alterR. （凹凸现实）is a design innovation studio dedicated to speculating and prototyping possible futures. We use experimental artifacts and experiences as the medium to frame our preferable long-term futures, helping humanity to manage the disruptive forces of emerging technological, ongoing environmental and cultural changes, and plan our next evolution.
We are based in San Francisco/Los Angeles & Tokyo/Shanghai. Feel free to reach out and ︎ SAY HI as we are always excited for collaborations and commissions 🙌🏻
Shihan Zhang 张诗涵 is an interdisciplinary designer whose passion lies in challenging cultural stereotypes and social preconceptions through building experiences of future-present intersections. Her works are expanding technologies’ possibilities and extrapolating world conditions to address anthropocene challenges. Through a systematic and cultural lens, her works inspire conversation and empower her audience to reflect.
Her works have been humbly recognized by FastCo. World Changing Ideas, WIRED Creative Hack Award (Japan), International Design Excellence Awards, 100 Design of the Year 2019 by Award360 (Asian), and etc. She also gave talks and exhibited works worldwide in Dutch Design Week, Toronto Design Week, IFTF 10 Year Forecast Summit, Stanford Foodinno Conference, Chengdu Design Week, Gray Area Art and Technology and etc.
She is the co-founder of alterR.studio, the Exhibition Chair of PRIMER Conferences, the Design Director of SF Design Week Award Exhibitions.
Her works have been humbly recognized by FastCo. World Changing Ideas, WIRED Creative Hack Award (Japan), International Design Excellence Awards, 100 Design of the Year 2019 by Award360 (Asian), and etc. She also gave talks and exhibited works worldwide in Dutch Design Week, Toronto Design Week, IFTF 10 Year Forecast Summit, Stanford Foodinno Conference, Chengdu Design Week, Gray Area Art and Technology and etc.
She is the co-founder of alterR.studio, the Exhibition Chair of PRIMER Conferences, the Design Director of SF Design Week Award Exhibitions.
Qinqin Yang 杨沁沁 is a creative strategist and designer with a multidisciplinary background in speculative design, art direction, experience design and creative technology. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Design and Technology from Parsons the New School of Design and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with minor in Art History from University of California - Los Angeles. After graduation, she had worked for JPMC within the mobile innovation team on the next generation banking experience and was a senior creative planner at OUTPUT, in charge of planning and curating for Tencent Technology Museum, brand communication for Burberry, immersive exhibition for the Palace Museum etc. She holds several individual patents for innovative designs and her work have been exhibited worldwide.
As the co-founder and creative director of alterR.studio, she takes design as a method to question the cultural, social and ethical implications of emerging technologies in order to envision the future and reflect on impact at a system-level.
As the co-founder and creative director of alterR.studio, she takes design as a method to question the cultural, social and ethical implications of emerging technologies in order to envision the future and reflect on impact at a system-level.
Collective Team
Jiajun Liu is a visual artist and film director based in Shanghai. He received his BFA from Central Academy of Fine Arts and MFA from Pratt Institute. He creates images and virtually rendered scenes that are extracted and reconstructed from reality through photography and digital imaging. He mines the possibilities of technologies that are widely used and accessible to people, such as digital photography, scanning, and computer 3D modeling. His work reflects the distortions that occur during the conversions between machine-generated representations and the physical world.
Yangyifan Dong is a graphic designer and researcher who is passionate about transmedia typography and philosophy. She is interested in creating discursive design exploring speculative future, urban landscape, human and machine, nature and culture.
Haodong Zhang is a 3D artist and sound designer focusing on the multimedia art. He is interested in exploring the future relationship between human, nature and technology acrossing multi-cultures. He is also professional at branding communication and digital art and has been the design lead for more than 40 commercial projects for clients such as Bvlgari, LVMH, Hajime Sorayama, Universal Studios, Xiaomi, Tencent, Wanke etc.
Ke Ding is a mixed reality designer and researcher that specializes in human interfaces and interactions. He studied Psychology and received his BA from the University of Connecticut and later on graduated from Parsons the New School with a MFA in Design and Technology. Ke studied and reflected intensively on Mixed Reality as a new medium, intending to tame it for the application in the real world. As a researcher, Ke is one of the early founding members of the Mixed Reality Collaboratory at Cornell University, experimenting with innovative interactions and teaching a course about VR & AR for CS students. As a designer, he works with various clients in the past few years, including Google and IKEA.
Bo Fone is a film director and has worked in the field of interactivity design and virtual environments for the past three years, with a specific focus in film and moving images. He is passionate about contemporary scientific discoveries in the fields of physics and astronomy, and his work aims to step beyond the ordinary scope of art and virtual experience. His creativity aspires to expand and innovate compelling live-storytelling for the Mixed Reality generation.
Yangyifan Dong is a graphic designer and researcher who is passionate about transmedia typography and philosophy. She is interested in creating discursive design exploring speculative future, urban landscape, human and machine, nature and culture.
Haodong Zhang is a 3D artist and sound designer focusing on the multimedia art. He is interested in exploring the future relationship between human, nature and technology acrossing multi-cultures. He is also professional at branding communication and digital art and has been the design lead for more than 40 commercial projects for clients such as Bvlgari, LVMH, Hajime Sorayama, Universal Studios, Xiaomi, Tencent, Wanke etc.
Ke Ding is a mixed reality designer and researcher that specializes in human interfaces and interactions. He studied Psychology and received his BA from the University of Connecticut and later on graduated from Parsons the New School with a MFA in Design and Technology. Ke studied and reflected intensively on Mixed Reality as a new medium, intending to tame it for the application in the real world. As a researcher, Ke is one of the early founding members of the Mixed Reality Collaboratory at Cornell University, experimenting with innovative interactions and teaching a course about VR & AR for CS students. As a designer, he works with various clients in the past few years, including Google and IKEA.
Bo Fone is a film director and has worked in the field of interactivity design and virtual environments for the past three years, with a specific focus in film and moving images. He is passionate about contemporary scientific discoveries in the fields of physics and astronomy, and his work aims to step beyond the ordinary scope of art and virtual experience. His creativity aspires to expand and innovate compelling live-storytelling for the Mixed Reality generation.