Technical art a key force in widening new industrial tracks

At a time when digital transformation has penetrated the creative industry, technical art — as a core link connecting technology and aesthetics, creativity and business — is becoming a key force in opening up new industrial tracks.

United States-based Chinese technical artist Yilin Zhang has created customized virtual narrative solutions for multiple international top brands in the fields of virtual production and digital visual development.

As the virtual economy is ushering in a period of rapid development, the commercial application scenarios of technical art are constantly expanding, and the market demand is continuing to rise, she said.

Coming from New York-based creative studio ZeroSpace, Zhang has achieved mutual empowerment of artistic value and commercial value by presenting a practical model for the industry of technical art driving commercial growth.

"My practices showed that technical art is not only an important part of digital art, but also an important force driving brand commercial growth and promoting industrial transformation and upgrading," she said.

As a senior practitioner with a business philosophy of letting "technology serve business and aesthetics empower value", Zhang has a solid foundation in product logic and narrative structure from Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts, where she majored in interaction design.

She said that to accurately capture the commercial needs of brands, she pursued her graduate study at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, which enabled her to master the application capabilities of cutting-edge digital tools.

"At NYU, I found a balance between rational technical processes and emotional brand narratives, accurately connecting with the commercial communication and value expression needs of brands," she recalled.

In commercial practice, Zhang has always focused on "capturing the digital soul of brands and activating the potential of commercial transformation".

In Nike's "Big Head Mode" computer graphics promotion project, she integrated retro game aesthetics with brand product features by building an efficient technical workflow, creating digital content with both visual appeal and brand recognition.

"This effectively improved the brand's exposure and favorability among young consumer groups, helping the brand achieve the dual goals of younger transformation and product communication," Zhang said.

Meanwhile, In Kiehl's "Bones and Bonito" virtual marketing campaign, Zhang took charge of virtual environment and animation production, transforming the brand's classic image Mr Bones into a socially interactive Virtual Influencer.

"This innovative virtual IP operation model breaks the time and space limitations of traditional marketing," she said, noting that "it not only elevates user stickiness, but also opens up a new path for virtual marketing for the brand".

In addition to practices in mainstream commercial field, the music video A Barely Lit Path she created in collaboration with avant-garde musician OPN also showed the commercial potential of technical art in the niche cultural field.

Faced with the industrial changes brought by artificial intelligence, Zhang maintained a clear industry understanding, providing key references for the commercial development of the technical art industry.

"I regard AI as an efficient 'collaborator', and believe that AI can improve the creation efficiency of technical art and optimize work processes, but it cannot replace the emotional insights accumulated by creators and their accurate judgment on the commercial needs of brands," she said.

She said the core commercial value of technical art lies in "using technology to realize aesthetic expression and using narrative to connect commercial needs."

Her practice not only provides an "art + business" development idea for technical art practitioners, but also offers references for the commercial transformation of the entire industry, promoting technical art to continuously release new commercial vitality in the wave of the virtual economy.

Please contact the writer at hanjingyan@chinadaily.com.cn