ChinaSource has always been shaped by continuity.
Its work has grown through long attention to what God is doing in China—through study, relationship, translation, and trust. Over time, its visual presence has functioned less as a statement and more as a structure: holding space for testimony, scholarship, and shared reflection.
Over the past year, Ritual Studio has had the privilege of walking alongside the ChinaSource team as they reflected on how this work is presented and carried forward. Our role has been a supporting one—listening carefully, learning the history, and helping give form to values that have long guided ChinaSource’s work.
The recent evolution of ChinaSource’s visual identity emerges from that same commitment. It is not an effort to redefine the work, but to give clearer form to what has already been faithfully lived.
Design as Stewardship
Design carries meaning before explanation.
It signals posture: whether something seeks to persuade or to accompany, to resolve or to remain open. For ChinaSource, the task was to ensure that its visual language continues to reflect a posture of faithfulness, balance, and responsibility to history.
Grounded in Historical Lineage
The visual language draws directly from history.
In developing the color palette, we looked to the work of Wu Li (吴历)—a Qing Dynasty landscape painter, poet, calligrapher, and early Chinese Christian. Wu Li’s life reflects a synthesis rather than a division: Christian faith carried within Chinese artistic and intellectual tradition.
His work demonstrates discipline, spatial balance, and attentiveness to form—qualities deeply embedded in Chinese visual culture. It is a way of seeing and ordering the world.
Referencing Wu Li situates ChinaSource within a longer lineage. It affirms that Christianity in China is not a modern import, but part of an enduring cultural and theological conversation—one that ChinaSource continues to engage with care.
Color as Structure and Meaning
Color plays a practical and symbolic role in ChinaSource’s visual identity.
Drawn from historical reference, the palette is intentionally limited and ordered. Each color corresponds to a long-standing mode of ChinaSource’s work—distinct in purpose yet held within a shared framework.
- Red is associated with Stories—firsthand accounts and lived experience that give personal shape to faith in and beyond China.
- Gold marks Ideas—editorial reflection and interpretation that help readers engage broader questions and patterns.
- Green accompanies Resources—tools and materials meant for use in learning, ministry, and prayer.
- Blue signals Scholarship—academic and theological work that invites slower, more sustained attention.
These associations are not meant to classify content rigidly, but to offer orientation. Over time, they help readers recognize what kind of engagement a piece invites before they begin reading.
Color, in this sense, supports clarity rather than expression. It reinforces the understanding that many kinds of work—and many kinds of voices—belong together within ChinaSource’s shared calling.
The Mark: Relationship, Balance, Continuity
The ChinaSource mark is rooted in relationship.
The Chinese characters at its center were originally handwritten by a friend and pastor of ChinaSource. Preserving that origin mattered. As the mark was adapted for contemporary use, care was taken to retain the character, movement, and proportion of the original calligraphy, allowing it to remain visibly human rather than purely graphic.
The accompanying typeface was chosen for clarity and warmth, supporting ChinaSource’s long-standing role as a trusted companion and guide. Its rounded forms lend openness, while its structure provides stability across digital and print contexts.
The mark remains centered, echoing the balance of the previous logo and reinforcing continuity rather than departure. Together, these choices allow the logo to function as a steady point of reference—recognizable, relational, and consistent across the many places ChinaSource’s work appears.
Typography for Sustained Engagement
Typography is chosen with reading in mind. Headings use a clear, contemporary sans-serif that helps readers orient themselves as they move through an article. Body text is set in a serif typeface selected for long-form reading, supporting focus across essays, research pieces, and reflective writing.
Together, these choices are meant to reduce strain, encourage attentiveness, and respect the time readers give to ChinaSource’s work.
Carrying the Work Forward
This visual identity grows out of a long and careful engagement with the history of Christianity in China, and with the work ChinaSource has been committed to for many years—listening across contexts, attending to lived experience, and helping the global church learn with humility and care.
This article was originally written in English and was translated into Chinese by the ChinaSource team, with the author’s permission.
