Zodiac Design： Making Tradition Younger

Paper Rhymes Lucky Mouse, designed by Zhou Ziyi.

Good luck in the Year of the Rat, designed by Liu Yixuan.

《GuardianMouse— — Sealing design of edge-drawing bag, designed by Cao Peiqing.

"Rats are transported in succession", designed by Yi Yao.

Chocolate Design of the 12 Zodiac Edition, designed by Huang Tianqiu, Zhang Chaojin, Lu Lu, Zhang Jinhua and Zhou Zeyu.

　　On the occasion of the Spring Festival of Gengzi, a series of creative designs related to the Chinese zodiac culture are colorful. In the 2020 China University Zodiac Design Competition hosted by Shandong University of Arts and Crafts, teachers and students from more than 300 universities brought more than 6,700 works, including not only posters, illustrations and cartoons, but also web pages, APP, multimedia interactive design, cultural tourism souvenirs, office supplies and household necessities design. In the exhibition of the results of the 2020 Global Jiqing Zodiac Design Competition hosted by Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Central Academy of Fine Arts, more design achievements have been transformed, such as bookmarks, tea tables, chocolates and other cultural and life creative products, which are diverse in form, vivid in shape and full of vitality.

　　Contemporary creative design based on traditional Chinese zodiac culture is developing vigorously, which not only endows traditional culture with new vitality, but also broadens the vision of contemporary design art, attracts more designers to take root in the excellent Chinese traditional culture, and integrates spiritual pursuit and life experience into design creation in the new era.

　　Inherit the blood of culture

　　It should be said that the primary proposition of zodiac design is to inherit Chinese excellent traditional culture through contemporary design. Inheriting cultural memory, maintaining emotional ties and continuously inheriting and developing the blood of Chinese culture are the proper meanings of contemporary design.

　　As a unique tradition and creation of the Chinese nation, the Zodiac culture has profound cultural connotations. It is not only the animal sign of birth and the age of life, but also the trunk and branch of chronology and natural phenology. It has been established for thousands of years, integrated into festivals and life etiquette at the age of year, and has become a link between us and nature in the alternation of seasons and years. Zodiac culture represents affection with things, beauty and kindness, and active life. It is a kind of cultural inheritance of "love is close to reason".

　　Throughout the ages, the vivid plastic arts of the Zodiac have formed a set of visual symbol systems including the thinking mode, cultural structure, imagination and creativity of the Chinese nation. A series of intuitive Zodiac shapes reflect the affinity between man and nature, which is the representation of the natural view that "the four seasons are festival-free, and everything does not hurt" and "heaven and earth coexist with me, and everything and I are one". It is also such a harmonious and symbiotic view of nature that constitutes the basis of the Chinese nation’s living art and aesthetics. The artistic expression of the traditional zodiac image also contains the design aesthetics of "neutralization". Whether it is as fierce as a tiger, as magical as a dragon, or as small as a mouse and as docile as a rabbit, the image is always "disobedient, harmonious but different", showing its peaceful and beautiful characteristics and expressing the true interest of life. Chinese traditional design aesthetics is based on such a tolerant, confident and enterprising cultural spirit, and it is also such a cultural spirit and design character that contemporary zodiac design should inherit: transcend the appearance of "things", explore image expression and cultural thinking, and vividly explain the humanistic thought and spiritual pursuit of harmonious coexistence.

　　Rooted time life

　　Historically, traditional Chinese zodiac images have been vividly displayed in folk arts, such as paper-cutting with window grilles, costume embroidery, New Year’s lanterns, dough sculpture and candy toys, etc., which are colorful and interesting, conceived in local conditions and customs, and achieved ingenuity. Although the zodiac style in folk art has strong stability and continuity, it will also change in different periods, forming and evolving thousands of forms. The zodiac design in the new era, whether it is intuitive image or cultural connotation, is bound to be innovative in inheritance, in order to meet people’s yearning for a better life.

　　In the past, the traditional Zodiac window grilles were mainly pasted on paper windows, so the hollowing-out effect of modeling lines should be transparent and beautiful. Contemporary Zodiac window design seeks new changes in application scenes and media materials. Some Zodiac window grilles become creative decorations, which are used in various installations, landscapes and public art, while others are used as image information and integrated into printing, image software and other applications. The changes brought by life in these times have made the image of the zodiac show a new visual beauty.

　　Nowadays, with the acceleration of information dissemination, mobile terminals such as mobile phones have become the main tools for information reception, and people have new demands on the composition of image information and the efficiency of visual communication. Flat design has become a new trend because it meets the needs of efficient and convenient information browsing and reception. Many new generation zodiac design works also strive to meet the needs of society and actively innovate flat design. On the basis of inheriting the traditional schema, many designers choose to use geometric modeling language to highlight the concise subject image and add personalized and creative expression with bright colors, which makes the works full of freshness and impact. It is worth pointing out that the design of the Zodiac is by no means a simple extraction of elements and symbols of traditional culture, nor is it a fragmented application of cultural representations. Instead, we should start from today’s life, understand and interpret the history and spirit behind cultural representations, constantly discover poetic cultural images, and combine the psychological needs of contemporary people to form a cultural expression that embraces traditional and contemporary values. Only by taking root in the life of the times and realizing the connection between history and the present can we form a design with China cultural characteristics.

　　Inspire original vitality

　　If "original" is the beginning and "creation" is creativity, then "original design" not only emphasizes the subjectivity of design, but also means a kind of cultural wisdom and artistic thought. In the last century, the first issue of Chinese Zodiac stamps, representing the original traditional Zodiac culture, entered the contemporary graphic design, and spread widely in the world, which, to a certain extent, promoted the exchange of artistic language and humanistic spirit, including traditional auspicious patterns in China. In this sense, encouraging the integration of traditional culture into original design is conducive to explaining China’s story in design language and truly realizing the cultural going out.

　　In recent years, the theme design activities of the zodiac have been held frequently, building a platform for young design talents to create original designs with rich cultural connotations, and gathering knowledge into wisdom. Behind the design creation and exhibition exchange, it is reflected that the support of contemporary design disciplines and curriculum systems has been continuously strengthened, and the comprehensive role and influence of social culture and evaluation mechanism have been continuously expanded. The younger generation is full of vigor, dreams and creativity. In the industrial field, fully cultivating and stimulating the vitality and potential of young people’s original design will help to further explore and expand the design space, improve the ability of integrated innovation, promote the construction and development of original industrial chain, form more excellent brands supported by humanistic spirit and cultural character, and generate lasting design energy and influence. In a wider field of social life, encouraging the younger generation to develop original designs on the basis of Chinese excellent traditional culture and real life will also deepen their concern and thinking about nature, society and future development, fully interpret and express the life experience, values and ideal pursuit of the new era, and make contemporary design a carrier of national cultural wisdom and serve the development of civilization and social progress.

　　During the Spring Festival, the zodiac culture has once again become the link between us and the natural ecology, history and culture. The intuitive image and long tradition of the zodiac culture have aroused new resonance under the new design language and media interpretation, and the law of design inheritance and innovation contained in it has also left us with deeper cultural enlightenment and thinking about design.

　　(The author is Yin Bo, a professor at Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts)