Urban FrontPage is a series of urban diagrams derived from Urban Lab 8’s city study essay series. Created by Whynot Studio, each piece of these diagrams is developed from a set of elements extracted from a designated city – its urban form, landmarks, architectural types, industrial highlights, cultural symbols and so forth. The concept is to create a vivid, straightforward and expressive infographic for the city, like a simple yet compelling cover image of a magazine encompassing diverse urban narratives.

Urban FrontPage was originally conceived as illustrations of the research articles. Using the language of graphic design, the diagrams seeks to visually translate abstract, multi-layered topics on urbanisation, such as urban regeneration, digital economy, cultural tourism, high-speed railway and regional development, while also conveying the distinctive characteristics of each city. It serves as a visually intuitive counterpart to the writings, mirroring their depth of information and well-structured arguments while enhancing readability.

During the creative process, the creators also reflected on whether these diagrams could go beyond the analytical scope of the articles and stand as independent design works, offering readers a new way to perceive and remember cities. This led to a bold visual approach that embraces postmodern symbolic language, vivid colours, geometric forms, and textural contrasts. Urban FrontPage is a design manifesto challenging conventional urban diagrams drawn under the rigid, hierarchical theoretical framework of the urban planning and architecture discipline by proposing a new perspective into urbanisation discourses – one that invites not only scholars and professionals but also a broader public to engage with and rethink the evolving urban landscape.

Urban FrontPage has so far completed diagrams for five cities, with more designs in the works.

城市封面 

城市封面 是基于 城市八部 城市研究短论文发展而成的 系列图解，由 林记工作室 创作。该系列提取每个城市的城区形态、标志地景、建筑类型、产业热点和文化符号等作为基本设计元素，打造简洁有趣且焦点鲜明的 信息图形，就像为一本话题杂糅的杂志设计一张亮眼的封面。

城市封面 的初衷是用平面设计语言呈现和诠释研究文章中的城市化议题，将城市更新、数字经济、高速交通、文旅创生等抽象的城市发展话题，与各城市的特质相结合，并转化为直观的视觉信息。图解在可读性上与信息丰富、论述完整的短论文相互呼应，提供不同层次的理解方式。但在创作过程中，作者同时也反思，这套图解是否能超越文章的思考维度，作为独立的设计作品，为读者提供另一种阅读和记忆城市的方式？因此 城市封面 采用后现代符号语言、强烈色彩、几何形态和肌理表现，作为对业界现有 城市图解 的一则设计宣言，即，城市图解应适时跳出城市规划和建筑的学科思维，突破既有的理论体系与主题层级限制，重新用视觉层级、视觉符号去建立城市化议题的话语体系，才能吸引更广泛的公众、专业人士和实践者共同参与探讨。

城市封面 现已完成对五座城市的图解，未来将持续创作以涵盖更多城市。