On March 4th, Xue Rongrong, the mascot of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics, officially took up his post.

　　From setting up a design modification team to waiting for this red lantern endowed with sports life and Olympic spirit to become the protagonist of the world, the design members from Jilin Art Institute experienced 1134 days.

　　That night, the members of Xuerongrong's design team watched the live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics together, and took Xuelongrong to take a "family photo" together.

　　Xuerongrong's whole body shows the elements of traditional Chinese culture.

The ruyi shape on the top symbolizes auspiciousness and happiness. The continuous pattern formed by the dove of peace and the Temple of Heaven on the head symbolizes peace and friendship, and also highlights the regional characteristics of the venue. The overall decorative pattern incorporates the traditional Chinese paper-cut art.

The snow blocks on the face not only have the meaning of "auspicious year of snow", but also have an anthropomorphic design, which makes the mascot more cute.

　　What's more, Xue Rongrong is the first mascot in the Winter Olympics and Paralympics that can glow inside.

Xue Rongrong's belly can glow, which is not only a manifestation of the original attributes of the lantern, but also a symbol of lighting up dreams and warming the world, representing friendship, courage and strength, reflecting the fighting spirit of the Winter Paralympic athletes and the winter disabled who inspire the world Olympic concept.

　　The creative elements of lanterns designed by himself can stand out from nearly 6,000 works collected around the world-until now, 24-year-old Jiang Yufan still has a feeling of "pie falling from the sky".

　　On September 21, 2018, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee held a special publicity event for the Jilin Academy of Arts on the "Global Collection of Mascots for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games".

In the following 20 days, under the guidance of professional teachers, Jilin Art Institute collected 101 student works, all of which were submitted to the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee.

　　At that time, Jiang Yufan was still a third-year student majoring in product design at Jilin Art Institute.

When this post-95 girl started collecting materials and designs, she found that the mascots of previous Olympic Games were mostly animals, and her first design theme was the elk with auspicious meanings.

However, many students of Jilin Art Institute have designed artworks with elk elements, not to mention the whole country and even the world.

According to the teacher's prompt, she found that the object can also be used as the image of the mascot.

　　Jiang Yufan's hometown is Jiayin County, Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province.

She thought of the red lanterns that every household would hang up during the Spring Festival.

In the last 3 days before the end of the solicitation, she submitted design drawings using Chinese knots and red lanterns as creative materials.

　　Xue Rongrong was bred in the lantern element in this way.

　　From conception to birth, the lantern element has undergone subversive changes.

On January 25, 2019, at the first revision meeting, the opinion of experts from the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee was that "only original attributes should be retained and the image should be redesigned."

This means that the mascot design has to start all over again.

　　According to Wu Yibo, a member of the Xuerongrong design team and the deputy dean of the School of Design of Jilin University of the Arts, when the Spring Festival was approaching, the school urgently recalled Jiang Yufan and a number of teachers who had been on winter vacation, and formed a design modification team named "125 Team".

　　In accordance with the requirements of the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee to "keep the design confidential and try not to expand the design scope", the number of design teams is limited to 17 people.

In order to do a good job of confidentiality, the team borrowed the school's expert apartment, closed the curtains, and started a centralized modification mode from morning to night.

Brainstorming, collecting materials, drawing sketches, three-dimensional presentation... Everyone has a clear division of labor.

　　18 days later, the team's main creators went to Beijing to submit 3 sets of plans and 62 sketches.

In February 2019, according to the guidance of the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the image design of the "Chinese knot" was cancelled.

In April, the attributes of the mascots changed many times between lanterns, old Beijing pigeons, and deer.

The overall scheme for the red lantern image was not finalized until the end of May.

　　During the nearly one-year creative process, the team designed 32 sets of formed plans and drew more than 10,000 sketches.

The team has gathered the forces of graphic design, product design, animation design, three-dimensional model, cultural interpretation and other aspects of Jilin Art Institute, and tried its best to ensure the design and production of mascots.

　　Model making is also done by the design team itself.

The 100-square-meter studio of the Design College of Jilin Art University has been turned into a temporary model processing factory, and the 3-square-meter balcony has been converted into a spray booth.

Modeling, shelling, 3D printing, sanding, painting, etc. are all done by team members.

　　The biggest difficulty in the creation is how to bring the lantern to life and relate it to the Winter Paralympics.

　　"For a long time, everyone has limited their thinking to how to give lanterns animal attributes." Jiao Qiang, a member of the design team and deputy dean of the Animation College of Jilin University of the Arts, introduced, such as attaching antlers to the top of the lantern and adding swifts to the sides of the body. Wings, or a cartoon doll wearing a lantern hat, but these ideas are not ideal in terms of vision and meaning.

　　After submitting a revision plan, the team experienced more than 2 months of waiting without any news. Everyone began to worry about whether their efforts would be in vain and there was no chance for revision.

　　Later, at the suggestion of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the team gave up the idea of ​​adding animal attributes to the lanterns, and directly gave the lanterns a sporty life.

　　On August 21, 2019, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee officially notified Jilin Art Institute that the design plan was adopted.

On September 17, 2019, Xue Rongrong officially appeared as the mascot of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.

At that time, the team members who tasted the joy of success after the hardships all cried.

　　After the birth of Xuerongrong, the design team began to cooperate with the arrangement of the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee to design and develop Xueyongrong expression packs with related content.

　　Lin Cunzhen, the artistic director of the image and landscape art of the Cultural Activities Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said, "The lantern image has been modified so well that people can't put it down."

　　The evaluation given by Jiang Xiaoyu, chairman of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Mascot Expert Review Committee, is that Xue Rongrong is a combination of the long and splendid Chinese culture and the Olympic spirit, and is also a display of Chinese cultural symbols and the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics Organizing Committee and the Chinese people are precious and lovely gifts to the Olympic Movement and the world.

　　"Xue Rong Rong is a precious and lovely gift in my life." Jiang Yufan said, Xue Rong Rong illuminated her dream and gave her a future career direction.

　　During Xuerongrong's revision and design stage, Jiang Yufan participated in every procedure and link, and the 16 professional teachers in the team gave her a lot of design inspiration and professional support.

Later, she worked hard to be admitted to the postgraduate major of visual communication in Jilin Art Institute, and is now a second-year graduate student.

　　"I used to be unsure whether to design for a living after graduation." Jiang Yufan said, now she is very clear that she will become an excellent designer in the future and use more works to bring you the experience and enjoyment of beauty.

　　China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Wang Peilian Source: China Youth Daily