A practice that begins with looking
On the streets of New York, small transparent viewing panels dot construction fences—practical, temporary, and largely ignored. For graphic and multimedia designer Zixuan (Lexi) Xu, these modest apertures became the starting point for a design practice grounded in attention. Working across photography, publication design, moving image, visual storytelling, and social media content, Lexi treats observation not merely as a way to gather material but as a method for deciding what deserves notice, how ordinary details can be reorganized, and how they can be communicated to an audience.
An archive of New York’s viewing panels
Lexi’s project The Index of [Viewing Panels] in NYC began with that simple curiosity. Over time she photographed viewing panels at roughly 100 construction sites across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, noticing a wide variety of forms: panels that offered clear views of active work, panels that reflected neighboring façades, panels scarred by stickers and weather, and panels that framed small, accidental fragments of street life. Through photography, categorization, typography, and editorial design, she turned these ephemeral openings into a structured visual system that invites comparison and closer looking.
The original, larger-format book served as a documentary archive and an editorial object: construction fences are installed, altered, and eventually removed, and many of the documented panels may no longer exist in the city. By recording them in print, Lexi gives permanence to a temporary piece of urban infrastructure. The project is also a celebration of the visual beauty found in ordinary environments—a reminder that what initially reads as a simple functional opening can become a frame for architecture, public space, movement, and everyday life.
From the original book to a mini edition
To reach a broader audience, Lexi produced a smaller, more portable edition that preserves the project’s photographic and archival logic while making the work easier to handle and distribute. The mini edition became the primary version purchased by readers and acquired by collections, circulating through art book fairs, independent publishing spaces, libraries, exhibitions, and direct sales. The project also continues online as the Instagram archive @viewing_panels_nyc, where the photographs operate as an open-ended, evolving record of the city.
Recognition and public circulation
The Index of [Viewing Panels] in NYC has found recognition across institutional and independent channels. The publication was acquired by the Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and was exhibited at Pratt Manhattan Gallery as part of Process in Practice, where visitors could handle the book directly.
Separately, the mini edition was selected for consignment by Secret Riso Club, an independent art book and print space in New York. In addition, the publication was presented at recent art book fairs—the Brooklyn Art Book Fair (July 10–12) and the San Francisco Art Book Fair (July 23–26)—where available copies sold out, demonstrating the project’s strong response among art book audiences.
These points of circulation—gallery presentation, institutional acquisition, consignment, fair participation, and direct sales—show how a focused observation can reach different audiences and contexts. These achievements demonstrate Lexi’s ability not only to create publication-based work, but also to produce, present, distribute, and connect that work with both institutional and public audiences.
Dream Labor Press and independent publishing
Lexi is a co-founder of Dream Labor Press, an independent press established to publish and share original works by its founders. The press focuses on storytelling, fiction-making, memories, objects, visual narratives, zines, artists’ books, and small-edition publications. Through Dream Labor Press, Lexi has presented and sold more than 200 printed works—her own artists’ books, zines, posters, postcards, and small-edition publications—at events including the Brooklyn Art Book Fair, Other Islands Book Fair, Multiple Formats Art Book Fair, Press Play by Pioneer Works, and the San Francisco Art Book Fair. Her publications have entered institutional collections such as the Watson Library at The Met, the Bowes Art & Architecture Library at Stanford University, the Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design, and Pratt Institute Libraries.
Observation in contemporary social media practice
Lexi brings the same observational sensibility to her professional role at Kepler Mission Design, where she works as a Creative Specialist across social media strategy, visual design, content production, and short-form video. Managing roughly ten client projects at a time, she begins by closely observing each brand’s audience, identity, goals, and existing content to identify which trends, visual formats, and moments are worth recording. That attention—recognizing small, repeatable visual hooks and deciding how to frame and edit them—shapes the full creative process: concepting, scripting, shot lists, directing, editing, graphic design, caption writing, and post-publish performance review. Her clients include Hashi Market, Kinya Ramen, Nan Xiang Express, DaVinci Flowers, O Mandarin, and Molly Tea; several accounts saw stronger reach and engagement after she joined, reflecting her ability to translate careful observation into effective content strategies.
A multidisciplinary practice built on attention
Across books, fairs, exhibitions, and commercial work, Lexi connects disciplines through sustained attention to overlooked detail. The Index of [Viewing Panels] in NYC reframes a minor urban feature as a means of seeing the city anew; Dream Labor Press creates channels for circulation and public engagement; and her studio work translates observation into content that resonates online. For Lexi, meaningful visual stories often begin with something ordinary that simply hasn’t been looked at closely enough.
