"Snow Rongrong" is about to take over the "ice pier" to usher in the home field and start "work". A few days ago, on the occasion of the opening of the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, the Southern Metropolis Daily and N Video specially invited the members of the "Xue Rongrong" design team to be guests in the N video live broadcast room to chat about the story behind the birth of "Xue Rongrong". The team said that the biggest problem in the design process was how to give the lanterns life.
The prototype idea came from the hands of students
The detailed design shows the charm of traditional Chinese culture
As the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, "Snow Rongrong" is based on the unique Chinese element red lantern, and is also the first intrinsically glowing mascot in the Mascot of the Winter Olympics, attracting public discussion on its image and design concept.
The prototype idea of "Xue Rongrong" came from Jiang Yufan, a student majoring in visual communication at the School of Design of Jilin University of Art. Jiang Yufan's hometown is Jiayin County, Heilongjiang Province, and the festive atmosphere is very strong every time she goes to traditional festivals, and big red lanterns can be seen everywhere, which is the source of inspiration for her original design.
Jiang Yufan remembers the warmth of his hometown and the inspiration of the design team, and in the design process, he is given more expression of oriental culture. "Lanterns are also known as lanterns in China, and the design of 'Snow Rongrong' is based on the traditional oriental culture, anthropomorphic treatment, and integrates the characteristics of ice and snow." Su Dawei, a member of the design team who participated in the combing of mascot copywriting and the interpretation of cultural connotations, said when interpreting the design inspiration of "Snow Rongrong".
The overall details of the mascot are also full of interpretation and expression of traditional culture.
The top of the lantern is a ruyi shape, with auspicious and peaceful meanings; the elements of the city gate represent Chinese culture; the top of the lantern has a circle of 13 pairs of "peace dove" shaped paper-cuts, which is a traditional Chinese skill and also represents the peace-loving Chinese people. The "Temple of Heaven" element in the paper-cut is a representative symbol of Beijing; the shape of the white ice and snow accumulation formed in the fullest part of the lantern is in line with the meaning of the Chinese "Ruixue Mega Year".
"The most core and important part is the 'Snow Rongrong' Winter Olympic Symbol, which has a glowing aura, which symbolizes the spirit of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, representing 'lighting hope and illuminating the way of dreams'." Su Dawei said that this not only represents traditional Chinese culture, but also represents the meaning of peace and yearning, and is an encouragement to the athletes of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Talking about the origin of the name "Snow Rongrong", Su Dawei said that this is the result of the team members and the experts of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee. It is reported that in the process of naming the mascot, the team has deliberated hundreds of names, and at each stage will focus on the idea to the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, and finally the experts of the Olympic Organizing Committee will determine the name according to the mascot creativity. "Snow" symbolizes whiteness, ice and snow, and also symbolizes China's Spring Festival; "tolerance" represents tolerance and warmth, symbolizing exchanges and mutual learning between countries in the world; "integration" represents integration and warmth, so that the people of the world can realize the meaning of "world integration".
The mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games is "Snow Rongrong".
More than 300 days and nights, 32 sets of programs, more than 10,000 pieces of straw paper
"How to bring the lantern to life, the biggest problem in the design process"
"After the first meeting, the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games conveyed the opinion of 'only retaining the original attributes and redesigning the image', which means that the design of the entire team is from scratch." Jin Wei, dean of the School of Design of Jilin Art College, who is a member of the design team of "Xue Rongrong", participated in the entire process from the first draft of the design to the final draft. Receiving the task of designing the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, the entire design team expressed excitement and pressure.
Due to the confidentiality of the design process, the team needs to undertake both design creation work and logistics support. Jin Wei introduced that the entire design team is composed of 17 people from various branches of Jilin Art College, which brings together the strength of various professions such as graphic design, product design, animation design, three-dimensional production, and model production.
Jiang Yufan wrote in his Weibo, "Behind the 'Snow Rongrong' is more than 300 days and nights, 32 sets of programs, and more than 10,000 pieces of straw paper", and the design team traveled to Beijing nearly 30 times in a year, which also witnessed the process of continuous polishing and joint efforts of the team.
Jin Wei said bluntly that from the first draft to the formation, the state of the entire team has always been tense, and it has also experienced several relatively large twists and turns. "At that time, we also had a design plan for a Chinese knot, which was later cancelled, and everyone was still a little frustrated at the time, and then they wholeheartedly devoted themselves to the image design of 'Snow Rongrong'."
Referring to the biggest difficulties encountered in the design process, the design team recalled that "the biggest difficulty is how to give life to the lantern".
Jiao Qiang, a team member involved in the design, said: "Since the mascots of the previous Olympic Games were mostly animals and lanterns were objects, the Olympic Organizing Committee hopes that our designs can be more vital and can 'move'. We have added antlers, nose, mouth and other elements to the elements of the lantern, which are not very appropriate. We stuck in this section for a long time, and finally returned to the lantern itself for design. ”
"It was a time of nearly a month of stagnation, when everyone didn't have confidence and didn't know whether to move forward, which was a very confusing moment." Wu Yibo of the design team recalls that time and also has mixed feelings. But even in the face of countless moments of confusion and stagnation, the whole team always has a consensus - never give up, and finally break through the bottleneck and successfully complete the design work.
Part of the design team of "Snow Rongrong".
"It is unprecedented for a mascot to produce such a large flow"
"Hope to become a classic story in the Olympic mascot"
On August 21, 2019, the design team traveled to Beijing. At first, I thought that the design was going to be revised again, and I was thinking about how to move forward along the way. "When it was announced that 'Snow Rongrong' had officially become the mascot of the Winter Paralympic Games, all of us had mixed feelings and the team leaders were also in tears. We had all worked hard for the hope in our hearts, but we didn't know if we could succeed, until the moment we announced it, we were so relieved. Jin Wei said.
From all the unknowns to witnessing the birth, "Snow Rongrong" carries not only a team's pursuit of the design of the work, but also the perseverance of the spirit of the Winter Olympics.
On the mascot Global Release Day, the design team took a group photo with the image of "Snow Rongrong".
"The leap from 'snow melting' to 'top stream' was something that our entire team did not expect." The design team admitted that "Snow Rongrong" has received attention and love from all walks of life, and the whole team feels honored and pleased that the works can be accepted and loved by everyone. Professor Guo Chunfang, the overall head of the design team of "XueRongrong", summarized everyone's enthusiasm and expression for the mascot into a kind of "Chinese story", "It is the emotion and understanding that everyone gives to the mascot that makes Chinese culture so wonderful." ”
Along the way, the "Snow Rongrong" design team has always been grateful. As the head of the team, Guo Chunfang is even more so.
"Grateful for Jiang Yufan's creativity, without her there would be no story after that." Thanks to the leaders and experts of the Olympic Organizing Committee, many of them have experienced the 'Double Olympic Games', have great experience in the planning and implementation of the Olympic Games, and have played a very important role in every link. I should be more grateful to the vast audience, the first time to accept the 'ice pier' and "snow melting", and continue to interpret. In my perception, it is unprecedented for mascots to generate such a large amount of traffic, and we hope that they will become a classic story among Olympic mascots in the future. ”
For Jiang Yufan, witnessing the birth of "Snow Rongrong" means a lot to her. She said that participating in the whole process of "Snow Rongrong" design and selection has strengthened her determination to go down the road of design. "I like Chinese traditional culture very much, and I hope that in the future, I can contribute to Chinese traditional culture with my own design." I think good design is to follow your own heart and design works that communicate with the public. Just like the original design concept of 'Snow Rongrong' - to warm the world, light up people's hearts, and let more people bravely pursue their dreams."
Written by: Peng Yuxin, Lin Jingwu, He Bei
Live: Lin Jingwu
Camera: Ruan Zenghao Intern Jiang Yaoyan Yao Invention Lu Jiexi
Image courtesy of the "Snow Rongrong" design team