English 
正體中文 
Professor Yen-Chang Chen from the Department of Information Communication at Yuan Ze University was honored with the Grand Prize – The Best Design of the Season at the UK World Front Design Award (WFDA) for his creative work “Kao Bei”. By integrating Taiwan’s popular language culture with social media creative design, his work stood out on the international stage, showcasing the unique charm and creative energy of Taiwanese culture.
The WFDA is organized by the Global Arts Group in the UK and is an international award recognizing works in art and design that demonstrate innovation and social impact. The award encourages interdisciplinary creation, covering fields such as architecture and urban design, communication design, product design, media art, and experience design, and is regarded as an important benchmark in the international design community.
Professor Chen’s award-winning work, “Kao Bei,” drew inspiration from Taiwanese daily language, particularly interjections, combining humor with cultural reflection to create a design that is both playful and meaningful. The project used text-shaped ceramic cups launched by Taiwanese museums (Shihsanhang Museum and Gold Museum) as a medium, presenting Chinese exclamatory words such as “Wa,” “Ai,” and “Ha,” which are commonly used in digital communication as part of Taiwan’s “sentence particle culture.” These seemingly simple words actually form essential emotional symbols in online interactions.
Using this cultural phenomenon as a starting point, Professor Chen transformed it into a design language and proposed the creative concept: “Let admiration go beyond gossip and emotion; step into museums to admire the golden years of history, and let the cups full of stress be emptied!” Through this design, he guided audiences to reflect on the connection between emotional expression, cultural translation, and lifestyle.
Professor Chen stated that “Kao Bei” was not only a design work but also an experimental reinterpretation of language and culture. He had long focused on “cultural translation design” and “social media storytelling,” integrating Taiwanese popular humor into contemporary social media language, allowing local culture to reach the international stage in the form of creative design and demonstrating Taiwan’s unique design appeal with depth and humanistic warmth.
The Department of Information Communication at Yuan Ze University noted that Professor Chen’s work fully demonstrated interdisciplinary integration and innovative design thinking, reflecting the department’s emphasis on the fusion of “culture, technology, and communication.” The award recognized Professor Chen’s creative ability and highlighted Yuan Ze University’s outstanding achievements in cultivating creative talents with an international vision and cultural depth.
