Saturday, April 25, 2009

Beijing Olympic Mascots

These are the fuwa, the mascots of the Beijing Olympics. They are jam-packed with symbolism which I won't get into but you can read about if you want. Naturally, I'm more interested in their physical appearance. The question is, are they cute? I think they were designed to be cute and maybe they are in a certain way. But they don't really make you go "aww" do they? And they don't even come close to giving me that feeling that something is so cute I can barely stand it. So what exactly are they lacking? They are multiples, and they come in different colors but they just don't have that je ne sais cute.

What do you think? Are they cute? Why or why not?

2 comments:

Goblin said...

In China design is in an embarrassing position. Designers aren't allowed to be given full scope to their imaginations. For example, if you have a good idea, but decision makers don't like it, the idea will die Especially for some political event such as Olympic Games.

Charlotte said...

Here's another sample - cute or not?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/fashion/11skinside.html