RISD Grad Show 2026

zairan liu

MFA Graphic Design

見微知著: see small, know big

A great man 見微知著 (see small, know big). — Hanfeizi
My thesis explores how an ordinary person (who likes birds and technology) practices this method in graphic design. 

a book with a red cover against a black background. The interior spread shows two columns of text, each line containing a sentence fragment with "AI" as the pivot point — the left half of each sentence ends with "AI" and the right half begins after it, creating a visual caesura down the center of each page.

AI
book, 4.25x6"

"Two viewers look at a horizontal row of six landscape photographs. The images show varied terrains like rocky desert, dried earth, a shoreline, eroded cliffs — all in muted earth tones, and several appear to have areas of visual disruption or digital intervention where portions of the landscape seem to dissolve as though parts of the image have been selectively eroded or composited. "

landscape.soundscape
6 prints

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Rhode Island School of Design

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RISD Seal

Rhode Island School of Design

20 Washington Place
Providence, RI 02913–2784
United States of America

+1 401 454 6100
+1 800 364 RISD