The animation work "LIGHT" of the Department of Visual Communication Design, STUST, won the 2022 German Red Dot Award for Brands & Communication Design, established by the famous German design association—Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen—which attracts more than 60 countries to register every year, and nearly 10,000 entries for submission. It is listed as a large-scale and highly prestigious international competition in the world. It not only highly affirms the winning students, but also recognizes the works as epitomes of good designs.

【A poster of the animation work "LIGHT" of the Department of Visual Communication Design, STUST, which won the 2022 German Red Dot Award for Brands & Communication Design.】

The award-winning work "LIGHT" was jointly directed by three teachers, Prof. Chian-fan Liu, Prof. Chao-chi Huang, and Prof. Hong-yuan Chen from the College of Digital Design, STUST. Ya-wen Tsai and other seven students worked together to produce it and present it by way of stop-motion animation, whose film art reproduction of cultural assets connects the entire storyline of Taiwan's unique "Culture of Sending away the King Ship.” The work design integrates the ceremony of sending away the king ship with the various forms of life history, presenting it with reality and imagery interspersed and combined. At the same time, this work has also won the Bronze Award in the Animation Experiment and Mixed Media Animation Group of the 2022 Vision Awards, the best work in the 18th Computer Animation Competition for Universities of Science and Technology, and was shortlisted for the 2022 National Student Practical Thematic Project Competition Finals, etc. With a number of outstanding achievements, the diverse and outstanding design abilities of the students have been recognized at home and abroad.

【The animation work "LIGHT" of the Department of Visual Communication Design, STUST, won the 2022 German Red Dot Award for Brand and Communication Design (The King Ship was about to move forward early in the morning).】

The production of animation education with cultural heritage cannot be done only in the classroom. STUST actively encourages the team to contact the local culture. In order to understand the in-depth content of the "Culture of Sending the King Ship,” the students visited Sutzuo Changshing Temple in Anding District, Tainan City, and interviewed with the chairman of the temple about the details and taboos of this activity. Taking the issue of parent-child relationship as their initial idea, the team member showed the disappearance of parent-child relationship between the boat-makers and the king ship, bringing in the concept of the journey of life and showing the process of birth, old age, sickness, and death in the animation. In the process, it also carries many expectations to another stage of life and burns out.

【The animation work "LIGHT" of the Department of Visual Communication Design, STUST, won the 2022 German Red Dot Award for Brand and Communication Design (the crowd staring at the burning process of the king ship).】

The winning students hoped to send away the current pandemic through the ceremony of the King Ship Festival in their work, shaping the life situations and feelings experienced by everyone through changes of scenes and weather. In the end, the king ship sailed smoothly away after burning, representing our expectation of the pandemic in the end. The sailors sailing on the same ship represented the front-line medical staff we had lost and respected as well as those around us who we have lost. In addition to our gratitude and tribute, the film also shows the hope that through the completion of the ceremony and the final sailing, the audience can be reminded that no matter what life is like now, there are still hopeful days in the future.