{"id":38084,"date":"2025-04-29T09:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T09:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muse.international\/?p=38084"},"modified":"2025-05-02T02:21:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T02:21:57","slug":"how-founder-lingyi-kong-at-mars-pharaoh-redefines-art-with-her-way-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/how-founder-lingyi-kong-at-mars-pharaoh-redefines-art-with-her-way-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How Founder Lingyi Kong at Mars Pharaoh Redefines Art with Her Way Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Lingyi Kong, founder of Mars Pharaoh, merges branding, tech, and art direction. A Parsons instructor, she explores interactive design and brand strategy. Her global exhibitions reflect a fusion of art and technology. For Her Way Home<\/em>, she used “pathways” to explore identity and belonging, blending heritage with modern expression.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Q1. Congratulations on winning the MUSE Design Awards! Can you introduce yourself and share about what inspired you to pursue design as a career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am Lingyi Kong, founder of Mars Pharaoh, a design studio specializing in branding, creative technology development, and art direction. I also teach at Parsons School of Design, focusing on interactive design, programming, and brand strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My work has been exhibited in renowned museums, bookstores, and galleries worldwide, reflecting my ongoing exploration of the fusion between art and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My passion for design comes from a deep interest in how technology transforms creative expression. Over the years, I have led cross-disciplinary projects that push the boundaries of digital design, shaping the industry\u2019s landscape through innovative approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning the MUSE Design Awards is a recognition of this commitment and reinforces my dedication to driving impactful design forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q2. What does being recognized in the MUSE Design Awards mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m truly honored. Receiving a Gold Award in such a globally renowned competition is a strong affirmation of both Mars Pharaoh Studio and myself. Over the years, we have consistently engaged with international audiences, and this award further solidifies our standing in the global design community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reaffirms our commitment to pushing creative boundaries and influencing the industry at large. This recognition motivates me to continue shaping impactful design narratives and expanding our influence in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q3. How has this achievement impacted your career, team, or agency, and what opportunities has it brought so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experimentation is at the core of my creative process. It allows me to explore new ideas, push boundaries, and find innovative solutions that resonate deeply with the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By embracing experimentation, I can blend different perspectives, techniques, and mediums to create something truly unique and meaningful. One of the most impactful examples of experimentation in my work is the Her Way Home project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project brings together musicians from Asia to Boston, each carrying a unique blend of heritage, contemporary expression, and artistic evolution. More than just a performance, Her Way Home is a poetic exploration of identity, displacement, and belonging, where nostalgia and aspiration merge into a dynamic artistic dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experimentation extended to ensuring the visual identity was cohesive and adaptable across multiple platforms. From logo design to campaign materials and promotional assets, we tested different approaches to maintaining a unified yet flexible aesthetic that could resonate with diverse audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this experimental approach, Her Way Home became more than just a performance\u2014it became a cultural branding that embodied a forward-moving journey. The project successfully reflected the duality of cultural roots and new frontiers, creating a powerful connection with the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q4. What’s the most unusual source of inspiration you’ve ever drawn from for a project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Her Way Home, the concept of “pathways”\u2014both literal and metaphorical\u2014became an unusual yet powerful inspiration. This metaphor guided the project\u2019s exploration of identity, displacement, and belonging, blending heritage with contemporary expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We visualized movement through rhythmic, repetitive visuals mirroring musical progressions and used chord structures in design to symbolize the tension between nostalgia and aspiration. The logo echoed traditional Asian attire, bridging past and present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pathway theme extended to interactive media, breaking conventional performance boundaries and engaging global audiences from Asia to North America. The result was a transformative audiovisual journey, fusing cultural roots with innovative design and music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q5 What\u2019s one thing you wish more people understood about the design process?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most unusual sources of inspiration for my design work comes from music\u2014specifically, the structure and emotional depth found in Romantic-era piano compositions. Having studied piano for years, I\u2019ve always been fascinated by how composers like Chopin and Liszt use rhythm, contrast, and dynamic progression to tell a story without words. This idea of “narrative through sensation” deeply influences my approach to design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in my Ecooter project, I thought about how movement\u2014both in music and urban mobility\u2014can create an emotional and immersive experience. Just as a musical piece builds momentum and evokes feeling through its progression, I wanted Ecooter to do more than just function as a transportation service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By integrating real-time CO? savings tracking and city-wide billboard messaging, I aimed to compose an experience where users feel connected to a larger environmental movement, much like how a recurring musical theme ties together a symphony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experience reinforced my belief that design is not just about visual form or usability, but about evoking emotions and shaping perceptions. Drawing inspiration from unconventional sources\u2014whether it’s music, philosophy, or literature\u2014allows me to create work that resonates on a deeper level, making even functional systems feel poetic and meaningful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her Way Home: New England Conservatory Degree Identity<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore the journey of ChingKe Lin<\/a>, the Platinum Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards. He blends traditional bamboo craftsmanship with contemporary design, exploring the relationship between humans and nature. His work pushes bamboo beyond its conventional uses, expressing fluidity and poetry while highlighting its structural aesthetics.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lingyi Kong, founder of Mars Pharaoh, merges branding, tech, and art direction. A Parsons instructor, she explores interactive design and brand strategy. 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