By Mary Smith
Daedalus Guoning Li, a name gaining significance in the design world, operates not within the confines of a single discipline, but rather across the fluid thresholds of image, language, material, and space. This multi-faceted approach, honed through rigorous academic pursuits and professional experiences, has established Li as a key figure in bridging the often disparate worlds of artistic vision and institutional mandate. As the 2025–26 Mildred S. Friedman Design Fellow at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Li is poised to further expand their influence on exhibition graphics, institutional identity, and brand evolution.
Before joining the Walker Art Center, Li honed their skills at leading design firms. A two-year tenure at Isometric Studio in New York saw Li contributing to major cultural projects such as “Contemporary Muslim Fashions” at Cooper Hewitt, “re: collections” at Rose Art Museum, and the AIGA-recognized project “Company.” At Isometric, Li intertwined architectural sensibility with typographic precision, crafting spatial identities grounded in equity-driven storytelling, a testament to their commitment to socially conscious design. Following this, at Pentagram, they contributed to the immersive experience of Rolling Stone’s legacy for Illuminarium Las Vegas, demonstrating their capability to translate cultural narratives into compelling spatial environments and typographic expressions.
Li’s ability to synthesize complex ideas into engaging visual systems is perhaps best exemplified by their work on the Yale School of Architecture’s 2024 spring exhibition, “Groundwater Earth: The World Before and After the Tubewell,” curated by architect and scholar Anthony Acciavatti. Drawing inspiration from cylindrical drilling diagrams, water flow systems, and dot-line mirroring motifs, Li crafted a visual language that bridged geospatial infrastructure with design history. This project, now archived on Fonts in Use, showcases Li’s commitment to layering editorial, spatial, and tactile methods to form a resonant narrative field, highlighting their transdisciplinary approach.
At the core of Li’s practice is the understanding that working with artists and institutions requires distinct, yet complementary approaches.
As Li explains, “Working with artists and institutions is quite diverse. There is more exploration in a personal yet collaborative way with artists. I enjoy having conversations with artists, not only about their endeavors, but also what they like to do during their free time, what meal they like to cook, to get to know them as a complete person, and shaping my understanding on how they as a person create art, and how to use my skill to express the nuance and sensitivity of an artist’s life and the connection they have developed with their craft.”
This focus on personal connection underlines Li’s belief that design is, at its center, a form of translation. “My role often begins in conversation,” Li states. “I see myself as both listener and translator—someone who can take an artist’s conceptual framework or an institution’s curatorial vision and give it form in space, material, typography, and mostly, emotions. It’s about creating a visual and spatial system that doesn’t compete with the development process, but instead reveals it—renders its logic visible, its emotion felt.”
Within an institutional context, Li navigates a different set of challenges, balancing archival protocols, production timelines, and the complexities of the artwork or exhibition thesis. This requires a nuanced understanding of how design can serve as a conduit for knowledge and experience, respecting the integrity of the institution while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of visual communication.
Li’s creative acumen was again on display in their creative direction and graphic design for the Yale School of Architecture’s 2025 symposium, “Discrepant Circulations.” Partnering with architecture historian Graig Buckley, Li developed a graphic language that mirrored the symposium’s theme: the tension between smooth flow and infrastructural disruption. “I used staggered typography and offset image layout to evoke spatial thresholds—moments where movement is paused, diverted, refracted, or deviated under a seeming grid structure,” Li explains. This clever use of visual dissonance echoed the symposium’s core theme, exploring the nuances of circulation within unequal relations of power and knowledge.
Returning to the “Groundwater Earth” exhibition, Li underscores the collaborative process with Xinyi Liu, emphasizing the diagrammatic and geographic richness of Anthony Acciavatti’s research. “The visual identity is centered around elemental forms—dot, line, circle, cylinder—drawn from tubewell diagrams and regional mapping systems,” Li notes. “I treated the exhibition like a spatial essay—making the invisible structure visible, like underground drills of the tubewells; allowing text to express a form of mirroring as to see what’s above and under ground for a tubewell to function; layering image to echo historical reference, and the rich time-span of the exhibition.”
Li perceives exhibition design not as just a backdrop, but as a scenographic element that shapes the viewer’s experience. This philosophy was evident in their approach to the Rose Art Museum’s post-pandemic reopening, including the exhibitions “re: collections, Six Decades at Rose Art Museum” and “Frida Kahlo: POSE.” “Quiet doesn’t mean passive,” Li said. “I think of exhibition design as scenography—it sets the tempo, defines the thresholds, guides the eye.”
For “re: collections,” Li prioritized clarity and transparency, elevating labels and wall text as poetic anchors, allowing the collection to present itself gently. “We use the colon as both a linguistic and graphic tool, to create resonance, and visual rhythm within the space. It naturally suggests a continuation, an opening, a wanting for a future awaits. It also became an elegant graphic device, separating each section, framing quotes from exhibit artists.” This understated approach allowed the artworks to speak for themselves, resonating with the historical architecture designed by Max Abramovitz.
In contrast, “Frida Kahlo: POSE,” which explored Kahlo’s queer identity, demanded a more dynamic approach. Li helmed the design of the exhibition architecture, creating wrapped walls with openings to establish visual permeability and resolve the problem of horizontal display by integrating vitrines into the wall structure. This intervention reconfigured the exhibition space to reflect Kahlo’s complex life and artistic scope.
Perhaps one of Li’s most significant contributions to the field was their role as Lead Designer for “Contemporary Muslim Fashions” at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. This poignant exhibition explored fashion, identity, and representation within Muslim communities across the globe. Li’s strategy was cemented in visibility and resistance to monolithic representation. “This project was fundamentally about visibility—but just as much about resisting monolithic representation,” Li explains. “Contemporary Muslim Fashions spanned diverse geographies, aesthetics, and expressions of identity through fashion, so the design needed to hold both clarity and multiplicity.”
Li developed a system of custom-built frames, subtly referencing archways found in Muslim vernacular architecture, wrapped in translucent fabric. This created layered sightlines and gentle thresholds, allowing the garments to be seen in relation to one another, fostering a sense of interconnectedness. Li led the entire design and production process, inserting precision and poetic interpretation into the space, designing not just for what would be seen, but for how it would feel to move through it.
Born in China in 1995, Li’s trajectory reflects a deep commitment to understanding the built environment and its communicative potential. Holding a dual BArch and BFA in Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), complemented by participation in the European Honors Program, Li acquired a unique understanding of spatial dynamics and the power of visual language. This foundation was further concreted by an MFA in Graphic Design from the Yale School of Art, positioning Li at the forefront of transdisciplinary design practice.
Daedalus Guoning Li’s work transcends beyond the traditional boundaries of graphic design, weaving narratives through space, form, and various typographies. By prioritizing collaboration, historical context, and emotional resonance, Li’s designs serve as powerful catalysts for understanding and engagement, solidifying their place as a leading voice in contemporary design practice. Their upcoming fellowship at the Walker Art Center promises further exploration of the potent intermixture between art and institutional identity, rooting Li’s legacy as a designer deeply invested in shaping the future of visual communication.
