Nothing says summertime like a tasty popsicle, right? This team of design students from Taiwan may have you taking a second glance at your next tasty pop, though.
An Ambitious Project
These three young women are studying at the National Taiwan University of Arts College of Design. The trio has gained international acclaim by going the extra mile on a design school assignment.
As a part of the ambitious project, they toured their island nation state, which is comparable in size to the combined landmass of Delaware and Maryland. All across Taiwan, they collected water samples from 100 different sites. Then they transformed the samples into “Polluted Water Popsicles,” which could be translated as “100 percent pure sewage ice.”
The size and scope of their project gave the young students a great deal of practical experience that they will be able to use after graduating from the University. Thanks to this project, it turns out, they shouldn’t have any problems landing a job.
100 Not-So-Fun Flavors
The site where for each sample became the name of each peculiar popsicle “flavor.” In addition to being given a name and number, each popsicle had its own particular packaging designed as well.
To keep the popsicles from melting at temperatures above 32 degrees, they sealed the frozen “treats” in polyester resin.
“Such pretty popsicles,” one of the designers, Hung I-
Of course, part of the project was to inspire Taiwanese people to take action to prevent water pollution. Now that message is traveling beyond the East Asian island and reaching audiences across the globe.
Award Winning Design
A video posted to the art project’s social media page on May 15 has almost 2 million views. The video’s catchy beat may mislead the average viewer to think that these are the coolest new summer ice cream flavors for 2017.
Not only has the provocative video gained them a great deal of exposure, but the trio, which also includes Guo Yi-hui and Cheng Yu-ti, also earned a Young Pin Design Award for Visual Communication Design.
The Young Pin Design Award is open to students in Taiwan that have shown their graduating Bachelor’s degree products at YODEX.
To top it all off, their work is also being displayed in the New Generation Design exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center.
These three design students are making a strong, polemical statement about the quality of water in their country, and they’re also getting a detailed degree of experience in product design. Plus, they’ve been recognized as some of the top young designers in the Chinese-speaking world.
It sounds like these students and their instructors most definitely deserve an A!
