Visual Design and Application of Zodiac IP for the Bingwu Year of the Horse Empowered by Auspicious Culture

Abstract

Against the backdrop of building a culturally powerful country and the booming national trend consumption, cultural and creative products rooted in traditional culture have gradually become mainstream among young consumers. Based on the Chinese zodiac culture of the Bingwu Year of the Horse, this paper integrates auspicious culture with modern national trend aesthetics to conduct research on the visual design of the blessing horse IP "Galloping Horse for Grand Ambition". Addressing the prevalent drawbacks of homogeneous design, outdated expression and superficial cultural exploration in existing zodiac cultural and creative works, this project develops four scenario-based IP figures themed "Wealth Comes at Once", "Blessings Arrive Instantly", "Immediate Academic Success" and "Reunion Right Away". With rounded and soothing cartoon modeling, warm red-beige color palette and traditional auspicious motifs, the design realizes the youthful reinterpretation of traditional folk customs. This research explores innovative approaches to zodiac IP creation from both theoretical and practical dimensions, and completes diversified practical applications including emoticon packs, plush dolls and cultural and creative derivatives, offering references for the revitalization of traditional culture, innovative development of national-style IPs and industrialization of cultural and creative industries.