︎
Work      About      Play 

Princeton University Art Museum


The Princeton University Art Museum︎︎︎ partnered with Bluecadet to reimagine their digital experience to be as bold, inclusive and forward-looking as its new building. Designed for students, scholars, and the public, the site reflects the the spirit of the new museum: open, connective, and built for engagement.
2024
Client work at Bluecadet
Visual Design, UI/UIX

Role 
Lead Designer





Extending the new brand online 

Working closely with the visual identity developed by the agency 2x4, we translated the new brand into a digital language. Bold crops of artwork create immediacy and intrigue. Refined typography and a confident color palette guide users without overwhelming the art, striking a balance between clarity and sophistication.






Helping users discover art

The new website makes it easier to explore more than 117,000 works through intuitive search and discovery tools. Helpful suggestions, smart filters, and a “surprise me” option support casual exploration, while advanced search enables detailed queries for researchers. Across the site, related objects, videos, and articles create connected pathways that encourage visitors to follow their curiosity and discover 50,000 years of art.

 



Users first

Optimized for mobile as well as desktop, the site was designed to be intuitive and accessible from any device. A reorganized information architecture, clear navigation, and inclusive language make it easy for all audiences to explore.




Team
Troy Lachance, Creative Director
Nina Callaway, Lead Strategist
Xinran Zhou, Lead Designer

Refresh


Refresh is a self-care brand that brings small moments of comfort and restoration into everyday life. Soft gradients, hazy color transitions, and floating typography create a warm, dreamlike visual language that mirrors the gentle heat of the eye masks. The identity invites users to slow down, reset, and step away from the pace of daily life, bringing a sense of lightness and quiet indulgence to the experience.
2022
Visual Identity, Packaging

Advisor
Jennifer Cole Phillips

The Next Wave Festival


This program for The Next Wave Festival, a signature production of The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), features a multi-tiered typographic hierarchy, using nuanced signals of separation to direct the reader through the content. Historic black & white photographs, juxtaposed with leading edge event imagery, denote the past and present while celebrating BAM’s long legacy of artistic and cultural contribution.

The main building of BAM is a classic theatre with a history of over 100 years, which forms an intriguing contrast with avant-garde and experimental shows that happen in it. The brochure captures the contrast by juxtaposing monochrome historical images and the performance still in fresh colors.


The up corner of the page is cut out to create a moment that coordinates the past and the present of BAM. The idea of cut-out corner and layering is also applied to cover design.

Holt Street Museum


The Holt Street Baptist Church Civil Rights Museum︎︎︎ preserves the birthplace of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the legacy of a community that helped shape the Civil Rights Movement. The museum partnered with Bluecadet to create a bold, accessible digital presence—one that could honor the weight of the past while giving a small institution the tools to share its story with audiences today.
2026
Client work at Bluecadet
Branding, UI/UIX

Role 

Lead Designer
Lead Designer





Carrying the story forward

The website turns the Museum’s history into a clear, focused experience for contemporary audiences. Strong content hierarchy, direct pathways, and flexible page structures help visitors move easily between the story of Holt Street, the Museum’s mission, and opportunities to visit, learn, or give. This site provides an accessible public platform that the Museum can continue to expand as its programming and audience grow.





Branding for a bold history

Rooted in the Civil Rights Movement, the brand identity gives the Museum a bold, contemporary voice while keeping people, stories, and collective action at the center. A restrained color palette, bold typography, and documentary photography create a focused visual system. High contrast and tight crops add urgency and presence, letting the history speak for itself.










Team
Chris Eckel, Creative Director
Kristina Jenkins, Lead Strategist
Xinran Zhou, Lead Designer

Outpost 


By blending the convenience of co-working and co-living with the excitement of cultural exploration, Outpost provides a truly exceptional experience for remote workers. This lifestyle encourages cultural adventures, interpersonal connections, and self-exploration. The visual identity, inspired by pins on a map, conveys the idea of unfolding new possibilities in life with Outpost.

2022
Visual Identity
Rebrand

Advisor 
Jennifer Cole Phillips



The adventure with Outpost is an insipring point in your life that is worth marking. New possibilities unfold here.


The dot in the place of O indicates a critical stop on one’s life journey. It is applied to multiple brand keywords with a letter O to reinforce the concept.
© Xinran Zhou
xinxinran.1998@gmail.com