For Apple’s Chinese New Year campaign, Yulong Li collaborated with two talented artists, providing the art direction and producing 2D illustrations. His inspiration stemmed from the tangible and abstract concept of “reunion spirit.” He visualized this with a traditional Chinese New Year candy box and a lion dance performance. 

The candy box, known as the “QUAN HE,” symbolizes completeness and togetherness, representing the spirit of family reunions during the holiday season. Like a New Year's gift, Apple's App Store offers an array of heartfelt products to welcome users into the New Year. The lion dance performance, representing games and unity, invites everyone to revel in a vibrant life within the "holiday" container.

Client: Apple

For Apple’s Chinese New Year campaign, Yulong Li collaborated with two talented artists, providing the art direction and producing 2D illustrations. His inspiration stemmed from the tangible and abstract concept of “reunion spirit.” He visualized this with a traditional Chinese New Year candy box and a lion dance performance. 

The candy box, known as the “QUAN HE,” symbolizes completeness and togetherness, representing the spirit of family reunions during the holiday season. Like a New Year's gift, Apple's App Store offers an array of heartfelt products to welcome users into the New Year. The lion dance performance, representing games and unity, invites everyone to revel in a vibrant life within the "holiday" container.

Client: Apple

A series of illustrations was created for Airbnb's global project, focusing on Europe's city guide. The client emphasized the importance of vividly portraying citizens' diversity and daily lives rather than relying on stereotypical landmarks. The artwork needed to align with the core values of the brand.

The approach involved capturing street scenes from an outsider's perspective. Since there was no prior experience visiting those cities, most of the citizens depicted were based on sketches made on Shanghai streets and supplementary internet research. 

In an era of globalization, lifestyles across different places are becoming increasingly similar. Therefore, the illustrations aimed to depict relatable everyday activities, such as coffee chats, biking, or simply walking, to reflect a more authentic and intimate view of urban life.

Client: Airbnb Global

Inspired by the legendary movie star MarilynMonroe film and the Art Deco style, Yulong created this diamond party illustration series for Blancpain Ladybird watches.

Client: BLANCPAIN

Agency: Fleishman-Hillard

A commissioned collection for Blancpain. With the moon in its full splendor, this is a grand ball of diamonds for a magical encounter.

The eggs pay tribute to Betty Fichte, the woman who launched the Ladybird watch collection, and to Marilyn Monroe, the star of the era. I used the silhouette because I wanted her to represent both the individual story of an ICON's sparkle and a group of women who are becoming role models for themselves.

Client: BLANCPAIN

Agency: Fleishman-Hillard

This commissioned piece was created by Yulong for Coach, celebrating travel between Shanghai and New York. The illustration was featured as a mural for the opening of Coach’s new store in Florence Town, Shanghai.

In developing the artwork, Yulong sought to strike a balance between authenticity and imagination. While grounded in fundamental urban elements, the piece embraces whimsical reinterpretations and cultural symbolism. She explored themes of cultural fusion — such as dim sum and Chinatown in New York, and the Bund and Western-style bread in Shanghai — as visual metaphors for global mobility and hybrid identity.

To Yulong, globalization is both inevitable and enriching. Her work reflects a belief that true cultural confidence comes not from purity, but from openness, tolerance, and love.

Client: COACH Global

This collaboration with agency JKR for Costa Coffee's 2024 Christmas limited-edition takeaway cups draws inspiration from the enchanting world of Christmas snow globes. The design incorporates a unique festive scene on each cup, transforming it into a miniature story brimming with holiday warmth and cheer. 

The five-color printing limitation presented a compelling challenge, requiring innovative solutions to balance composition, contrast, and details. The limited color scheme encouraged exploration of creative color while adding to the vibrant, lively designs. Seeing these cups in stores added a delightful festive touch to every coffee experience.

Client: COSTA COFFEE

Agency: JKR London

The Year of the Horse illustration gift box and limited-edition watch for G-SHOCK are out now.

For this project, I mixed the idea of a flying horse with the idea of collecting time. The “Duobao Cabniet”(多宝阁） represents a traditional way of enjoying the beauty of time.The running horse is inspired by a Han dynasty bronze sculpture found near my hometown. When I think of a horse in motion, this image always comes to mind.

To me, it stands for speed and balance, as well as memories of growing up and wishes for the New Year.

Client: G-Shock

Yulong, the first Chinese illustrator to collaborate with Lululemon, designed the main visual for their New Year campaign. Starting from his cultural memory, he sought symbolic elements that quietly convey blessings, preferring subtle, inclusive expressions over direct greetings.

Inspired by traditional weaving techniques, he created a design that allows all elements to be freely combined and reinterpreted. Incorporating Lululemon’s cultural context, he contrasts connected groups with Chinese knots, reflecting yoga poses and well-being through soft body language and dynamic movements.

Just as crafting unique Chinese knots requires understanding basic techniques, his visual storytelling aims to celebrate Chinese traditions with energy and creative reinterpretation, fostering ongoing cultural dialogue.

Client: Lululemon

From "red lines" to "love letters," inspiration for writing flashes through the hands of Eros. Yulong created a romantic story for MONTBLANC, and the illustration is about the "fragments" of Chinese Valentine's Day, linked by a hand-painted "red line."

The "red line" symbolizes unity and togetherness in the context of traditional Chinese culture.

The objects hidden within include hearts, stars, tears, love letters, willow branches, and roses, which can be interpreted as symbols of intimate relationships between China and the West, all strung together by the line to form a picture of what is being drawn in the lover's pen.

Client: MONTBLANC

This piece was commissioned by Nespresso, inspired by the journey of exploring different coffee flavors during travels. The artwork features a series of elements that can be freely assembled and attached to the wall with magnets, inviting viewers to participate in creating their own "global coffee story."

Interactivity is at the heart of the piece—each person can rearrange the components to craft their unique visual narrative, reflecting a love for life and a spirit of adventure. More than just a work of art, it becomes a shared experience of coffee, travel, and personal exploration.

The aim is to inspire creativity and emotional connection, allowing everyone to leave their own mark and memories of their coffee travel journey within this space.

Client: Nespresso

A commission from Otter Box to create a limited edition phone case to celebrate the arrival of the Dragon New Year. The collection has already arrived at Apple Stores in regions worldwide, where it will be celebrated during the Spring Festival.

Client: Otterbox

The patron commissioned me to create a limited-edition illustration package for the Year of the Ox. The woodblock New Year painting inspires me. As door gods, they have different responsibilities.

For example, a military god with a hairy oxen’s head, always holding a sword in his hand to avoid illness, and bad things coming from outside, or a gentle civil god with a legendary treasure representing money like RUYI or YUAN BAO, attracting luck and wealth to come in.

Considering this picture will be used in Spring, I add some patterns of flowers, agaves, and bees in the corner as decorations to convey a vibrant and hopeful year is upcoming.

Client: Patron

This project was inspired by the floral motifs of William Morris and Charles Francis, icons of the English Arts and Crafts movement, who often qused unassuming wildflowers and grasses to depict natural curves in their work.

Flowers and plants is also one of my personal preferred themes, in addition to a lot of modeling space to explore, but also full of romantic symbols and literary temperament, which coincides with the subtle flowers and plants in the Oriental culture of the "YUXING".

Client: Parker

The illustration for LG Group's THE WHOO Dragon Gift Box draws inspiration from traditional Chinese textile patterns and red lacquer boxes. In crafting the image, the head and tail of the dragon are omitted, leaving only a portion of the body to embody an understanding of oriental aesthetics. 

This approach reflects the concept described by Chinese poet and calligrapher Zhao Dexin, who characterized the symbolic expression of “not seeing the dragon's head and not seeing the dragon's tail” as a poetic mood in discussing art. Having studied Chinese painting from a young age, the creator draws upon this background to explain the artistic pursuit. The combination of virtual and real white space allows for greater imagination, akin to the dragon in the Year of the Dragon, which embodies beauty and wishes.

Client : THE WHOO

A set of illustrations celebrating SUNING's 30th anniversary: The SUNING brand is a community that comprises various functional areas, much like a massive tree providing shade and spaces for creatures to thrive, and connecting everything in one dynamic whole.

Client: SUNING Shopping Mall

A set of illustrations about the celebration of SUNING's 30th anniversary: The SUNING brand is a community that comprises different types of functional areas, much like a massive tree providing shadows and spaces for creatures to live better, and connecting everything in one dynamic whole.

Client: SUNING Shopping Mall

They present their latest project developed in collaboration with SKP, one of the most established luxury retail destinations in Mainland China.

Created to mark the upcoming Year of the Horse, the installation takes inspiration from xiéyīn zhùfú, a traditional Chinese cultural practice that conveys blessings through homophonic wordplay. The central motif, “blooming flowers,” is chosen for its phonetic association with fā shēng, a phrase commonly understood to imply that positive things are unfolding. Through this linguistic reference, the work communicates ideas of vitality, growth, and auspicious beginnings for the year ahead.

The illustration translates symbolic language into a contemporary visual form, allowing traditional cultural logic to operate within a modern commercial environment.

Client： SKP Shopping Mall

Yulong is deeply fascinated by the traditional folk art in Switzerland. That kind of artwork illustrates the senses of Alpine rural life, floral design, and village festivals, creating a balance and dreamy wonderland in harmony and symmetry, filled with folk motifs.

Surprisingly, we have some very similar folk artworks in China, presenting a natural and cheerful lifestyle. I believe that residents in two countries may understand the other side’s culture through familiar signals from their owners, such as a mix-and-match of traditional elements based on symmetrical composition. But I still want to be more graphic and modern in style.

Client: Swatch

UNIQLO China commissioned me to create a series of key visual illustrations for the new store at Taiyuan Zhonglou Street. Based on the theme of "Joyland," I made this artwork by blending tradition and pop culture, using Chinese painting and contemporary art as the inspiration.

Three sets of exclusive motifs, including recreational food customs, dialects, and sustainable lifestyles, will be used, as UTme is open for customizing T-shirts. The cute design team also made a super fun regional limited-tasting cup gift using my pattern!

Client: UNIQLO China

The main visual illustration I created for UNIQLO's "Summer in the North" is now available in the main shops.

Since I grew up in the northwest, I had memories and familiar flavors in my mind when I drew this theme, such as "watermelon plucked from the water," "skewering at a beer stall at night," "apricot skin water to relieve the heat," and so on. "Of course, with economic development and the flattening of information, many popular ways of escaping the heat have made the gap between the stereotypical North and South lifestyles smaller and smaller.

Northern folk crafts such as peasant painting, patchwork, lotus bags, noodle figures, and the patterns of Majiayao pottery have given me a lot of creative inspiration. This information is dispersed into the stylistic approach and details of the images. I want to use this visual language to respond to the exploration of the heritage and innovation of local culture and to leave some traces for the audience who understand and tolerate different voices to continue.

Client: UNIQLO