Show, don’t tell

Luo’s poster designs are unlike the posters of typical blockbuster productions. They’re a lot more restrained, relying on hand-drawn illustrations or even simple collages to create something memorable. The simplicity with which she approaches the medium feels natural—there’s a soothing elegance to her one-frame visual narratives.

Luo says her aesthetic is inspired by both renowned movie poster artist Akiko Stehrenberger, who approaches her illustrations with a designer’s eye. Directors with an affinity for telling stories around family, normal life, and femininity—such as Éric Rohmer, Naoko Ogigami and Ann Hsu—hold a place close to her heart, and their storytelling methods are also quite influential to her work. Aside from these artistic influences, she believes that her own feminine intuition and eye for detail plays critical parts in her creative process. “I’m a practical person, and I like creating around subjects that are feel like a part of ordinary life,” Luo says. “I’m the more interested in the relationship between people.”

Luo’s creative process centers around the mindset of less being more. When looking to capture the core of a film, she believes that the most minimal approach is best. For example, in an homage poster for director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Boys from Fengkuei (1983), line work resembling windswept tall grass form the outlines of the four protagonists. The frenetic scrawl also serves to capture the complexity of the featured characters: the sense of confusion, anxiety, and melancholy felt when they found themselves outside the comfort zone of their hometown. For her homage to director Tsai Ming-Liang’s Vive l’Amour (1994), shades of pink cover nearly the entirety of the poster and the three main characters. They appear almost smothered by the color, a visualization of the intoxication and encompassing feeling of love. While these artworks capture the overall vibe of the film, Luo also leaves plenty to the viewer’s imagination. “I often consider how to convey the core message while allowing room for the audience to think and interpret it for themselves,” she explains. “I aim for simplicity and concision, but I also want to leave an impression through artful ambiguity.”

However, some art films or documentaries pose a challenge. The straightforward narrative can make it difficult to distill the full story into a singular frame. When faced with this, Luo believes that communication is key to achieving the best work. Whether it be repeat discussions with the directors or producers, she believes in dedicating enough time to understanding the film’s message. She also enjoys straying from her hand-drawn approach and even taking her work into the realm of the surreal through collages or playful typography.

Of all the posters that Luo has created, her design for the Chinese documentary All the Golden Hits of 21st Century (2022) is perhaps the most unique. The poster aesthetic is a sharp pivot from her previous work, employing a number of portrait cut-outs in a collage format. The film, directed by Lai Dongbai, tells the story of how a former county internet singer has managed to keep up with the times through his discovery with the Kuaishou app. In order to capture the kitsch flavor of rural China and the hodgepodge sights of the Chinese countryside, Luo assembled the film title by cobbling together Chinese characters from photos of store signage. “I’m very interested in type design and I enjoy trying something new in each poster to find the right type,” she says. “For me, the type design part is just as important as the illustration.”