Brooklyn, NY, USA
Her Way Home is more than a performance—it is a cultural brand that redefines the intersection of music, identity, and design. Created for the New England Conservatory, it celebrates the artistry and resilience of Asian female musicians, blending heritage with contemporary performance.
Her Way Home by Mars Pharaoh Studio, won a 2025 Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies.
The project brings together musicians from Asia to Boston, each carrying a unique blend of heritage, contemporary expression, and artistic evolution.
More than a performance, Her Way Home becomes a poetic exploration of identity, displacement, and belonging, where nostalgia and aspiration merge into a dynamic artistic dialogue.
Through evocative soundscapes and fluid visual storytelling, the performance embodies both a homecoming and a forward-moving journey, reflecting the duality of cultural roots and new frontiers.
At the heart of this experience is its cutting-edge visual system, designed to guide audiences on a dual-directional narrative—returning to one’s origins while charting new creative paths.
The motion communication system employs a rhythmic, repetitive visual strategy reminiscent of musical compositions, where variations in form, colour, and motion mirror harmonic progressions.
This approach extends seamlessly across logo design, campaign materials, and promotional assets, ensuring a cohesive and adaptable identity across multiple platforms.
Inspired by the motif of a ‘pathway,’ the design language interprets movement as an interplay of advance and retreat, visualised through chord structures and creative coding.
The logo, echoing elements of traditional Asian musician attire, is a symbolic bridge between heritage and contemporary expression.
Her Way Home redefines audience engagement by breaking the boundaries of conventional performances. By integrating interactive new media and dynamic digital platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, the project amplifies its reach, forging connections with global audiences in innovative ways.
A meticulous design collaboration between visual designers and musicians ensures a refined, authentic representation of Asian cultural narratives, making the experience accessible to diverse audiences unfamiliar with its musical and artistic roots.
In 2025, Her Way Home embarks on an Asia tour, expanding its artistic dialogue across continents. The result is an unparalleled audiovisual journey that fuses Asian cultural expression with classical music, crafting a multi-platform experience where design, sound, and movement coalesce into an unforgettable and transformative performance.
Project: Her Way Home: New England Conservatory Cultural Brand Identity
Designers: Lingyi Kong, Mars Pharaoh Studio
Client: New England Conservatory
