On May 26, the topic of ugly and uncomfortable illustrations of characters in elementary school mathematics textbooks published by the People's Education Publishing House (hereinafter referred to as the "People's Education Press") has been hotly searched for many times, causing widespread concern.

It is worth mentioning that the textbook has been used for more than 10 years since it was approved.

  In the face of a large number of questions from netizens, the People's Education Society released the "Explanation on the Illustrations of Primary Mathematics Textbooks of People's Education Press" that day, saying that in response to good opinions from all walks of life, it has been humbly adopted, and it has begun to redraw the cover and some illustrations of the relevant volume of mathematics textbooks.

At the same time, all tutorials are comprehensively evaluated to improve the quality of the design.

  A reporter from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) noticed that the controversial illustrations came from the People's Education Edition of elementary school mathematics textbooks, covering grades one to six, and were approved in 2012 or 2013. The layout design and illustrations came from the design work of Wu Yong in Beijing. room.

  According to public information, the head of the studio, Wu Yong, graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts (now the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University), majoring in book binding. Deputy Director of the Art Committee, member of the Graphic Design Art Committee of the Chinese Artists Association, member of the International Designers Union AGI and many other titles appeared.

  In 2018, an industry self-media introduction to Wu Yong mentioned that he had served as the art consultant of the UNICEF office in China, and the deputy director of the art editing office of China Youth Publishing House.

He established Beijing Wuyong Design Office in 1998, dedicated to the design and research of graphic, product, space and digital media.

He has been invited to design stamps such as "The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Chinese Film", and books such as "Painting the Soul", "Endless Voyage", "Book Building Intervention" and other books; the architectural work "Beijing Shuncheng Cultural Center" was selected in "2015 Chinese Architecture" Art Yearbook"; his works have won the Hong Kong Designers Association Gold Award, the Hong Kong International Poster Triennial Commercial Gold Award, the GDC07 Poster Silver Award, the Tokyo TDC Award, the Most Beautiful Book Award in China, etc.

  Wu Yong's main publications: "Four Men on Book Design", "+-2000 Wu Yong's Graphic Design", "Something Is Okay - A Dialogue with Contemporary Art", Japan's "IDEA" and many other magazines and media have interviewed and introduced his work for many times. Works and design concepts.

He has been invited to give dozens of speeches at the East Asian Book Forum, Cervantes Institute, China Academy of Art and other institutions and social institutions; and has been invited to give lectures at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Offenbach, Germany National University of Art and Design, Korea ACA Design Institute and other institutions offer courses and workshops.

  Regarding his work experience, Wu Yong said in an interview with the industry's self-media "Zanku.com" WeChat public account in 2018: "After graduating from college, I was fortunate to be selected to work in China Youth Publishing House until I went to sea in the late 1990s. He has become the youngest department-level cadre. It has been just 20 years since he established a design office after he came out of the publishing house. During this period, he has witnessed the institutional reform of the publishing house, and the content and form of book design have also undergone qualitative changes. Around 1996, the popularization of personal computer and color offset printing replaced the process mode of ink draft and lead printing, which made a fundamental change in the means of design and printing expression. Changes and developments have had a huge impact.”

  In this interview article titled "Wu Yong: Book Design is a Kind of Feeling", Wu Yong said about his concept of engaging in book design: The change from "good-looking" to "good reading" is actually a difference in design vision and pattern make it happen.

This kind of change has abandoned the narrow view of binding that is only "book clothing" and "overall design".

By sorting out the order of information and transforming the design into a pleasant and functional visual guide, we try to give readers more diverse reading enjoyment and thinking space.

With the help of form, editing, materials, information, craftsmanship, cost design, and even materialized "five senses" experiential design, it strives to mobilize readers' "full senses" to enjoy, thus forming a scene-based reading setup and realizing readers' subconscious psychological demands , and then resonate with the book itself.

  The reporter from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) also noticed that in the above-mentioned interview with the industry's self-media, the controversial illustrations of the "Personal Education Textbook Maths for Compulsory Education in Primary Schools" were also presented as Wu Yong's classic works.

  In another article "Wu Yong: The design circle seems to be sick, everyone is infected" from the WeChat public account of the design industry's self-media "Design360°", Wu Yong thought: "First of all, I don't really compliment the current design education. Because the system is busy with the evaluation and upgrading of schools, teachers are busy filling out forms and promotions, and ultimately the colleges and the society are out of touch; third-rate universities that have no communication with the design world can obtain the establishment of doctoral programs. If there is no communication and no practical ability, it may continue to mislead the children! The doctoral degree is a necessary threshold for most of them to enter the university to teach. If this situation continues, the consequences will be disastrous.”

  "Secondly, designers are busy with their livelihoods, and many award-winning awards only focus on business needs, rather than research on personal achievements. Therefore, some people joked: Chinese design has not formed an influential industry because designers have no culture. Everyone I am thinking about what is popular and what style is the most dominant and can win awards.”

  Wu Yong said: "Therefore, the most pure-hearted are still among the students. They have ideals in their hearts, pure passion, and sparks of wisdom. This is precious! Their future strength is obvious."

  The Paper reporter Yue Huairang