At the School of Visual Arts, Chuanyuan Lin (or Chloe, as her friends call her) took the everyday chaos of New York City and turned it into a symphony. Inspired by the urban rhythms of STOMP, her award-winning project, “Elevating Everyday Sounds,” is a masterclass in transforming the mundane into the extraordinary. By using paper as her instrument—its rustles, crinkles, and folds—Chuanyuan infused her minimalist black-and-white designs with the city’s pulse, accented by STOMP’s signature red. This SVA senior project isn’t just an ad campaign; it’s a bold tribute to the hidden harmonies in our daily lives.
By: Chuanyuan Lin, Freelance Graphic Designer & Former Student, SVA
My friends call me Chloe. However, I refer to myself as Chuanyuan Lin in class and in the professional world. It’s the name I use to sign all my work, a constant reminder of where I come from—China, my homeland and my muse. I moved to the U.S. years ago when I first landed in Hawaii, where I cultivated many of my earliest memories of America.
Picture yourself standing on the sands of a Hawaiian beach, hearing the waves crash against the shore and birds chirping in the woods. Now, contrast that with the sounds of New York City—construction loudly booming, car horns blaring, the clattering of bustling restaurants, people talking on the phone, or even the sound of someone beside you on the subway flipping the pages of a book. The sounds of nature versus the cacophony of man-made sounds—now imagine those urban sounds infused into an exhilarating performance. In New York, we call that STOMP.
For me, those urban sounds that had often faded into the background moved to front and center. My experience witnessing the STOMP performance resonated to the extent that it ultimately altered how I perceived everyday sounds. It transformed the mundane into music and inspired the dynamic ad campaign I developed for STOMP during my senior year at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
In launching this project, I had to decide which elements to emphasize. The use of paper in STOMP’s performance immediately came to mind. Paper, the most basic instrument, is associated with distinctive sounds based on weight. For example, imagine the soft rustle of tissue paper compared to the crisp crinkle of magazine pages. By folding, layering, and experimenting with paper, I visually manifested sound waves and rhythms. To ground the design in the urban roots of the performance, I infused these paper elements as architectural fragments juxtaposed against a New York City backdrop. For the color palette, I kept it minimal with black and white, while still honoring STOMP’s signature red.
If I could use a word to describe this project succinctly, it would be “part.” Like STOMP, I parlayed overlooked fragments of our daily life and turned them into something wonderful. It seems to resonate with fellow artists out there—take a part, transform it into art, and let it become a part of you!
Chuanyuan Lin is a graphic designer and medicinal tea enthusiast based in New York. Originally from China, she studied new media at Beijing Capital Normal University and worked as an art teacher before moving to the U.S. to pursue her intense passion for art. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2023 with a degree in graphic design.
Inspired by her loving parents and treasured Chinese traditions, Chuanyuan has explored calligraphy, photography, and music. However, her true passion lies in design. Fascinated by the inspirational rhythm of visuals, she endeavors to infuse traditional elements with innovative technologies to produce meaningful, impactful work profoundly connected to life.
