Dialogue with the designer team of the Cultural and Creative Center of Gansu Provincial Museum——This is how exquisite and flexible cultural and creative products are produced (Decode·Museum Cultural and Creative Product Development)

　　core reading

　　The "Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow" series of cultural and creative products developed based on the precious bronze galloping horse in the town hall of the Gansu Provincial Museum has been cartoonized while retaining the characteristics of the cultural relic prototype, and is welcomed by young people.

There is a young designer team behind the cultural and creative products.

In-depth understanding of the connotation of cultural relics, attention to the aesthetic taste of young people, and careful quality control are the normal work of the cultural and creative design team.

　　The green and fluffy horse has a big grin and a naive image; the "Flying Swallow" under the horse's hooves is cute and cute, just like an emoji pack - it's hard to imagine that the prototype of this plush doll has a history of more than 2,000 years Bronze galloping horse.

This year, the Gansu Provincial Museum launched a series of cultural and creative products based on the treasured copper galloping horse of the town hall, "Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow". It was welcomed as soon as it was launched, and became the sales champion among the more than 1,000 cultural and creative products developed by the museum. .

　　Why are the cultural and creative products of the "Horse Stepping on the Flying Swallow" series so popular?

What are the development "passwords"?

The reporter interviewed the designer team of the Cultural and Creative Center of Gansu Provincial Museum.

　　Incorporate cultural elements

　　The bronze galloping horse was unearthed in the 1960s in Leitai Han Dynasty Tomb in Wuwei, Gansu Province. Its sideways image of running like flying is widely known, and it has been identified as a Chinese tourism symbol.

From the front, the horse's head leans to the left and its mouth is neighing. Cultural and creative products developed with this image are rare.

　　"The museum has launched cultural and creative products since 2015, and the bronze galloping horse is one of the first-selected cultural relics. The products include tapes, bookmarks, key chains, earrings, etc." Cui Youxin, head of the Cultural and Creative Center of Gansu Provincial Museum, said that the museum will launch IP in 2020. "The god horse is coming", but the image of the bronze galloping horse has always been relatively upright and serious.

　　Designer Wang Wei repeatedly revised the plan, polished it for more than half a year, and determined a new doll image: from running to standing, from sideways to frontal, from serious to cute.

"Young people like relaxed and cute images of cute pets. At the beginning of the design, I intentionally added humorous elements. For example, the bent hind legs of the bronze galloping horse seem to be dancing, and the 'Flying Swallow' is serious and seems to be angry. Two The interaction with readers is more interesting." Wang Wei said.

　　"Cultural and creative products created based on aesthetic trends such as cuteness and fashion are becoming more and more popular among young people. The 'Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow' doll hits this point." Shen Mingjie, director of the Silk Road Cultural and Creative Product Design Research Center of Lanzhou University Say.

　　"At first glance, what is this? At second glance, it's so cute, get it now!" On the social media account of Gansu Provincial Bowen and Creative Center, many netizens were amused by the doll and liked it, and the number of followers on the account has also increased from less than 100 to more than 80,000 people.

　　Cui Youxin once analyzed with the team that in addition to the cultural attributes and design factors that come with the product, the novel and interesting appearance is more likely to arouse young people's desire to share and has social attributes.

　　In order to further expand its popularity, the Cultural and Creative Center arranged the "Bronze Galloping Horse" rap single and dance, actively interacted with netizens, and further developed products such as miniature pendants.

On June 27, two weeks after its launch, the "Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow" doll sold nearly 700,000 yuan a day, setting a daily sales record for the museum. Up to now, nearly 80,000 pieces have been sold, with sales of nearly 8 million yuan.

　　find creative inspiration

　　The cultural and creative center of Gansu Provincial Museum currently has nearly 40 staff members, including 15 designers, 80% of whom are born in the 1990s.

"Young people understand young people better and understand fashion trends better, which is very helpful for inspiring cultural and creative designs." Wang Wei said.

　　Since 2015, the Gansu Provincial Museum has launched more than 1,000 cultural and creative products.

Behind the more than 1,000 ideas are the designers' careful exploration and in-depth understanding of the cultural relics in the collection.

　　Cui Youxin said that it takes an average of 3 to 6 months for cultural and creative products to go from an idea to the final product.

Ideas or ideas are often flashes of inspiration and fleeting.

Therefore, "everyone in the team can give suggestions and talk about their feelings, and strive to produce the most satisfactory products." When developing cultural and creative products, designers should not only observe the experience on the spot, but also read books, check materials, or watch TV dramas and documentaries. Looking for inspiration, sometimes, the same cultural relic needs to be explained repeatedly by seven or eight commentators.

　　"From the product point of view, everything can be cultural creation, which is nothing more than the difference in the carrier. From the point of view of cultural relics, we must consider the appropriate presentation method." Talking about the source of creativity, Cui Youxin said that sometimes designers come up with ideas, and everyone brainstorms , Sometimes it is a project system, a task is assigned to 2 to 3 designers to create at the same time, and the final presentation method is determined by the best.

　　During the incubation process of cultural and creative products, product managers will also intervene.

Faced with the wild ideas of designers, Wang Hong, the product manager, compared herself to "a person pulling the rein".

"For example, what material is used for presentation, is it plastic, metal, resin, or plush? What is the size and how to match the color? These details are checked by the product manager." She said that even in the trial production process, problems found will still be related to the design Communicate with the teacher until it is perfect.

　　Expand the vitality of cultural relics

　　The "Horse Stepping on a Flying Swallow" doll is a hot seller, and the designers calmed down to think while they were happy.

　　Cui Youxin said that cultural and creative products bring cultural relics with a heavy history to the public. On the one hand, the public can learn more about cultural relics through products, and on the other hand, they will also give feedback to museums, and even hope to provide personalized customized products. "This is exactly what we expect. Through The two-way interaction between the museum and the audience further expands the vitality of cultural relics."

　　For this reason, museums must strictly control the quality of cultural and creative products.

"Which product will be popular cannot be accurately judged before it goes on sale, so it can only be produced in small batches. However, many factories do not accept such small orders with small quantities but high quality requirements." Wang Hong said frankly that a jewelry launched earlier The product was only released to the market two years after it was designed. "I inspected 20 or 30 factories in other places, and finally selected a company in Guangdong. I lived in the factory for more than a month. I wanted to convey the designer's ideas to the workers. , but also to feed back the problems that arise in actual production to the designer.”

　　"Cultural cultural and creative products should pay more attention to quality control, so that quality and appearance coexist. We pay more attention to the vitality of the copper galloping horse IP, rather than a single product." Cui Youxin said.

Today, the team is still actively developing new products.

　　The "skin" of cultural and creative products can be relaxed and interesting, but in the end what is displayed is the antique "flesh".

"It is necessary to interpret the excellent traditional Chinese culture in a modern way." Shen Mingjie said that by making people interested in cultural relics in a down-to-earth way, they can get closer to the cultural relics themselves and understand the stories and history behind the cultural relics.

　　"Cultural relics are the witness of history and an important carrier of culture. Through exquisite and flexible cultural and creative products, cultural relics that were originally silent can be brought into daily life and convey the voice of ancient civilization." Jia Jianwei, curator of Gansu Provincial Museum, said, Gansu Province The provincial museum will take red culture and Yellow River culture as the theme, deeply explore the value connotation and cultural elements of the cultural relics resources in the collection, design and develop more cultural and creative products, promote the activation and utilization of cultural relics, and continuously enhance the dissemination and influence of Chinese civilization.

(Fu Wen, reporter of our newspaper)

　　(Source: People's Daily, Page 10, November 30, 2022)