How Design Brings Beijing’s Central Axis to Life in a Mini‑Program

Preface

Beijing’s central axis, described as a masterpiece of Chinese ideal city order, was digitized in a joint project by the Beijing Cultural Heritage Administration and Tencent in December 2021, aiming to make its history accessible worldwide.

Designing a Truthful Narrative

Four main challenges were identified: appropriate color palette, distinctive icon, accurate building forms, and page structure that reflects the axis’s order.

1. Color Palette

The royal colors “red walls and yellow tiles” dominate the axis; the design uses “Luan Hall Gold” as primary and “City Wall Red” as accent to convey vitality and cultural heritage.

2. Icon Design

The mini‑program icon centers on the symmetrical Chinese character “中”, combined with roof and wall elements; a muted “luhe” brown conveys historic depth, while the composition uses positive‑negative space for strong recognizability.

3. Building Illustrations

Over 70 building sketches were created, with 39 selected after consultation with Tsinghua architecture faculty; colors and structures faithfully follow historical references, down to roof types and proportions.

4. Page Structure

The interface mirrors the axis’s symmetry and order; users scroll vertically to explore buildings and horizontally to view the axis’s evolution, with a time‑wheel at the bottom to navigate different historical periods.

Conclusion

Through truthful design, the “Cloud‑Based Central Axis” mini‑program helps users experience Beijing’s cultural legacy, demonstrating how design can serve heritage preservation.