Menslies Marks Ten Years of Experimental Club Posters with Kyoto Exhibition
Beijing's design studio Menslies, founded by Haojun Pan and Yenk, is commemorating a decade of creativity with an exhibition at WarmUp in Kyoto, running until 27 September. This showcase highlights gig and event posters from the last ten years, illustrating their journey from simple flyers to comprehensive graphic design for the music scene in Beijing. They have worked as in-house designers at Zhao Dai and have also taken on freelance assignments, steering clear of traditional grid systems and clichés. Their digital techniques blend with analogue influences for a vintage aesthetic, which Haojun refers to as Hualong Dianjing (画龙点睛). The exhibition features works for Heim Residents, CRRDR, and more. This article was penned by Ellis Tree for It's Nice That.
Key facts
- Menslies is a Beijing-based design studio founded by Haojun Pan and Yenk, marking ten years of practice in 2026.
- An exhibition of Menslies posters is on view at WarmUp in Kyoto until 27 September.
- The studio served as in-house designers at Beijing club venue Zhao Dai for several years.
- Menslies posters avoid grid systems and classic tropes, drawing inspiration from fields outside graphic design.
- The design process is entirely digital but aims to make posters look worn and analogue.
- Haojun Pan describes the final analogue touch as Hualong Dianjing (画龙点睛), meaning 'painting a dragon and dotting its eyes'.
- Many Chinese cities do not encourage pasting posters in public spaces, so screens are the primary format for event promotion.
- Both Haojun Pan and Yenk are DJs, which they say has broadened their understanding of music and benefited their visual work.
Entities
Artists
- Haojun Pan
- Yenk
- Hiroka Yamamura
- Ellis Tree
Institutions
- Menslies
- WarmUp
- Zhao Dai
- Heim
- Unmute Hanoi
- It's Nice That
- Kingston School of Art
Locations
- Beijing
- China
- Kyoto
- Japan
- Hanoi
- Vietnam