Lancey Yin

I am an illustrator and designer with an interest in animals and natural imagery. My work often combines visual storytelling with functional design applications such as packaging and informational graphics. I place a strong focus on shape language, using both angular lines and organic curves to create flowing yet structured compositions. I strive to create work that is both visually engaging and purposeful.

TORONTO ZOO SIGNAGE:

Combining my love of animals and graphic design, this project explores how signage can be more playful and unique if it breaks away from its conventional rectangular borders. By incorporating the animals into the signage, I can showcase the incredible diversity of wildlife found within the zoo. Their wide range of shapes and colours also brings a liveliness to the zoo’s atmosphere and makes them more engaging for visitors of all ages.

CRITTER CRATE:

Critter Crate is a hypothetical subscription box service focusing on animal conservation. Featuring the African painted dog, California condor, and great hammerhead shark, I created custom illustrated packaging, along with an accompanying infographic and t-shirt design for each animal’s box. These items were chosen to explore the balance between aesthetics and functionality in design.

BASILISK:

Basilisk is my reimagining of the traditional practice of snake wine. I instead of fermenting a real snake inside the bottle, it is illustrated on the packaging to negate ethical concerns while maintaining the drink’s fierce imagery. Featuring the three snakes one may typically find in such a drink, a cobra, rattlesnake, and habu snake, each has their own unique scale patterning created traditionally with inks and a brush pen.

CELEPHAIS:

Despite being best known as the father of cosmic horror, H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “Celephais” features no comic beings or unimaginable horrors. Instead, it tells a melancholic story about a man rejecting his mundane, pitiful reality in a desperate pursuit to live in the fantastical city he once visited in his dreams. This project is my interpretation of the text, exploring the contrast between the ethereal dreams and the cold, harsh reality through colour and texture.