parametric pressure system tailored for pediatric burn recovery. It features a Gradient Topology lattice structure that automatically densifies over scar tissue to apply precise therapeutic pressure (25mmHg) while maximizing breathability in healthy areas. Through a modular identity ecosystem, it separates the medical function from the aesthetic layer, allowing children to wear visually diverse hero avatars such as a lion that can be updated as they grow.
- Inspiration
- Pediatric burn patients face a rigorous 23-hour/day recovery regimen. Traditional skin-tone masks are often stifling and stigmatizing, creating an Uncanny Valley effect that causes severe psychological trauma. This leads to a compliance crisis where children refuse treatment, risking permanent functional contractures. The inspiration was to transform these medical devices from symbols of sickness into empowering armor, allowing children to reclaim their identity and turn scars into superpowers.
- Research
- This qualitative research project aims to destigmatize burn recovery. Methodology is guided by STS, medical philosophy, and embodiment theories. Data is collected from from ethnography, interviews, and extensive literature reviews on lived testimonies. Led by Xiang Xu and Tengyu Zhao, Chrys aims to transcend clinical utility to restore human dignity. Our project hopes to impact society by proposing a new approach of transforming medical design to dismantle stigma within healthcare. Future research plan includes long-term UX testing to truly ground this human-centric approach.
- Challenge
- Burn recovery historically prioritized corrective clinical logic, forcing children into a medical gaze that emphasizes deficiency. We challenged this paradigm of concealment. Drawing from disability studies, we navigated the tension between standardized efficacy and a child’s right to visible agency. Externally, we faced a lack of ethical frameworks for distributed pediatric manufacturing and facial data privacy. We shifted from mere inclusion to radical belonging, treating technology not as a cure for deficit, but as a platform for self-actualization in a post-stigmatic society.
- Realization and Technology
- The system replaces traumatic plaster casting with pain-free 3D facial scanning. A parametric algorithm generates a gradient topology lattice, optimizing the 15-25mmHg pressure crucial for scar blanching. The medical layer is 3D-printed using ISO-certified biocompatible elastomers (medical-grade TPU and silicone) for skin safe breathability. This functional interface seamlessly integrates with the 3D-printed aesthetic shell, secured by a universal fabric retention strap.
- Operation and Interaction
- The recovery journey begins with a gamified companion app. First, a 3D facial scan is taken. Second, the child engages in a gamified co-design process, choosing and customizing their own hero avatar. An AR mirror allows them to preview the mask. Finally, an algorithm generates the pressure-optimized design, which is 3D printed and secured to the child using a standardized, universal rear retention strap.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in May 2025 in Shanghai, and finished in December in Shanghai.
- Specifications
- Custom-fit to individual patient measurements via 3D facial scanning. (Approx. 150mm x 150mm x 120mm, varying by child's age).
- Keywords
- Parametric Design, Generative Design, Pediatric Healthcare, Burn Recovery, Rehabilitation, Social Design, Inclusive Design, Gamification, Destigmatization
