SINGAPORE — As a child, Gan Bei Ru would marvel at the Chinese New Year lanterns that she saw in Chinatown and at the River Hongbao.

“Every time I saw these lanterns, I was curious about whether they were designed by professional painters or designers,” the 22-year-old said.

So when the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) student found out that she could participate in the lantern design process through her school, she jumped at the chance.

But the realisation of a childhood fantasy comes with a little grief: Scathing criticism from a segment of the population.

In 2019, the pig-themed lanterns were slammed for looking "dirty".

Last year's rabbit-themed lanterns attracted snarky comments that they looked like rabbits sitting on toilet seats.

And the brickbats have already streamed in for this year's centrepiece dragon design, which some people said looks "lecherous".

But the SUTD students, who have played a part in designing the festive lanterns along Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road since 2012, are taking it in their stride.

“Of course we are quite worried about the public sentiment every year, but I guess we will take it with an open heart,” said Ms Gan.

She is one of this year's team of 13 student volunteers who were recruited through an open call.

Interested students had to go through a selection process which involved interviews with SUTD’s Office of Student Life and a student mentor who had participated in the previous year’s Chinese New Year lantern design.

Those who were picked for the project had to come up with design concepts that would be pitched to the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee.

The committee picks a concept, and then each student is tasked to work on a portion of the final design, which they would have to complete in nine months.

Student volunteer Tan Si Min, 21, said that to create her designs, she researched how dragons are used in designs across the world and in traditional Chinese architecture, where there is always either a dragon on the roof or a dragon that winds around a pillar.

“So that’s what I took inspiration from for my work on the overhead design which the cars go under. I thought it would be a good idea to have like a gate so that people can enter the installation,” she said.

CRITICISM ONLINE

Then comes the actual construction and fabrication process for the lanterns, which the students were not involved in.

But they understand how things can get lost in translation, from the designs to the build, which inevitably led to the online criticism.

“I feel that from design to fabrication, there is a gap but for this year, I can say that at least 80 per cent of our designs are coming to life, which is quite heartening to see,” Ms Gan said.

Ms Gan, who took part in last year’s project, said that the criticism received for the rabbit design was something they took on board.

The problem with the rabbit design was that it did not come off well when viewed from certain angles.

So for this year, the team tried to create a more symmetrical design that would appeal to people viewing from both sides of the road.

“With every bad comment, we take it as a learning point and move on from them to improve our next design,” Ms Gan said.

Fellow volunteer Chua Shuei Ray Eusebius, 24, said that the team also keeps a folder of past designs so that the next team could learn from the design process and take into account public sentiment to design something better than the last one.

“As long as I’m happy and my project team is happy and most of the public sentiment is all right, then I think we would have done a good job,” he said.

When asked what they gained from this experience, Ms Tan said that she learned how to improve her time management, as she had been working on the project while she was overseas on a student exchange programme.

For Ms Gan, it was dealing with stakeholders — which include the committee as well as the public.

“(I learnt) how to be receptive to criticism and not feel discouraged by the comments, but to filter out the good and constructive parts to improve our designs,” she said.

Dr Zheng Kai, an SUTD lecturer who guides the students as their faculty advisor, believes that the students grew as team players in the course of their work.

“I think it’s never easy to work on design with a team, but when you come together and complement each other to present a final deliverable design that they are proud of, it is a testament to their teamwork, bond and skills,” he said.