Yang Zhilin was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in 1956. In 1978, he was admitted to the Art and Crafts Painting Department of Nanjing University of Arts, from which he graduated in 1982. Yang is a Professor in the School of Industrial Design, Nanjing University of the Arts; editorial board member of the China Design Yearbook and deputy editor-in-chief of China Urban Image Design.

His design works include the No U-Turn logo and poster for the "China/Avant-Garde Exhibition" (aka the "China Modern Art Exhibition") that took place in Beijing in February 1989.