{"id":2739,"date":"2025-05-18T14:36:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T13:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/?p=2739"},"modified":"2025-08-28T17:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:23:16","slug":"aijun-yao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/aijun-yao\/","title":{"rendered":"Aijun Yao"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"sitecontainer\">\n<div class=\"pagecontainer\">\n<h4 class=\"homepage-heading-h4\">Degree Show 2025<\/h4>\n<div class=\"postcontainer\">\n<h1 class=\"thestudentpostname\" id=\"studentpostname\">Aijun Yao<\/h1>\n<h3>MA Art and Design<\/h3>\n<p class=\"studentstatement\">My work focuses on picturebook design as a medium for emotional healing. Through visual metaphors, I explore memory, silence, and caregiving in Alzheimer\u2019s journeys. Rooted in practice-led illustration, my project &#8216;Travel to the End of the Universe&#8217; invites readers to travel across grief and tenderness, seeking moments of recognition and quiet strength in visual narrative.<\/p>\n<div class=\"socialstack\"><span class=\"material-icons md-24\">handshake<\/span><a href=\"#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with <span id=\"withme\"><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--FILE01 IMG--><\/p>\n<div class=\"mediafileviewer mfvimages\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading =\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Aijun-Yao-01_Yao-Aijun.jpg\" width=\"100%\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 2362px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 2362\/1670;\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mfv-caption\">Book Cover The cover of Travel to the End of Universe uses hand-drawn textures and a monochrome palette to evoke a dreamlike cosmos. A lonely train travels through stars, symbolising memory\u2019s last journey. The quote anchors the theme: love and companionship persist, even as dementia erases shared time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--FILE02 IMG--><\/p>\n<div class=\"mediafileviewer mfvimages\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading =\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Aijun-Yao-02_Yao-Aijun.jpg\" width=\"100%\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1920px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1920\/1358;\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mfv-caption\">Frontispiece This cover depicts a lonely train sailing into the starry void, symbolising the final journey of memory and love. The textured monochrome etching reflects the weight of time and forgetting, inviting viewers into a poetic visual metaphor of Alzheimer\u2019s caregiving.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--FILE03 IMG--><\/p>\n<div class=\"mediafileviewer mfvimages\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading =\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Aijun-Yao-03_Yao-Aijun.jpg\" width=\"100%\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1920px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1920\/1358;\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mfv-caption\">Content page This page captures the arrival of Mrs. Liu&#8217;s final train, where the fading tracks and wind-blown mist create a visual metaphor that sets the stage for the journey ahead. Using digital painting to simulate the texture of drypoint engraving and employing a minimalist composition, the image conveys the solemn stillness of farewell and the solitude that lingers at the edge of memory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\ndocument.getElementById(\"withme\").innerHTML = document.getElementById(\"studentpostname\").innerHTML;\ndocument.addEventListener(\"scroll\", function(){\nvar sitedescription = document.querySelector(\".site-description\");\nvar studenttitle = document.getElementById(\"studentpostname\");\nif(window.pageYOffset > 100){\nsitedescription.classList.add(\"highlightstudentname\");\nsitedescription.innerHTML = studenttitle.innerHTML;\n}\nif(window.pageYOffset < 100){\nsitedescription.classList.remove(\"highlightstudentname\");\nsitedescription.innerHTML = \"School of Design, University of Leeds\";\n}\n});\n\/*Heart a submission\nlet theheart = document.getElementById(\"heartsvg\"); \/\/ assign the SVG class to a variable called theheart\nlet lsheart = localStorage.getItem(\"onheart\"); \/\/ access a key called onheart in LS, and assign it to a variable called lsheart\nlet heartmsg = document.getElementById(\"heartmessage\");\nconst enableheart = () => { \/\/ create a function to colour in the SVG when the SVG is clicked\ntheheart.classList.add(\"activeheart\"); \/\/ tell the function to add a class to the SVG that will add colour\nheartmsg.innerHTML = \"You liked this submission\";\nheartmsg.classList.add(\"addpinkcolor\");\nlocalStorage.setItem(\"onheart\", \"enabled\"); \/\/ activate LS with the key and a value, hereby called enabled\n};\nconst disableheart = () => { \/\/ create a function to remove colour from the SVG when the SVG is clicked\ntheheart.classList.remove(\"activeheart\"); \/\/ tell the function to remove the class from the SVG that added colour\nheartmsg.innerHTML = \"Like this submission\";\nheartmsg.classList.remove(\"addpinkcolor\");\nlocalStorage.setItem(\"onheart\", \"disabled\"); \/\/ activate LS with the same key but a new value, hereby called disabled\n};\nif(lsheart === \"enabled\"){ \/\/ if the LS key has a value of enabled then...\nenableheart(); \/\/ ...run the enableheart function, which adds the class to the SVG\n}\ntheheart.addEventListener(\"click\", function(){ \/\/ when the SVG is clicked...\nlsheart = localStorage.getItem(\"onheart\"); \/\/ ...I think the LS needs to run on itself\nif(lsheart === \"enabled\"){ \/\/ if the LS key has a value of enabled...\ndisableheart(); \/\/ ...run the function that changes the LS value to disabled\n} else { \/\/ otherwise...\nenableheart(); \/\/ ...run the function that changes the LS value to enabled\n}\n});\n*\/\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Degree Show 2025 Aijun Yao MA Art and Design My work focuses on picturebook design as a medium for emotional healing. Through visual metaphors, I explore memory, silence, and caregiving in Alzheimer\u2019s journeys. Rooted in practice-led illustration, my project &#8216;Travel to the End of the Universe&#8217; invites readers to travel across grief and tenderness, seeking &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/aijun-yao\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Aijun Yao&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ma-art-and-design","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2739"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3917,"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions\/3917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schoolofdesignleeds.com\/ds25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}