The Chinese New Year Husky
“Can you design us a mascot for the New Year events at the Seattle Chinatown? It has to be an husky!”
BACKGROUNd
Time: Spring 2018
Duration: 2 months
My Role: Sole visual designer
In celebration of the 2018 Chinese New Year, The Wing Luke Art Museum in the Seattle Chinatown organized a series of family-friendly events. They needed a good-looking, cute mascot that can be used on event posters, stickers and coloring contests. The good thing: Husky is a popular dog in Seattle, and the year happened to be the Year of Dog!
The mascot design was mainly inspired by two popular cultural icons well-known by Seattle locals: the University of Washington Husky, and the cherry blossom flowers that can be seen in my communities of the city in early spring. The simple, almost woodblock print-like style of the drawing is inspired by the unmistakable style of traditional Chinese New Year folk art. Babies are commonly depicted in those artworks, representing hope, growth and youth. Inspired by that, and considering many event participants will be young kids, I chose to use a puppy as the mascot rather than a full-grown husky.
Door Signs, Re-imagined
Similar to how American people put up Christmas trees before the holiday, putting up auspicious door signs at the main entrance of the house just before the New Year is an important Chinese family ritual. Traditionally, the sign is a square tilted at a 45 degree angle, with the character “福” (good fortune) in the center. While I stayed consistent with this traditional format, featuring huskies in the comp is a novel idea that won this design lots of popularity among event goers.
Event Posters
After locking down a color palette that matches the festive atmosphere of the events, I first designed 3 posters covering the dates and details of their events and programs throughout the year. While the mascot in the center remains the same, I designed different backgrounds to represent progression of the year.
Way-finding Signages
Red Packets
As the tradition dictates, no Chinese New Year celebration is complete without red packets for the young kids!
Gift Shop Merchandise
As part of the project, the Wing Luke Art Museum asked me to design some merchandise that can be sold at affordable prices in the museum gift shop. I designed a collection of stickers, some greeting cards and a shirt.
The Countdown tiles
Although the client didn't ask for it, I designed a series of countdown tiles with borrowed elements from the poster. These can be printed on coasters, posters, greeting cards and notebooks when budgets allow.
The Coloring Contest
500+ kids from age 3 to 10 participated in the coloring contest. I spent hours in the museum browsing through their creative pieces and rating them. The one on the lower right won the 1st place in the age 7-10 group!
