Arts Thread

Sijia Liu
Graphic Design BFA

ArtCenter College of Design

Specialisms: Design and Technology / Graphic Design / Interaction Design

Location: Los Angeles, United States

sijia-liu1 ArtsThread Profile
ArtCenter College of Design

Sijia Liu

Sijia Liu ArtsThread Profile

First Name: Sijia

Last Name: Liu

Specialisms: Design and Technology / Graphic Design / Interaction Design

Sectors:

My Location: Los Angeles, United States

University / College: ArtCenter College of Design

Course / Program Title: Graphic Design BFA

About

I am an observer. I pay attention to unseen issues, including cultural divides, gaps in experience, and people marginalized within complex systems. To me, these are not flaws, but fragments that can be reorganized through color, structure, and responsive experiences. By reassembling these fragments, the unseen is made visible and understandable.

I am Sijia (April) Liu, a multidisciplinary designer working across graphic design, interaction design, and creative technologies.

at:tune is a sound therapy festival hosted every fall in California. Taking place at the Griffith park, the festival aims to create an accessible space where adults and seniors can restore their minds and bodies through the intersection of music and nature. The festival features a variety of activities, including sound baths, sound making, soundwalks, health assessments, and pop-up musical performances. Together, they offer a quiet moment for individuals with a high-stressed lifestyle, helping them restore their mental and physical health.

Intensifying weather patterns are creating long-term climate shifts, yet most people rely only on short-term sensory impressions of the weather. This makes it difficult to recognize the subtle ways prolonged climate change affects human health. In this project, I designed a fingernail-based wearable device inspired by traditional Miao medicine. The device tracks weather changes and correlates them with fingernail ridges and bodily responses, allowing users to build a long-term record of climate patterns and their own health conditions. By integrating Miao medical theory visualization with a bio-fabric derived from Miao herbals, the device supports environmental perception, encourages timely responses to climate stressors, and strengthens society’s overall capacity for climate adaptation.

I have consistently engaged in interdisciplinary work, which allowed me to see how different disciplines intersect with art and design. Bio art was a particularly exciting discovery. I was drawn to the abstract forms and colors created through biology, bacteria, and living organisms, and I hope more people can experience the aesthetic possibilities that emerge when science and art come together, especially as future innovation increasingly depends on interdisciplinary collaboration.