Professor

PhD Supervisor 

Editor-in-chief of the series "Phoenix Library - Design Theory Research" and "Design and Times" by Jiangsu Phoenix Art Publishing House

Brief Introduction

Zhang Li is a tenured professor and doctoral advisor at the College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University. She has led more than ten research projects, including two National Social Science Fund of China Art Projects, the National Art Fund's Young Talent Program in Art Criticism, the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Fund, and the Spanish Association for Design History Research Fund. She has published over 70 academic papers in both Chinese and English in leading journals such as She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, The Design Journal, International Journal of Art & Design Education, Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute(Fine Arts & Design) ,ZHUANGSHI, Art and Design Research, and Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art.Her representative works include the monographs Speculative Imagination: Speculative Design (2024), Everyday Life and Nationalism: A Brief History of Design Culture in the Republic of China (2016), and Gendered Design Criticism: Space, Objects, and Fashion (2015). She is also the author of several translated works, including Discursive Design (2024), Adversarial Design (2015), Speculative Everything (2017), The Ideas of Design (2018), and Critical Design in Context (2019).Her research interests span design history and theory, feminist design criticism, modern Chinese design history and culture, and design philosophy and ethics. She is particularly focused on emerging design practices and methods, contemporary design ideologies, and global design education.

Research

Design History and Theory

Design Criticism and Curation

Design Philosophy and Ethics

Teaching

Undergraduate: Design Semiotics，Introduction to Design，Design Criticism，Selected Readings on Chinese and Foreign Design Writings，Design History，Design Sociology，Introduction to Speculative Design

Graduate: Essential Elements of Academic Research Series，Research in Design Ethics，Studies in Design Criticism and Curation，Research in Design Semiotics

Academic and social Post

Expert member of China Humanities and Social Sciences Journal Evaluation Expert Committee，Art Journal Design Sub-Committee (2021-present)

Editor-in-chief of the series "Phoenix Library - Design Theory Research" and "Design and Times" by Jiangsu Phoenix Art Publishing House (2015-present)

Executive Director，Arts & Design Education Professional Committee，Guangdong Association of Higher Education (2023)

Vice Chairman，Industrial Design Branch，Guangdong Mechanical Engineering Society (2023)

Editor-in-Chief in Design Theory Column and Member of the expert committee of Industrial and Engineering Design (2024)

Expert of Ministry of Education "Product Design Talent Cultivation Mode Reform Virtual Teaching and Research Center” (2022-present)

Expert of Ministry of Education “Virtual Teaching and Research Office of Industrial Design Specialty” (2022-present)

Director of Art Anthropology Society-Lifestyle Design Professional Committee  (2020-present)

Member of China Cultural Industry Promotion Association and Cultural Heritage Protection Committee (2020-present)

Education Background

2010.09-2011.06  University of California (Berkeley)，Joint Ph.D. Program and Visiting Graduate Student

2010.01-2010.06  Hong Kong Baptist University，Full-time Scholarship Visiting Graduate Student

2008.09-2012.07  Tsinghua University Academy of Arts & Design，Doctor of Arts

2005.09-2008.06  Wuhan University of Technology School of Art and Design，Master of Arts

2001.09-2005.07  Jianghan Univeristy School of Mechanical and electrical Engineering，Bachelor of Engineering

Work Experience

2024.11-present  Tenured Professor，PhD Supervisor，College of Design and Innovation，Tongji University

2020.03-2024.10  Associate Professor，Professor，PhD Supervisor，Deputy Dean，School of Art and Design，Guangdong University of Technology

2012.07-2020.03  Lecturer，Associate Professor，Master’s Supervisor，School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering，Beijing Information Science and Technology University

Design

[1] 2023-2026  National Social Science Fund of China Artistic General Program: Research on Contemporary Design Ethics Practices and Methods (Project Leader)

[2] 2018-2021  National Social Science Fund of China Artistic General Program: Research on the New Trend of Design from the Perspective of Philosophy of Technology (Project Leader)

[3] 2013-2016  Youth Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences Research, Ministry of Education: Research on the History of Republican Design and Its Ideas in the Perspective of Material Culture (Project Leader)

[4] 2022-2023  China National Arts Fund Youth Art Creation Talent Program (Literary Review): Criticism of Design Ethics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (Project Leader)

[5] 2020-2022  Key Project of Social Science Program of Beijing Municipal Education Commission/General project of Beijing Social Science Fund: Research on Design Ethics and Methods in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (Project Leader)

[6] 2015-2016  Top Project of Science and Technology Program of Beijing Municipal Education Commission: Research on Cooperative Design Thinking and Its Process Model Based on Sketching Behavior (Project Leader)

[7] 2013  Spanish Foundation of Design History “1st Research Grant for The Study of Domestic Appliances” (Project Leader)

Publications

Books:

[1] Monograph: Zhang, L. (2024). Alternative Imagination: Speculative Design. Shanghai Sanlian Publishing House.

[2] Monograph: Zhang, L. (2016). Everyday Life and Nationalism: A Brief Cultural History of Design in Republican China. Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[3] Monograph: Zhang, L. (2015). Gendered Design Criticism: Space, Objects, and Fashion. Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[4] Edited Book: Zhang, L. (2011). Wang Jiashu's Collected Works: Chinese Modern Art and Design Thought Series. Shandong Fine Arts Publishing House.

[5] Sole Translation: Malpass, M. (2019). Critical Design and Its Contexts: History, Theory, and Methods (Zhang, L., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[6] Sole Translation: Margolin, V. (2018). The Idea of Design: A Design Issues Reader. (Zhang, L., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[7] Sole Translation: Dunne, A; Raby, F. (2018). Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. (Zhang, L., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[8] Sole Translation: DiSalvo, C. (2016). Adversarial Design. (Zhang, L., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[9] Sole Translation: Fallan, K. (2016). Design History: Understanding Theory and Method. (Zhang, L., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[10] Sole Translation: Urquiola, P.(2009).  Design Classic: the Latest International Design. (Zhang, L., Trans.). China Architecture & Building Press.

[11] Co-translation: Fry, T., Stewart, S., & Dilnot, C. (2020). Design and the Question of History.(Zhao, Q., Zhang, L., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[12] Co-translation: Heskett, J. (2019). Design and the Creation of Value.(Yin, H., Zhang, L., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[13] Co-translation: Löfgren, O. (2017). Design by IKEA. A Cultural History. (Zhang, L., Gong, Y., Trans.). Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House.

[14] Co-translation: Sparke, P. (2017). Modern Interior Design. (Zhu, Y., Zhang, L., & Chen, H., Trans.). Chongqing University Press.

Textbook:

[1] Zhang, L. (2014). Preliminary Product Design. Tsinghua University Press.

Journal Papers:

[1] Zhang, L., Liu, Y., & Wu, Y. (2024). What if Walter Gropius were a Woman: Alternative Design History Teaching Experiment. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 43(1), 114-128.

[2] Zhang, L. (2023). Contemporary Design Culture in the New Materialist Turn. ZHUANGSHI, (10), 20-25.

[3] Zhang, L. (2023). The Ethical Turn of Emerging Design Practices. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 9(3), 311-329.

[4] Zhang, L., Liu, Y. (2023). How to Alternatively Imagine the Past: A Speculative Experiment in Teaching Contingent Design History. Journal of the Nanjing Arts Institute (Art and Design Edition), (02), 17-21.

[5] Wang, X., Zhang, L. (2022). Why Design is Noir: Narrative Medium and Value Fiction. Art and Design Research, (05), 66-72.

[6] Zhang, L. (2022). Imaginary ethics: The morality of fictional aesthetics in speculative design. The Design Journal, 25(3), 317-333.

[7] Zhang, L., Liu, Y. (2021). On the Fourth Turn of Emerging Design Practices: Speculation as Ethics. Tsinghua Art Journal, (3), 113-128.

[8] Zhang, L. (2021). How Discourse is Designed: Alternative Objects and Communication Ethics. Art and Design Research, (05), 58-64.

[9] Zhang, L. (2021). How Design Makes the World History: On the Disciplinary Value of the History of World Design. ZHUANGSHI, (04), 70-73.

[10] Zhang, L. (2021). The Ethics of Imagination and Action: Design Speculate for Emerging Technologies. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Fine Arts & Design),(02), 78-83.

[11] Zhang, L. (2021). Design Ideals and Ethics in the Anthropocene: Non-Anthropocentrism and Object-Oriented Design. ZHUANGSHI, (01), 27-31.

[12] Zhang, L. (2020). Using Objects as Media: The Ethical Potential of Speculative and Critical Design from the "Object Turn" in the Philosophy of Technology. Art and Design Research, (01), 59-65.

[13] Zhang, L. (2019). The Value of Fiction: The Aesthetic Politics of Speculative Design and the Poetics of the Future. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, (06), 152-160.

[14] Zhang, L. (2019). From Computation to Empowerment: How Adversarial Design Builds Action from Knowledge. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Fine Arts & Design), (02), 82-88+210.

[15] Zhang, L. (2019). “How "Design" is "Research"-A Comment on "A Century of Chinese Design Research. Journal of Shandong University of Art and Design, (02), 103-106.

[16] Zhang, L. (2017). From Radical to Speculative: How Design Catalyzes Social Dreams. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Fine Arts & Design), (04), 14-20.

[17] Zhang, L. (2016). Individual Imagination and Collective Identity - Contemporary Implications of Handmade Design. ZHAUNGSHI, (02) , 86-88.

[18] Zhang, L. (2016). Explore the Writing of Design History: Material Culture and New Cultural History: Taking the Late Qing Republic as an example. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Fine Arts & Design), (03), 12-17+161.

[19] Zhang, L. (2015). Function Follows Gender: Gender Mapping in Children's Toy Design. ZHUANGSHI, (06), 14-20.

[20] Zhang, L. (2015). Imagination in Design: Narrative, Intuition and Storytelling. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Fine Arts & Design), (06), 59-65+205-206.

[21] Zhang, L. (2014). From Design Concepts to Preliminary Design: Research on Teaching Design Preliminary Course. ZHUANGSHI, (09), 100-102.

[22] Zhang, L. (2014). The Identity Bias of Modernist Design. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Fine Arts & Design), (02), 8-15.

[23] Zhang, L. (2014). The Invisible Memory of Bisexuality: the Gendered Design History of Domestic Sewing Machines (1850-1950). ZHUANGSHI, (01), 20-27.

[24] Li, Y, Zhang, L. (2014). The Battle for Identity in Design History - Repairing and Reshaping the Discourse of Gender. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Fine Arts & Design), (03), 1-6.

Conference Papers:

[1] Zhang, L., Zhang, B., and Liu, Y. (2024) An alternative design ethics of otherness-centered: Caring for intelligent artifacts, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.409.

[2] Liu, Y., Zhang, L. (2023). Healing Rooted in Love: Discursive Design Healing with Intellectual Reflection as the Core. Proceedings of Cumulus 2023 Beijing.

[3] Zhang, M., Zhang, L.(2023). Design and Grief: the loss and connection of love. Proceedings of Cumulus 2023 Beijing.

[4] Tian, H., Zhang, L., & Zhang, M.(2023). From Imitating Nature to Transforming Nature: A New Typology of Biodesign. Proceedings of Cumulus 2023 Beijing.

[5] Gao, T., Liu, Y., Zhu, L., Zhou, H.,and Zhang, L.(2023) Yearning for Revival_Using Healing as the Linking Strategy to Recreate Emotionally Resilient Communities, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.148.

[6] Tian, H., Zhang, L., & Zhang, M. (2023). Chapter Artificial nature: Possibilities for mycelial composite material design. https://doi.org/10.26530/9789401496476-022.

[7] Chen, J., & Zhang, L. (2023). Chapter Feminist value sensitive design of self-tracking technology based on female body data. https://doi.org/10.26530/9789401496476-082.

[8] Zheng, J., & Zhang, L. (2022, June). On the Possibility of Object-Oriented Speculative Design: A Genderless AI Speaker Based on Anti-correlation Thinking. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 132-144). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

[9] Liu, Y., & Zhang, L. (2022, June). How Discursive Design Therapy is Possible: Theory and Strategy. In In Cross-Cultural Design. Interaction Design Across Cultures (14th International Conference, CCD 2022, Held as Part of the 24th HCI International Conference, HCII 2022, Virtual Event, June 26 – July 1, 2022, Proceedings, Part I. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg)(pp. 497–507). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06038-0_37.

[10] Zhang, L. The Significance of Fiction: The Aesthetic Politics of Speculative Design, Lessons to Learn? Past Design Experiences and Contemporary Design Practices, Proceedings of the ICDHS 12th International Conference on Design History and Design Studies, Fedja Vukić, Iva Kostešić eds. Zagreb 2020, p.419-29.

Honors and Awards

Individual Awards:

[1] 2024 The 10th Guangdong Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award 2nd Prize

[2] 2023 The 3rd National Teaching Innovation Contest, Guangdong Province Excellence Award

[3] 2022 First Material Culture and Design Research Young Scholars' Excellent Thesis 1st Prize

[4] 2022 The 5th National Digital Creativity Teaching Skills Competition (Product Design Group) 1st Prize

[5] 2022/2023 The 2nd/3rd National Teaching Innovation Contest, Guangdong University of Technology, Grand Prize

[6] 2021 Top Ten Outstanding Youth in Guangdong Design Industry, Guanghua Dragon Award

[7] 2021 The 17th China Design Youth Top 100

Awards for Students under Guidance:

[1] 2023 First “Beautiful China” Innovative Design Competition for Graduate Students 2nd Prize

[2] 2023 Germany IF Design New Talent and Student Design Award

[3] 2022 IDEA Bronze Award sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)

[4] 2022 China Design Intelligence Award TOP30 Design Award in Conceptual Category

[5] 2022 10th Future Designer-National University Digital Art and Design Competition Guangdong Region Outstanding Instructor

[6] 2023 Milan Design Week National Final Exhibition of Outstanding Works by Teachers and Students of Design Disciplines in Chinese Colleges and Universities 1st Prize Instructor

[7] 2022 The 5th National Creative Teaching Skills Competition （Product Design Group）National 1st Prize

[8] 2021 Hua Design Award

[9] 2021 Golden Pin Design Award, Concept Design Award

[10] 2021 Taiwan International Student Design Competition, Product Design Excellence Award

Contact

Email: liz116@tongji.edu.cn 、3917773@qq.com