Arwen Zheng

Department of Creative Industries

Lecturer

Academic qualifications

PhD, MA, BA

Email

azheng@ucb.ac.uk

“I particularly enjoy supporting students as they build confidence in their creative voices and develop their ideas into thoughtful, resolved design outcomes. It is rewarding to see students become more confident, reflective, and ambitious through the creative process.”

I teach on the Graphic Design degree, and draw on my expertise in illustration, visual communication, drawing, and digital media

My professional background is in graphic design, illustration, visual communication, and practice-led creative research. I have undertaken commissioned design and illustration projects. These experiences inform my teaching by enabling me to connect academic learning with professional creative practice. I draw on real project examples to help students understand concept development, visual storytelling, audience engagement, and the process of adapting design outcomes for different platforms and contexts. My practice-led PhD research also shapes my lecturing, particularly in relation to drawing, narrative, image-text communication, and reflective creative practice.

I am most inspired by the ability of visual communication to translate complex ideas, emotions, and lived experiences into forms that can be seen, felt, and understood across different cultural and language backgrounds. My work is particularly shaped by drawing, illustration, graphic novels, visual storytelling, and image-text relationships.

I am interested in how images carry emotion, how narrative sequences shape meaning, and how visual metaphor can help audiences engage with personal, social, and cultural experiences. As an educator, I am also inspired by supporting students to develop their own visual voices and become more confident, reflective, and critically engaged creative practitioners.

One of the achievements I am most proud of is completing my practice-led PhD research while developing my teaching career in graphic design. My PhD focused on drawing, visual storytelling, narrative structure, and image-text communication, and it has become an important foundation for both my academic identity and teaching practice.

I am proud of this achievement because it represents several years of independent research, creative experimentation, critical reflection, and resilience. It also strengthened my ability to connect theory, practice, and teaching in meaningful ways.

What I enjoy most about working with students at UCB is their diversity, openness, and willingness to grow as creative practitioners. Students bring a wide range of cultural backgrounds, personal experiences, visual interests, and career ambitions into the studio, which makes teaching graphic design here very engaging.

I particularly enjoy supporting students as they build confidence in their creative voices and develop their ideas into thoughtful, resolved design outcomes. It is rewarding to see students become more confident, reflective, and ambitious through the creative process.

I was inspired to teach at UCB because of its strong focus on applied, career-focused education and its supportive learning environment. I value the opportunity to connect creative experimentation, critical thinking, professional skills, and real-world design practice within my teaching.

My advice to students starting at UCB is to stay curious and trust the creative process. It is completely normal not to have all the answers at the beginning of a project. Strong ideas often develop through research, experimentation, mistakes, feedback, and reflection.

From my own educational experience, I have learned that creative confidence is built gradually. The more you test, revise, ask questions, and stay open to feedback, the more your own visual voice will develop. I would encourage students to enjoy the process of discovering who they are as designers and to see their own background, interests, and experiences as valuable sources of creative inspiration.

Outside of work, I enjoy drawing, visiting exhibitions, travelling, and photography, and playing badminton. I also enjoy playing badminton competitively. I take part in games, club matches, league matches, and Badminton England matches, which helps me stay active, focused, and connected with others. I enjoy the rhythm, strategy, and resilience involved in the sport, and I like how it encourages continuous improvement through practice.