Why is it so cute that it sprouts—— Birth of Mascots for the 15th National Games
2024-11-13
Tonight, stay up all night. "These were Liu Pingyun's first words upon returning to the studio on the afternoon of the 8th. The person in charge of the emblem and mascot design team for the 15th National Games, as well as the Vice Dean of the School of Visual Arts and Design at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, spoke calmly. Everyone, hurry up and take a break. We'll start at 4 o'clock Sleepless all night. The next night, on the big screen of the one-year countdown ceremony for the 15th National Games, the 12th National Paralympic Games, and the 9th Special Olympics, two dolphins danced gracefully, swimming from the bottom of the sea to the surface, jumping out and transforming into two "cute pets". They made a stunning appearance with "joy" and "harmony", attracting a lot of admiration. I am racing against time every day, and finally caught up with it tonight In June of this year, Liu Pingyun received the design task for the emblem and mascot of the 15th National Games. The entire design cycle is less than 5 months, with tight deadlines and heavy tasks, making it the most urgent in history From mid June to November, Liu Pingyun and his team made 13 important modifications to the mascot over a period of 5 months. We need to consider three important principles in the design of mascots: relevance, cultural significance, and timeliness Liu Pingyun said. Guided by this principle, the design team once considered using the South China tiger, white dolphin, and black faced spoonbill to represent Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao respectively. But it's difficult for everyone to remember three images at once, and it's also not conducive to the dissemination and subsequent development of the mascot image Liu Pingyun said. In repeated discussions and collisions, the Chinese white dolphin leaped out of the water like an elf. Chinese white dolphins like to live in groups, demonstrating the spirit of unity and mutual assistance. On the sports field, athletes join hands and fight for honor together, which is a vivid embodiment of this spirit of unity and progress. The Chinese White Dolphin, whose name includes' Zhonghua ', returns to the the Pearl River Delta every year to breed, which means not forgetting their hometown and loving their homeland. It is consistent with the return process, and also symbolizes that the people of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are connected with each other and create a new chapter in the era. " Liu Pingyun said. The touching story of the Chinese white dolphin and the Greater Bay Area has also strengthened Liu Pingyun and his team's decision. In October 2018, Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge, the world's longest sea crossing bridge, was opened to traffic. The Lingdingyang Sea area at the mouth of the the Pearl River where the bridge is located is an important activity area for Chinese white dolphins, a globally endangered species. When the bridge started construction, the builders promised that "the bridge will be open to traffic and the white dolphins will not move", and made arduous efforts in the design, construction methods, and material application of the bridge. The builders have fulfilled their promises, and since the bridge opened more than 6 years ago, many tourists have captured Chinese white dolphins from the bridge. The survey shows that the population of Chinese white dolphins in the the Pearl River Estuary has exceeded 2000, and has steadily increased in recent years. This coincides with the "green" concept of organizing the 15th National Games Liu Pingyun said. After determining the prototype of the mascot, Liu Pingyun and his team carefully polished it, and through repeated modifications, the Chinese white dolphin was shaped into a cute and adorable pet image - it has a rounded shape and smooth body lines, with its tail fin transformed into a heart-shaped shape. Liu Pingyun said that design is actually a process of constantly "subtraction". To condense a new form, we need to satisfy relevance while expressing it in contemporary language. We constantly make deductions And the two different colored mascots also embody the ingenuity and profound meaning of the design team. Chinese white dolphins are white when they are quiet, but their blood vessels turn pink when they become congested during exercise, so our mascot is also white and pink. And through years of market feedback, we have found that pink products are also very popular in the market The mascot of the 10th National Games has been modified 13 times in 5 months, which is more intense than the 21 times a year when the mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympics "Bing Dwen Dwen" was designed. Previously, Liu Pingyun was the chief executive of the design team of "Bing Dwen Dwen". This time, they have the secret weapon that they did not have when designing the "Bing Dwen Dwen" - artificial intelligence (AI). Liu Pingyun said that from plane to three-dimensional, "Bing Dwen Dwen" needs to be presented by hand by drawing three-dimensional drawings one by one. A modification from two-dimensional to three-dimensional may take a whole day, while the mascot of the National Games may take only one minute after the application of AI, greatly improving the design efficiency. You can have an idea and leave it to AI to execute, but the biggest challenge in design is actually a 'flash of inspiration' that cannot be replaced by AI. And the water spray on the top of the white dolphin's head is this' spiritual light '. Liu Pingyun said that the team was inspired by the water spraying habits of dolphins and used three small water splashes to represent the three regions. Through the use of color materials, they were able to break through and become memory enhancing points. Finally, after multiple rounds of modification, they became three colored water columns. Liu Pingyun introduced that the tricolor water column is composed of three streams of water, representing the three regions of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The tricolor takes the red color of cotton flowers, the purple color of purple flowers, and the green color of lotus flowers, giving the white dolphins regional and temporal characteristics. The three colored water column, when viewed from the front, represents a heart, conveying the beautiful vision of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao working together with one heart and one mind, and symbolizing the maritime culture of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao with the same roots and origins. Mascots have different forms in different states, with small waves above their heads in the standard state and wild waves in the sport state. In the development of mascots later on, materials can be transparent or jelly like, which can be broken through from a visual and tactile perspective, extending rich imaginative space The tricolor water column can be regarded as the finishing touch of the entire mascot. Liu Pingyun and his team felt it during the design process, but the external evaluation was still beyond their imagination. Cute enough to sprout A netizen's comment received a lot of approval from people. I didn't expect this evaluation, and our team hasn't discussed it before, but I really like it. I hope everyone will like it too Liu Pingyun said. But can "Joy" and "Joy" become as popular as "Bing Dwen Dwen", even spread all over the world? Liu Pingyun said that he and his team dare not have unrealistic expectations. The design experience of "Bing Dwen Dwen" has brought glory and experience to the team, but that highlight moment has also brought invisible pressure, but the team firmly believes in the power of design quality and the common language of the world. There are many external factors that we cannot control, but we believe in the power of design quality, and we believe that 'cuteness' is the common language of this world (New Society)
Edit：He Chuanning Responsible editor：Su Suiyue
Source：Xinhua
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