Xinxun Liao’s “Unlocking Learning” Wins Triple Silver in Global Design Awards

By Catherine Li 

As the design world enters the heart of its 2025 award season, a rising motion designer’s achievement is lighting up the international stage. This spring, three of the industry’s prestigious competitions delivered a unanimous verdict in creativity and heart. Motion designer Xinxun Liao has pulled off a rare feat: her project “Unlocking Learning” earned Silver honors across three major international awards in May. The project received Silver in Conceptual Design – Education at the London Design Awards, Video – Educational at the New York Digital Awards, and Conceptual Design – Education at the MUSE Design Awards – a remarkable triple win that has quickly drawn attention to this emerging talent.

These competitions are known worldwide for celebrating creative achievements. The London Design Awards alone is billed as “an international competition that recognizes exceptional designs and outstanding creative projects worldwide”, drawing submissions from around the globe. In this context, for one project to stand out in three separate juried events – and for its creator to be a recent graduate – marks an impressive milestone.

Industry observers note that such across-the-board recognition, especially for an individual project, is unusual. It signals that Liao’s work resonates on multiple levels: technical, artistic, and emotional. Each award’s jury, composed of seasoned design professionals, highlighted “originality, emotional impact, and conceptual strength” in their evaluations. Liao’s triple Silver sweep in different categories underscores the depth of her project’s appeal and her growing influence as a creative voice.

In Liao’s case, “Unlocking Learning” has been celebrated not only for its imaginative visuals but for the clarity and compassion behind its concept. The piece tackles a challenging educational issue – how to empower learners with dyslexia. Its very theme is one of inclusion and innovation: using motion design to make learning more accessible. According to Liao’s project synopsis, “Unlocking Learning” aims to illustrate how motion graphics can empower individuals with dyslexia to learn more effectively, raising awareness of dyslexia’s challenges in traditional education while showcasing motion graphics as “a transformative solution”. In other words, Liao set out to prove that art and design can unlock new pathways for those who learn differently.

At the core of the project is a vibrant visual language designed to engage and inform. Liao’s approach blends imagery, animation, and sound in dynamic ways, reinforcing key information through multiple sensory channels. By dynamically interweaving images, animated text, and audio, the piece simplifies complex content and makes the learning experience both richer and more intuitive. In practice, this might mean letters that dance or morph on screen in sync with spoken cues, or illustrations that playfully interact with narrated text – all aimed at easing the cognitive load on dyslexic learners.

The emotional impact is equally deliberate: “Unlocking Learning” invites viewers to step into the shoes of someone with dyslexia, sparking empathy as well as understanding. The visuals don’t overwhelm or “talk down” to the audience; instead, they invite engagement. Soft color palettes and fluid motion draw the eye to important details, while gentle pacing ensures nothing gets lost. The result is a motion piece that feels less like a lecture and more like a guiding hand – one that patiently reveals information in an encouraging way.

“I wanted the experience to feel empowering, not frustrating,” Liao explains when asked about her design philosophy. “For someone with dyslexia, traditional text can feel like a locked door. My goal was to open that door using motion graphics – to present information in a new light so that learning becomes engaging rather than intimidating.” In developing the project, Liao drew on her knowledge of multimedia learning principles and the idea that combining visuals with audio can help lighten the cognitive load on learners. “Motion design can do wonders that static print can’t,” she says. “By animating content, you’re essentially communicating on multiple channels – visual, auditory – which can help those who think differently to grasp concepts more easily.” This design innovation – repurposing motion graphics, a medium often seen in entertainment and advertising, as an educational accessibility tool – clearly struck a chord. Judges from London to New York noted the project’s originality in bridging art and education, and its potential to transform how we approach learning differences.

The journey that led Liao to this moment is as international and interdisciplinary as her accolades. Born and raised in Shenzhen, China, Liao grew up enchanted by animation and the magic of bringing drawings to life. As a child, she would lose herself in cartoons and sketch her own characters, discovering early on that animation could speak when words failed – a formative realization for someone fascinated by communication. “I remember watching hand-drawn films and feeling understood, even without dialogue,” she recalls. “That’s the power of visuals; they transcend language.”

Eager to turn that childhood passion into a career, Liao pursued formal studies in art and animation. She earned a BFA in Animation in China, then set her sights abroad. Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) became the launchpad for her next chapter. Moving to the United States, she immersed herself in SCAD’s renowned Motion Media Design program, where she spent years honing her craft. “At SCAD I found a community of creators from all over the world,” Liao notes, “and that opened my mind to new perspectives. It wasn’t just about technical skills, but learning why we create – finding purpose in the work.”

Despite the sudden spotlight, Liao remains humble about the impact of her work. “It’s never been about collecting awards,” she says with a laugh. “It’s about starting conversations.” When asked what the triple recognition means to her personally, she grows reflective. “Honestly, it tells me that people care about the same things I care about,” Liao muses. “Dyslexia, inclusive learning – these can be overlooked topics. The fact that three different juries appreciated my take on it is encouraging. It means the design community is paying attention to accessibility and education, not just the flashiest advertisement or the trendiest graphic.” This mindful approach – focusing on social impact over hype – has quickly become a hallmark of Liao’s emerging career.

With three Silver trophies now to her name, Xinxun Liao is stepping into the broader design scene with significant momentum. Beyond dyslexia, she expresses interest in exploring other intersections of design and social good – from community storytelling to mental health awareness – always with the aim of making complex issues more approachable through art. In winning across three major competitions, she has proven that innovation and empathy are not mutually exclusive – in fact, they can elevate each other. In an era of dazzling digital effects, “Unlocking Learning” offers something deeper: a gentle touch, a sense of understanding, and a creative vision daring enough to bridge worlds. It’s a powerful affirmation that sometimes the key to great design is simply to care – and that awareness, as Liao is showing, is its own kind of power.