How was the mascot ＂Bingdundun＂ born？ The original creative prototype is it!

　　Reporter Liu Zhankun

　　With the holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the winter Olympic mascot "Ice Dun Dun" quickly became popular. Especially recently, the online and offline sales of "Ice Dun Dun" are hot, and even there is a scene of "one pier is hard to find".

　　How did this charming mascot of the giant panda image come into being? What is its unique charm that can attract people’s pursuit? Liu Pingyun, the chief executive of "Bing Dun Dun" design, revealed the birth process of "Bing Dun Dun" and told the story behind the creation of "Bing Dun Dun" when interviewed by a reporter from China News Service in Jiangxi recently.

　　As the vice president (presiding) of the School of Visual Art and Design of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Liu Pingyun is from Xinyu, Jiangxi. During the Spring Festival, he deliberately returned to his hometown to spread the winter Olympic culture to his hometown by introducing the creation process of the mascot of the Winter Olympics, the knowledge of the Winter Olympics, and distributing mascots.

　　The image of "Bing Dun Dun" originally originated from "Sugar-Coated Berry"

　　According to reports, since August 2018, the design team led by Cao Xue and Liu Pingyun of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts has started the design of the mascots for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

　　Liu Pingyun revealed to the reporter of China News Service that, in fact, the image of their mascot works was not the giant panda you see now, but its creative prototype was Sugar-Coated Berry, a traditional snack in northern China. "I am a southerner. When I was a child, my impression of the North was ice and snow and Sugar-Coated Berry." Liu Pingyun said.

　　The original creative prototype of "Bingdundun" is Sugar-Coated Berry, a traditional snack in northern China. The picture shows the design manuscript of Sugar-Coated Berry. (data map) Photo courtesy of Liu Pingyun

　　"But we found that Sugar-Coated Berry, as a presentation and carrier of the national image, still feels less weighty." Liu Pingyun said that their design team began to try to incorporate new elements.

　　The picture shows the design draft of the image of "Sugar-Coated Berry". (data map) Photo courtesy of Liu Pingyun

　　In the following time, the design team started the modification for seven months on the premise of preserving the Sugar-Coated Berry ice shell. They tried to replace the image of tiger, rabbit or elk under the ice shell, and finally thought that the national treasure panda was the most suitable to represent China.

　　The design team tried to replace it with the image of tiger, rabbit or elk under the ice shell. (data map) Photo courtesy of Liu Pingyun

　　Liu Pingyun specifically mentioned that they introduced the image of the "Ice Ribbon" of the National Speed Skating Hall to the helmet of the giant panda. "At that time, I felt that we had hope at once, and the whole mental outlook of the giant panda was brand-new, with color, warmth and temperature."

　　In the end, after thousands of revisions by the design team, "Bingdundun" stood out from nearly 6,000 entries in the world and was officially identified as the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

　　The picture shows the design manuscript of "Ice Pier". (data map) Photo courtesy of Liu Pingyun

　　"Ice Dun Dun" is not only the image of giant panda, but also has rich connotations.

　　As an important element of the visual image system of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the mascot "Bingdundun" has been widely concerned and loved by the public as soon as it was born.

　　As a core member of the "Bingdundun" design team, Liu Pingyun believes that "Bingdundun" is not just a simple and lovely giant panda image, with rich implications.

　　"It is the representative of China and China’s image, stocky, simple and honest and friendly. It is represented by one word, and that is warmth. Warmth is a manifestation of Chinese’s friendship and peace. " Liu Pingyun said.

　　"Ice Dun Dun" combines the image of a giant panda with a super-energy ice crystal shell. The shape of the head shell is taken from the ice and snow sports helmet and decorated with a colorful halo. The overall image looks like an astronaut.

　　In Liu Pingyun’s view, the giant panda is recognized as the national treasure of China in the world, and its image is friendly, lovely and naive. The giant panda’s head is decorated with colorful halo, and the overall shape is like an astronaut, just like an expert in ice and snow sports from the future, which embodies the combination of modern technology and ice and snow sports and means creating extraordinary and exploring the future.

　　The design team introduced the image of "ice ribbon" to the giant panda and gradually formed it. The top two images are still splayed, and the bottom image is final. Photo courtesy of Liu Pingyun

　　Compared with the previous giant panda mascot "Bingdundun", it has inheritance and innovation.

　　In fact, from Panpan, the mascot of the Beijing Asian Games in 1990, Jingjing, one of the mascots of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, and Bingdundun, the mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, all three mascots used the image of giant pandas.

　　How to break the traditional form and make new creations is a difficult point for the design team. The viewpoint put forward by Liu Pingyun is "the aggregation of historical symbols and current symbols".

　　Liu Pingyun said that they set 2022 as a world with a sense of science and technology in the future. "Ice Dun Dun" needs to add some characteristics of the times under the historical code, such as 3D technology and some scientific and technological elements in the 5G era.

　　"Let it have the times, so we can form the’ ice pier’ shape with the significance of the times today." Liu Pingyun believes that compared with the previous giant panda mascots, "Bingdundun" has both the inheritance of traditional culture and the breakthrough and innovation of new technologies in the new era.

　　Liu Pingyun is both surprised and proud of the recent popularity of "Ice Dun Dun". He believes that the reason why "Ice Dun Dun" can be loved by Chinese and foreign people reveals the strong appeal and attraction of China culture.

　　Liu Pingyun, who has been busy promoting the Winter Olympics culture in Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces recently, admits that as a designer and a cultural volunteer, he believes that through his efforts, he can spread the Winter Olympics culture further, stimulate the ice and snow movement in China and even the world, and especially enable people in southern China to participate more in the Winter Olympics movement. (End)