HUAISU GANA Animation Design

Changsha was an important stop on Darren Jason Watkins Jr.'s (known in China by his nickname "Jiakang Ge," or IShowSpeed) tour of China. To showcase the local characteristics and culture, Jody Xiong designed a T-shirt for him featuring the word "Changsha." The typography design of "Changsha" on his pink T-shirt draws its inspiration from Huaisu, a Tang Dynasty monk and a renowned calligrapher from Changsha.

Jody Xiong selected the two characters for "Changsha" from Huaisu's representative cursive calligraphy work, Zi Xu Tie (Autobiographical Essay), and reinterpreted them in a modern way, rendering them in a single, continuous stroke. Through 3D CGI production, the starting point of the three-dimensional font is depicted as an abstract figure of a monk, while the end of the stroke transforms into a calligraphy brush. We ingeniously merged the abstract image of Huaisu with the form of his cursive "Changsha," making the text appear as if it has been personified into a human, flowing with dynamic and vigorous brushstrokes.

During his trip to Changsha, Darren Jason Watkins Jr. wore this "Changsha" T-shirt throughout his entire live stream. The peak concurrent online viewership reached 38 million, and the T-shirt design garnered over 100 million impressions across global social media platforms.