Nezha Automobile IP development ideas: Good vision is not a "hammer" and does not need to be "super"

It is undeniable that the visual design in the world now tends to be "flat". Flat visual design is indeed easy to identify, but it is not suitable for carrying and conveying "emotional power". In this article, the author shares the operation case of Nezha Automobile to convey the visual theory of "dramatic symbols" to everyone, helping the brand vision to have emotional tension and make users want to get close and touch. Let's take a look.

The case study I want to share with you today - the marketing methodology of Nezha Auto is called "story chain", and the visual theory pillar in it is called "dramatic symbol".

"Dramatic symbols" means: we need to use theatrical principles to develop brand vision.

The original intention of our design of "Dramatic Symbols" was because Teacher Wan and I did not agree with certain "trends" in current visual design.

For example, the global visual design is now tending to be "flat". I think flat visuals are indeed easy to identify, but they are not suitable for carrying and conveying "emotional power".

There is also a type of brand vision that is created purely for business.

They enlarged the logo again and again, regardless of whether it looks good or not. Such a design actually just makes the brand easier to recognize. It may be competitive, but its competitiveness is gained by "bullying" the eyes of users.

The “dramatic symbol” requires that a brand’s visuals have emotional tension, so that users can feel the desire to get close to and touch the brand at a glance.

01 "Drama Symbols" pursue emotional tension, not communication efficiency

For some consulting firms or design companies, the core of using symbols is to make the symbols recognizable and memorable at a glance.

For example, you create a completely different brand color to form color differentiation.

Or you can borrow social symbols that people are familiar with so that when people see them, they can make subconscious behavioral responses.

For example, if you introduce traffic lights into visual symbols, users will act according to the social convention of "stop at red light and go at green light" when they see it.

Such symbols pursue communication efficiency.

However, "dramatic symbols" do not pursue efficiency, but emotional tension, so that people will be moved at first sight rather than frightened at first sight.

Symbols are different from each other. The symbols mentioned in "dramatic symbols" are closer to symbols such as tattoos, totems, and national flags. These symbols carry more human emotions and beliefs.

For example, David Beckham has more than 60 tattoos, each with its own story. The most iconic one is an angel with open wings tattooed on his shoulder, implying that he wants to be a strong supporter for his children.

Totems and national flags have a greater influence than tattoos.

Totems are believed to be symbols of the "soul of God". In the Mayan civilization of Central America, there is a "Quetzalcoatl" god, which is just a big snake with feathers, but in the eyes of the Toltecs, it controls rain, death and rebirth, and is the highest "spiritual worship" of the people.

The Indian tricolor flag is printed with a "24-axis Dharma wheel" called "Ashoka Chakra". The first 12 axes represent ignorance, action, consciousness, name and form, six sense organs, contact, feeling, love, attachment, existence, birth, old age and death, and the last 12 axes represent the results brought about by the 12 causes. This is the religious belief of the Indians.

The reason why tattoos, totems, and national flags are loved and worshipped is that they embody the emotions and beliefs of different people.

We hope that the brand vision is a symbol system with religious colors, conveying strong emotional tension, rather than a set of VI that is easy to recognize and remember.

Therefore, a good visual is not a "hammer" nor does it need to be "super". The visual we advocate is more like a "hook" to attract consumers to approach actively.

Emotional tension is achieved by borrowing the "dramatic conflict theory" in drama studies. I will not discuss such technical things here. Let me tell you about Nezha Auto's visual IP development ideas.

02 Use dramatic conflict to give visuals emotional tension

Hello everyone, let me talk about Nezha Auto’s visual IP development idea - the "dramatic symbol" theory.

Let me introduce a friend to you first:

It is called Nizai, and it is the visual IP we created for Nezha Auto. When it comes to brand IP, the industry may have become numb.

Because 90% of brand IPs eventually become dolls given to consumers.

First of all, the biggest difference between the Nizai IP and the other 90% is that the original intention of designing this IP is to help customers drive business.

When the customer found us, our product had already firmly established itself as the number one in new energy vehicle sales and was selling very well.

The problem they encountered was that the brand was in a period of rapid growth and needed a specific image to represent the brand and open up a wider market.

Just like Rolls-Royce has the "Soul of Good Fortune" and Jaguar has the Jaguar... Although everyone is familiar with Nezha, he is a character in mythology and has nothing to do with Nezha cars.

The client wanted us to design a "contemporary Nezha" to represent their brand.

This requirement sounds easy, because the image of Nezha is very popular, and the client's brand name is also called Nezha. I think most design companies will directly extract and integrate the elements of Nezha and Nezha Automobile, and then flatten the image of Nezha, which will be a new brand IP.

But in Jiang Yi's opinion, this requirement is very difficult to meet, because the image of Nezha is so deeply rooted in people's hearts.

In ancient stories, Nezha cut off his bones to return to his father and cut off his flesh to return to his mother, looking like he hated evil.

No matter how many times the image of Nezha has been adapted into film and television, Nezha's character has never changed and he has always been a rebellious demon child.

Obviously, a technology brand that wants to go international, a new energy vehicle brand that "builds cars for the people", cannot use "rebellion" as its brand personality.

On one side is a classic mythological character with a deep mark of rebellion, and on the other side is an international modern automobile brand with a sense of technology. The two contradictory temperaments collide with each other.

But this sense of contradiction is exactly what Jiangyi Consulting likes, because our visual theory is "dramatic symbols", and the visual logic of "dramatic symbols" is to use the sense of dramatic conflict to create emotional tension.

So we began to try to make the two forces of classic and modern, myth and technology compatible to form a new temperament.

I think people's expression of power is very different in ancient and modern times.

In the past, when agriculture was in its infancy, people could achieve “man conquers nature” by relying on the strength of physical “power.” So the sense of power that people understand is landslides, tsunamis, wildfires, and thunder.

The characters in myths either have supernatural powers that are as strong as moving mountains or as overwhelming as the world, or have weapons that can control the wind and rain.

Even the gods in ancient Greek mythology are like me, who are still holding up the sky even if they turn into stone.

This kind of power gives people the feeling of being "heavy, solid and strong".

But now is the age of science and technology, the information age, and the things that represent modern power are computers, spacecraft, four-dimensional space, artificial intelligence...

This kind of power is just like what is presented in "Lucy": light, three-dimensional, flowing and omnipresent.

This can also be felt from new energy vehicles.

When a traditional car starts, there is a roar of the engine, and the sense of power is heavy. But when a new energy car starts, it gives people a pleasant feeling, as if lifting a heavy weight with ease.

When we were doing research, a passage from Nezha’s chief designer inspired us. He said:

“The core of traditional fuel vehicles is horsepower, and the engine is its “heart”.

But new energy vehicles are not like that. Their core is powered by electricity. The central console of new energy vehicles is an LED screen that can control the car's breathing lights.

We generally use light to show the advancement of automobiles in industrial design.”

In the myth, Nezha is powered by "Hot Wheels". "Hot Wheels" are equivalent to the engine of a fuel car, and "flame" is its "power language".

The power of new energy vehicles is electricity, and the external manifestation of electricity is actually "light".

Electricity is perpetual, unlike fire that will go out. Moreover, light has shapes and lines, which can present the futuristic and fluid feeling of new energy vehicles.

So, we finally found the visual language of the new Nezha. We decided to use "light" to express the lightness and fluidity of "modern power".

We want to design a glowing Nezha! The light on his body can be emitted through the breathing lights of the car, and can be expressed through the electronic screen in the car interior.

By replacing "Hot Wheels" with "light and electricity" and with the help of the "dramatic symbol" theory, we rediscovered Nezha's sense of power and resolved the conflict between classic and modern.

03 Use the "cultivation-style" design to give Nezha a sense of story

The "Dramatic Symbols" theory uses dramatic principles to fill visuals with emotional tension.

Starting with a sense of conflict is one way, and another way is to use characters to give the IP a sense of story.

How to make Nezha look like a kid with a story? We went back to Nezha's growth story to find the answer:

Nezha is the reincarnation of a spirit pearl that absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon. Through struggle and challenging patriarchy, he transcends his own destiny and eventually undergoes a transformation from a god to a mortal to a god.

We can use the lotus, Nezha's incarnation, to express this life journey visually.

The growth of a lotus is divided into three stages: seed, bud, and bloom. We can use the lotus as a symbol to design three growth forms of Nezha, making Nezha a "cultivation system" IP.

The inspiration for "cultivation" comes from "Pokémon". The Pokémon in it all go through three stages of evolution to become powerful:

• Pikachu is the evolution of Pichu, and can also evolve into Raichu under the effect of Thunder Stone;
• After Psyduck evolves, it becomes "Goldaduck";
• Magikarp can evolve into Gyarados...

The logo of Nezha Hozon Auto corresponds exactly to the three growth forms of the lotus.

The logo of Hezhong is actually a human character when turned upside down, and three people put together form Zhong. The process from human to Zhong corresponds to the process of a lotus from seed to bloom.

After adding the lotus element, the growth path we set for Nezha is as follows:

1. At the beginning, the lotus was just a seed, corresponding to Nezha's form, a "spiritual bead";
2. When he becomes a flower bud, Nezha evolves into a young boy with youthful spirit, becoming a powerful young man;
3. As the lotus blossomed, Nezha became a young man who protected all living beings.

As Nezha grows up, the brand logo will gradually appear and eventually cover his entire body.

This logo is presented with light, which can be controlled by the car's breathing light. The process of light gradually covering Nezha's whole body is very technological.

There is another difference in the image of Nezha, this Nezha always has his eyes closed.

The client was very curious and asked me, "Why does Nezha close his eyes?"

I told the client: "Closing his eyes actually means he is accumulating energy. Once he opens his eyes, that's when he's going to explode."

The inspiration comes from Buddha statues.

Nezha originated from the mythology of Eastern Buddhism. All the Buddha statues we found had their eyes closed.

From this meaning, Nezha is the most powerful when he closes his eyes.

So far, the basic image of Nezha IP has been completed. But the concept of Jiangyi Consulting is:

We don’t just create visuals based on visuals. When we design IP, we incorporate the client’s business intentions.

04 The only purpose of a good visual IP is to drive business

I said, we don’t want the IP to become a figurine.

IP design must take into account the business scenarios that drive the customer's business when it is conceived.

As an IP of a car brand, Nizai should first become an interactive interface between people and cars.

Therefore, the main application scenario of Nezha is the in-vehicle system of Nezha Automobile. When we are driving or on standby, we can talk to Nezha through the screen.

We also made a full set of color-changing emojis for Nizai, so when you talk to him in the car, he will turn his head and face you.

Nizai is equivalent to "Xiao Ai" or "ChatGPT" in cars. With Nizai, every car has life. The interaction between people and cars is no longer a cold control, but an emotional exchange.

We hope that by integrating Nezha with the vehicle-mounted system, Nezha Auto will transform from a "means of transportation" into a "traveling friend."

Nizai can also differentiate the car pick-up and delivery of Nezha Auto.

At the car pick-up ceremony, the most common thing is that the 4S store will give you flowers and fire salutes. But Nezha can be different, and will give you a puppet figure similar to Pop Mart.

In addition to being integrated with the car itself, the T-shirt is also very suitable for becoming a "trendy toy". We have developed various peripheral derivatives for the T-shirt to help it become a physical product.

When Nizai's car paint film appears on a car, it not only sharpens the brand personality visually, but may also attract more users to spend money on the appearance.

As a unique "cultural symbol" of the brand, Nizai can be extended along with the customer's business scope in the future.

When customers go overseas to different countries, the image of Nezha can be changed according to the characteristic elements of that country, so that it can adapt to the culture of different countries, thereby quickly helping Nezha Auto to achieve overseas localization.

In the future, Nezha may appear in the Nezha APP.

Users can interact with Nizai and unlock different body lights, clothes, emoji expressions, hidden lines...

Everyone can create their own doll according to their own ideas, just like in "Animal Crossing".

In the future, based on the business intentions of customers, Ni Zai can simultaneously build an infinitely growing business universe.

05 Final words

The reason why we proposed the "dramatic symbol" theory is that we found that the visuals created by many brands are only suitable for dissemination on traditional media, but not on the Internet.

The logic of traditional media is “broadcasting”, which uses vision to occupy the user’s eyes, and the user passively receives information.

The logic of the Internet is "transmission". Users will only share and spread information if they like it from the bottom of their hearts. Users need to actively accept information.

The "Dramatic Symbol" theory pursues: using visual language to show the emotional tension of the brand.

A good visual is not a "hammer" nor does it need to be "super". Our ideal visual should be a "hook" that attracts consumers to approach actively.

That’s all for today. I will share more cases with you in the future.

Author: General Liang

Source: WeChat public account "General Liang (ID:liangjiangjunisme)"