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MAGGIE MEITONG XIAN

is pursuing a BFA in Graphic Design @ Rhode Island School of Design.

Striving to design with care and empathy, her work is often informed by research and the interplay of physical and digital. Raised in Aotearoa New Zealand, you’ll most likely find her near a body of water.

Currently @ RISD Design Guild. Previously Design Lead @ Better World by Design.

This website was coded by hand; typeset in Neue Haas Unica.

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DAY BY DAY

Poster
Spring 2025

Advised by Doug Scott for Mapping Information @ RISD.

A visualisation of three trips — a trip I take every day, a trip for a good day, and a trip that takes a day.

Landscape poster with three colour coded trips

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

Poster
Fall 2023

Proposed poster series for RISD Artist Ball, under the theme of “Head in the Clouds”. Based upon the ever-changing view from an airplane window, where your head is, literally, in the clouds.

head in the clouds poster 1 head in the clouds poster 2 head in the clouds poster 3

LET'S SHARE A CUP OF TEA!

Illustration
Spring 2024

labelled tea set vector illustration

BETTER WORLD BY DESIGN: RIPPLES

Web, Identity
Fall 2023

With Kayla Feng, Li June Choi, and Jin Kim @ Better World by Design.

Graphic and web design for Better World by Design's 2023 conference, under the theme of “Ripples”. Created conference graphics adhering to a design system and developed website using Webflow and code. Motion by Jin Kim.

Ripples 2023 Content Kit Ripples 2023 Content Kit
Ripples 2023 Schedule

THE HORSE IN MOTION

Risograph, Pen Plotter
Fall 2024

Experimenting with Eadweard Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion (1878).

riso horse, green
riso horse, paprika
pen plotter horse, brown on grey paper
pen plotter horse, brown on grey paper

TADANORI YOKOO / KENYA HARA

Publication, Research
Fall 2023

Advised by Doug Scott & Michelle Belgrod for History of Graphic Design @ RISD.

An accordion book comparing the lives of two Japanese designers, Tadanori Yokoo and Kenya Hara, alongside important World and Art/Design Events. Typeset in PP Editorial New, Neue Haas Grotesk.

cover open with pattern
book edge close up, pattern
book edge close up, yellow

EXPERIMENTAL AND FOUNDATION STUDIES TRIENNIAL EXHIBITION

Poster
Winter 2025

@ RISD Design Guild.

Dot-to-dot posters for the Experimental and Foundation Studies Triennial, celebrating the diversity and synthesis within RISD's first year EFS program. Colours and patterns reference the architecture of the Waterman Building, home to the EFS department.

gif of EFS Triennial poster series
EFS Triennial poster, blank version

NO LIGHT WITHOUT DARKNESS

Publication, Photography
Winter 2024

Advised by Jenny Edwards for Intro to Darkroom Photography @ RISD.

Photobook featuring a selection of black-and-white film photography taken and processed by me. White toner printed on black paper, french fold binding with partial dust jacket.

No Light Without Darkness - cover
cover front/back with dust jacket
cover front/back without dust jacket

POPPY SEED STUDIES

Risograph, Illustration
Fall 2024

Advised by Travess Smalley for Drawing With Computers @ RISD.

Poppy seed prints on silver, in violet and bright olive Poppy seed prints on beige, in black, red, and bright olive
Poppy seed misprints

MULTIPLE FORMATS

Identity
Spring 2024

Advised by Min Hee Lee for Typography II @ RISD.

CMYK-based poster and ticket design for Boston University’s annual celebration of printed matter.

multiple formats posters with cyan, magenta, yellow
ticket

THE NATURE OF LIGHT

Identity
Fall 2023

Advised by Nancy Skolos for Design Studio I @ RISD.

The Nature of Light is an ideated pop-up exhibition designed to illuminate the concept of light and optical phenomena. Through colouring a set of postcards (that also piece together to form a flipbook animation of the visible light spectrum), visitors have a chance to learn all about sun dogs, circumzenithal arcs, tangent arcs, and 22° halos. All images composed in Illustrator. 24"x36" poster & double-sided riso printed postcards.

big poster
flipbook animation of visible light spectrum (from postcards) postcards, front and back, coloured

WAVE TO WAVE

Code, Sound, Videography
Fall 2023

Advised by Shawn Greenlee for Spatial Audio @ RISD.

What would light sound like if it were sound, and what would sound look like if it were light? Although different in many ways, light and sound both result from the interactions of particles and waves. Pre-recorded video of sunlight upon the Providence River is scanned by an algorithm coded in Max/Jitter, which then assigns synthesized sound to a position in ambisonic space. The azimuth and elevation of the sound is determined by factors such as brightness and position of light within the video frame. The piece is interactive through the use of a Korg MIDI controller by which qualities of the synthesized sound can be adjusted, making every performance unique.

First performed and recorded with the 25.4 loudspeaker array in RISD’s Studio for Research in Sound and Technology. Best listened with headphones in a quiet space.

live performance documentation - 1
live performance documentation - 2

PERPETUAL SUNRISE, PERPETUAL HOME

Code
Spring 2024

Advised by Ramon Tejada for Colour + Surface @ RISD.

A personal colour library based on memories of sunrises from home. Housed in the form of a website that slowly gradiates through all 101 colours in 30 minutes, the length of an average sunrise. Open it here, leave for a while, and come back for a surprise.

in class crit documentation