Yangcheng Evening News reporter Zhu Shaojie correspondent Jiang Yuejun
Figure\Provided by Respondent
With the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the mascot "ice pier" was completely on fire, and the surrounding goods were sold out, "a pier is difficult to find".
Cao Xue, professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and head of the "Ice Pier" design team, was interviewed by the Yangcheng Evening News reporter on this issue, telling the ins and outs of the "Ice Pier" design and the Lingnan cultural gene of "Guangdong Design".
Cao Xue and the "Ice Pier"
On September 17, 2019, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee officially released the official mascot image to the world, and the 14-member teacher and student team composed of Cao Xue and Liu Pingyun of the School of Visual Arts and Design of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts was selected after nearly a year, and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts was recorded in the annals of the Olympic movement.
On October 10, 2018, 10 months ago, the expert team of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee came to Guangzhou to give a speech, hoping to clearly convey the requirements and concepts of the Winter Olympic Games for mascots to more design teams. At this time, there are only 20 days left before the final submission of the mascot proposal.
The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts quickly identified Cao Xue as the general manager of the task, and recalled Associate Professor Liu Pingyun, who was studying for a doctorate abroad, as the chief executive.
The original 12 members of the team were all doing graphic design, and later two more teachers were added to do 3D design.
They wanted the mascot's design not only to be static, but also to be more dynamic and more in line with the characteristics of the Internet era.
In less than a month, the team created 16 works, 3 of which stood out in a total of 5816 selected works, ranking among the top 10.
The "ice pier" that eventually became the mascot was determined after 7 months of modifications. During this period, they often revised and improved it all night long.
According to reports, they have created more than 500 cartoon images and drawn tens of thousands of sketches. Due to the principle of confidentiality, the team traveled to Androgynosa Beijing more than 20 times to show to the Olympic Organizing Committee.
In the end, the "ice pier" was designed and created based on the panda, and its ice shell shape was not only related to ice and snow sports, but also full of technology and futurism.
Ice symbolizes purity and strength; pier means thickness, health, liveliness and cuteness; in line with the overall image of the panda, "ice pier" symbolizes the strong body, tenacious will and inspiring Olympic spirit of the Winter Olympic athletes.
The image of the panda is combined with the shell of ice crystals, reflecting the characteristics of winter ice and snow sports and modern technology.
The head shell shape of the "Ice Pier" is taken from the ice and snow sports helmet, decorated with a colorful halo, inspired by the "Ice Ribbon" of the National Speed Skating Hall of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the flowing bright color lines symbolize the track of ice and snow sports; the heart shape of the left palm represents the host country's warm welcome to friends around the world.
Behind the popularity of "ice piers" is the accumulation of Guangmei design and Guangdong design over the years.
Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts is one of the earliest art colleges in Chinese mainland to set up a design major, and Professor Yin Dingbang and Guangmei Design Education Team have created a development path that combines "industry, education and research" of modern design education in China.
As a result, Guangdong Design has been on the national stage for many times, and has deeply participated in the design of major public projects such as the Chinese National Pavilion and Theme Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, the visual system design of the Guangzhou Asian Games and the Shenzhen World University Games, and has deeply served the country and society with professional capabilities.
【Exclusive Interview】
Cao Xue
From excitement to emotion
Yangcheng Evening News: Watching the ice piers become more and more hot, as the head of the design team, how do you feel?
Cao Xue: With the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the surrounding goods of the mascot "Ice Pier" have been loved by more and more people, which is a great encouragement and affirmation for us designers.
In recent days, all of us on our team, like everyone, have been closely following the news of the opening of the Winter Olympics, and the "ice pier" has been accepted and liked by everyone, and we first felt a kind of excitement of recognition.
Later, I saw everyone queuing up in the cold wind to buy "ice pier", to be honest, we did not expect such a situation before, so my emotions have now gradually changed from excitement to touch, thank you for your recognition of the "ice pier" and the attention and support of the entire mascot design team, without everyone's wisdom we can not achieve such success.
Yangcheng Evening News: What are the advantages of Cantonese people who have rare opportunities to contact ice and snow when designing "ice piers"?
Cao Xue: It may be a spirit of "dare to be the first in the world", who would have thought of putting an "ice shell" on the outside of the panda?
In the past, mascots or dolls were often single materials, and the previous themes were mostly presented in the form of plush toys. This time, when it has an ice shell, when we give the design a more different material, then whether it is visual or tactile, the work itself will give the audience a new experience.
Remember that in 2018, the beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee propaganda team came to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and there was only about a month left before the deadline for the collection of mascots for the Winter Olympics.
Before coming, the propaganda team also expressed their concerns, believing that ice and snow are rare in the Lingnan area, and many of our students may rarely see ice and snow, and may lack imagination about ice and snow sports.
At first, some of our teachers and students did not have confidence. But I think that children who have seen ice and snow less or even seen ice and snow may have a greater yearning and imagination for ice and snow than those who are accustomed to ice and snow.
The vision should be high and the figure should be low
Yangcheng Evening News: In your previous interview, you specifically mentioned Mr. Wang Zhaomin, Yin Dingbang, Wang Shouzhi and others in Guangmei. How do you see the relationship between Guangmei's cultural tradition and current design?
Cao Xue: Actually, I am not a Guangmei person, nor am I a Cantonese person. In my early years, I studied at a certain university in Jiangsu, and it was only later that I came to Guangdong and Guangmei.
The three old gentlemen you mentioned happened to be lecturing at my alma mater in the 1980s when I was studying. Since then, I have known that guangmei's design discipline and Guangdong's design have a great influence in the country.
Later, based on this reason, I chose to go to Guangdong and Guangmei. Therefore, I have known the spirit of Guangmei for a long time.
Mr. Wang Zhaomin has passed away, Mr. Wang Shouzhi is sometimes abroad, and I have more contact with Mr. Yin Dingbang.
Earlier, I didn't have much contact with Mr. Yin. In 2017, I made the Guangzhou City Logo, which attracted his attention and gave me more guidance and encouragement for younger generations like me.
In the older generation, it can be seen that they do not value the background and seniority, but only care about what kind of works the younger generation uses.
Yangcheng Evening News: Is "speaking with works" part of what you call the "Guangmei Spirit"? How do you understand and interpret this spirit?
Cao Xue: Right. In fact, in a broad sense, this spirit not only belongs to Guangmei, but also belongs to the whole of Guangdong. Guangdong has a cultural gene that grows in the bones of everyone living in Guangdong.
I've always believed that culture is not created, it grows. I have lived here for more than 20 years, and I am also subtly and silently affected by this gene. This land nourished me, so when I finished such a thing, it was very memorable.
When the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics saw our plan, it felt trendy, with a sense of the future and the times. We may not feel it in the middle of it, but they have captured it keenly.
In the collection of mascots for the Winter Olympic Games, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee finally received a total of 5816 works from 35 countries around the world, and in the final top 10 works, 3 works were from our team.
When the results of this primary election came out, an official of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee said a sentence, which I particularly remember: Guangdong is the forefront of reform and opening up, and it seems to be worthy of the name.
Yangcheng Evening News: What are the characteristics and genes of this regional culture that constitute the design of Guangdong?
Cao Xue: Some people say that the design of the north emphasizes the concept, and the design of Guangdong is more pragmatic. I disagree.
Cantonese people are just good at "landing" the concept into the specific design, and then produce a characteristic. In the words I often say, it is "high vision and low stature".
Design can have the concept of "castle in the sky", but in the specific service, the body must be lowered to serve the target consumer, target audience and reader.
Convergence is the greatest enemy
Yangcheng Evening News: As you mentioned before, many of today's logo designs seem to be becoming more and more "flattened" and have a tendency to "homogenize". Is this a matter of design today?
Cao Xue: What I am talking about flattening and homogenization is describing the aesthetics that are unconsciously evolving and changing in this era.
In my opinion, it cannot be said that today's design is more advanced and advanced than yesterday's, but that it is evolving with the aesthetics of the times.
In this sense, we just happen to be in today's era, and its aesthetic has the characteristics of flattening and homogenization, but it does not represent eternity in the true sense. Therefore, it is enough for us to do what is popular in every era.
When designing, there is no need to deliberately pursue eternity, because what truly embodies a certain era can become eternal.
Whether it is Venus or David, when they are created, they are not necessarily facing the creation and design of the future, they only express the ideas and times of the time, and then become eternal and classic.
Yangcheng Evening News: In your mind, what is the standard of "good design"?
Cao Xue: "Good design" must first determine who says "good".
Now the "ice pier" is rarely on fire, out of the circle, and even some people say that the fire is out of the skyline, but we will not think so in the specific design process. Even if you think so, it is useless.
If Cao Xue's next work will definitely be able to catch fire? I couldn't think of it, and I didn't think about it. What we want to do is to determine who says a work is good.
Don't forget, there are very few opportunities for us to design for the image of the country. Most of our designs are some life designs, with a very clear target consumer, user, they think it looks good, it is good.
Here is not only a metaphysical aesthetic, but also needs to be combined with metaphysical functions to be called good.
Yangcheng Evening News: Whether it is the design of the "ice pier" or the Guangzhou city logo, it is a design for the public image. How is this different from usual commercial design?
Cao Xue: I have always said that designers are character actors, not actors.
In particular, it is important to note that sometimes it is only impossible to understand the unspeakable. We tend to turn a good concept into a conceptual thing in the process of landing. We want concepts, but we can't conceptualize them.
For example, to express the image of the country, must it be Huabiao? To express the characteristics of Lingnan, it must be kapok? No. Cultural elements in the true sense are not simply represented visually.
Someone asked me what Guangdong elements there are on the "ice pier", but in fact, it is not so direct, and there is no so-called Chinese cultural visual pattern on it, no paper-cutting, no five-sheep sculpture. But it is a Chinese design, a design that was born in Guangzhou.
Yangcheng Evening News: Nowadays, more and more Chinese designs are "going out". This "ice pier" has received a warm response overseas, what kind of experience can it provide?
Cao Xue: I have always believed that no work or team can succeed casually. What to think and what to be able to do are two different things, if you really want to tell the Chinese story well, you may wish to focus on doing every little thing at hand first.
Today we are prone to a situation where we see something on fire, imitate it and converge on it. But for creative labor, convergence is the greatest enemy. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
"Ice Pier" design team
Source | Sheep city pie
Editor-in-charge | Izzina