Cao Xue, head of the design team of "Ice Pier": Behind the "one pier is difficult to find" is the courage of Guangdong design

Some members of the "Ice Pier" design team were interviewed and provided pictures

Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Zhu Shaojie correspondent Jiang Yuejun

"A pier is hard to find"! With the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the mascot "Ice Pier" became the top stream, and the surrounding goods were sold out. Recently, Cao Xue, head of the design team of "Ice Pier" and professor of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, was interviewed by the Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter, telling the ins and outs of the birth of "Ice Pier" and decoding the Guangdong design secrets behind the popularity of "Ice Pier".

According to reports, the design of the "ice pier" combines the panda image with the shell of ice crystals, reflecting the characteristics of winter ice and snow sports and modern technology. Behind the popularity of "Ice Pier" is the accumulation of Guangmei design and Guangdong design over the years, reflecting a spirit of "dare to be the first in the world". Up to now, Guangdong design has repeatedly appeared on the national stage to show the beauty of China to the world. Among them, Guangdong Power 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, which have been well received.

The design of the "ice pier" is a new experience

Yangcheng Evening News: As the head of the design team, how do you see the "ice pier" becoming popular?

Cao Xue: With the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the peripheral goods of the mascot "Ice Pier" have been loved by more and more people. This is a great encouragement and affirmation for us designers. At the beginning, the "ice pier" was accepted and liked by everyone, and we were very excited. Later, when we saw everyone lining up to buy "ice piers" in the cold wind, we changed from excitement to emotion. To be honest, we didn't expect such a situation before. Thank you for your recognition of the "Ice Pier" and your attention and support to the entire mascot design team.

Yangcheng Evening News: Cantonese people who rarely have the opportunity to contact ice and snow have when designing "ice piers"?

Cao Xue: It may be a spirit of "daring to be the first in the world". Who would have thought of putting an ice shell on top of a panda? In the past, mascots or dolls were of a single material, mostly in the form of plush toys. This time, when it has an ice shell, the material of the design will give the audience a new experience both visually and tactilely.

Remember that in 2018, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee propaganda team came to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, which was less than a month before the deadline for the collection of mascots for the Winter Olympics. Before coming, the propaganda team expressed their concerns that ice and snow in the Lingnan region are rare and that they lack imagination about ice and snow sports. At first, we didn't have confidence either. But I think that people who have rarely seen ice and snow or even seen ice and snow may have a greater yearning and imagination for ice and snow than people who are accustomed to ice and snow.

Design "vision should be high, body 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. I studied at a university in Jiangsu in my early years, and then I came to Guangdong and Guangmei. In the 1980s, when I was still studying, these old gentlemen you mentioned came to my alma mater to give lectures. 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 Guangdong and Guangmei.

Today, I have more contact with Mr. Yin Dingbang. In 2017, when I was doing the Guangzhou city logo, I caught his attention. He has a lot of guidance and encouragement for juniors like me. This also made me understand that the older generation does not value the background and seniority, but only cares 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 does not belong only to Guangmei, but 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 this land nourishes me by the subtle and silent influence of this gene.

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, a member of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee said a sentence, and I was deeply impressed: 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. I describe it as "having a high vision and having a 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 of creative labor

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 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. We think about "who defines a work as good". Most of the design is the design of life, with a very clear target consumer, user, they feel that it looks good and easy to use, that is, good. This is not only a metaphysical aesthetic, but also needs to be combined with metaphysical functions.

Yangcheng Evening News: Whether it is the design of the "ice pier" or the guangzhou city logo, it is the design of the public image. How is this different from commercial design?

Cao Xue: The designer is a character actor, not a true actor. It's easy to turn a good concept into a conceptual thing in the process of landing. We want concepts, not conceptualizations. For example, to express the image of the country, must it be a Chinese watch? To express lingnan characteristics, do you have to be kapok? No. Cultural elements in the true sense are not simply represented visually. Some people also asked me, what Are the Cantonese elements on the "Ice Pier"? In fact, the design is not a direct elemental performance, and there is no so-called Chinese cultural visual pattern on it, no paper-cutting, 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 do are two different things, if you really want to tell the Chinese story well, you may wish to focus on doing every small thing at hand first. At present, everyone is prone to fall into a misunderstanding, and when they see what is on fire, they will imitate it and converge on it. But for creative labor, convergence is the greatest enemy.