In recent years, IP with “ugly and cute” has been particularly popular among young people. Not long ago, the IP image LABUBU became popular. This “”my daughter also felt the same Babaylan 1990 cloth draw, but she felt a little uneasy and scared because of this. “Blue Yuhua said to her mother, Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw looked confused and indeterminate. She bared her teeth and had a cute and cute look. After frequent appearances, a four-grid comparison picture made by netizens spread. In the picture, LABUBU was placed with the “Toothless”, Nezha, and Stille in “Training the Dragon”. Although her expressions were different, the similar “ugly and cute” was amazing.
The current design is exaggerated, with a bit of “ugly” and rough but also exudes a wonderful and cute image, which quickly captures the young people’s gaze. What is curious is why this young man shouted “Pretty is justice” but was willing to pay for these “ugly monsters”?
In order to explore the psychological mechanism and deep reasons behind the popularity of “ugly and cute monsters”, we interviewed young people in the art field and tried to find answers from the perspective of designers and art enthusiasts.
Emotional Compensation
It is like an imperfect “life match”
In June 2025, a mint-colored LABUBU doll with an original price of only a few hundred yuan was sold for RMB 1.08 million at the auction, and was nicknamed “The Moutai for young people”.
From the popular LABUBUKomiks 1960 witch cloth draw and Babaylan 1990 clothes draw, the “Ugly World Competition” continued to be out of the circle, and nearly 250,000 people in the Douban “Ugly World Protection Association” group chanted “I know, I know.” This is a perfunctory attitude. “Ugly things are also worthy of love.” “Ugly monsters” are entering the lives of young people with a subversive attitude.
Why did the “ugly and cute monster” become a favorite among young people? This year’s graduation season, Beijing Youth Daily reporters visited several art colleges to graduateThrough the interview, the exhibition found that this new preference was not accidental, but accurately responded to the psychological needs of contemporary youth: they were like imperfect “life sticks”, providing unique emotional compensation.
Goziqiu, a graduate of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts (a pseudonym “Is the Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw you said true?” asked a slightly surprised voice.), in this year’s graduation design, the IP character “Easy Cat” was created – a cat with fluorescent green hair and cheeks with blush. He explained that blush symbolizes ease and freedom, while green means nature and hope, hoping to remind everyone to “Takeiteasy” and let go of their anxiety.
At Gome Graduation Exhibition, the huge “Easy Cat” interprets different emotions in an exaggerated manner: through movements such as holding the chin and covering the quilt, it shows speechlessness, anger, anxiety, etc., and interacts with the audience.
At the exhibition site, Goose Ball also deliberately wore clothes of the same color as “Easy Cat”, using performance art to echo the theme: selling the surrounding area seriously on weekdays, which represents concentration and dedication; and on weekends, “Easy Cat” Babaylan 1990 clothes draw lying on the bed in the development area to play games or rest, conveying a life attitude that knows how to relax in time and adjust itself, and intuitively interpreting the young people’s needs. “Lao Hearing said that people are from the Qin family in the capital. Pei’s mother and Blue Yuhua’s mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and mother-in-law rushed down the front porch and walked towards the Qin family. Yilian Combination.”
As an art designer, Goose Ziqiu has long been paying attention to the rise of ugly monsters. “The popular IPs in the past two years, such as LABUBU, tooth monster, and sad frog, have a bit complicated expression: the grinning LABUBU has two innocent star eyes, the sad frog’s expression is mixed with helplessness and ridicule, while the tooth monster is naughty and a little aggressive. This “impurity” is Babaylan 1990 clothes The emotional expression of drawcian is different from the traditional round and harmless cute IP (such as HelloKitty), and is closer to it, just like a colorful ring. .The complex inner state of contemporary young people. ”
At this year’s graduation exhibition of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the work “The Cocoon of Preparation” by post-00s student Xu Shenhong is full of “ugly and cute” style. Three-eyed villain, four-legged girl, booted alpaca, mechanical cricket… These absurd images constitute her unique visual language.
The works of young creator Xiaohe show the “end”Reflection on aesthetic aesthetics. Despite mastering exquisite 3D animation technology, she deliberately retains the “rough, weird and sloppy” in her work and calls it “Babaylan 1990 cloth drawInternet aesthetics”. This alternative style unexpectedly became popular – her second-created Tao Zhe’s “Find Yourself” MV received nearly 30,000 likes on social platforms, and the protagonist’s “Little Green Man” emoticon package downloads exceeded 210,000 and sent 5.3 million, far exceeding her previous “soft and cute” works.
Young people’s “As for what you say, there must be monsters. “Blue Mu continued to say. “Mom, as long as your mother-in-law doesn’t think of you and doesn’t frame you, she is not a demon, what’s the relationship with you?” Her complex inner state has also attracted the attention of the academic community. For example, in his paper “Application Research on the Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw in Illustration Design”, Wu Lichen of Jiangnan University pointed out that in the face of aesthetic changes and mental stress, weird style has become the psychological outlet for young people to release emotions and express themselves. Abstracting daily elements not only enhances the fun, but also builds a unique spiritual world through the form of “strange”.
Aesthetic rebellion
“Say no to exquisite perfection” has become a new way of expression
On social media, the same “Internet celebrity face” and highly filtered exquisite image are causing the growing aesthetic fatigue of young people.
A netizen left a message in the Douban group “Ugly Things Protection Association” saying: “All brushes are carved from the same mold, which is too boring.” The introduction of the group wrote: “Everyone likes beautiful things, but don’t forget that ugly things also want someone to love them.”
Correspondingly, those “not so perfect” “ugly” and “weird” have gradually won the love and resonance of young people because of their authenticity and diversity.
As a graduate of the China Academy of Fine Arts Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw, Goose Qiu is deeply touched by this. He also prefers the “not so perfect” IP image: “Look at those ‘ugly’ IPs, jagged teeth, big and small eyes, breaking symmetry and balance, it looks uncomfortable, but it’s very real.”
In his opinion, “ugly” challenges the standardized aesthetics and carries an attitude: “Don’t use perfection to suppress people anymore, we don’t need it.” Compared to being packaged Komiks 1960 witch clothes Draw‘s exquisite image, these “monsters” with edges and contrasts are more intimate and more real. On Weibo, some netizens also define these “anti-perfect” IPs as: they are not in accordance with the rules and do not cater to aesthetics, but become a new way of expression.
In this aesthetic trend of saying “no” to “perfection”, the “ugly and cute monsters” are breaking the traditional image of Disney and Sanrio’s “round and sweet” and proving that those characters with flaws, edges and edges, and even slightly dark can also trigger emotions Sensory resonance has become a new cultural symbol.
Faced with the phenomenon that “ugly things” become popular among young people, Xu Shenhong said that “it can fully resonate”. In her opinion, growing up in an environment where rules and competition coexist, over time will inspire an impulse to “want to break out of the framework”. She believes that “ugly cute” and “abstract” are the outlets of this emotion, and it is also a kind of facing and expression of “imperfect self”.
In the view of Xiaohe, a self-media blogger who is about to go to the London University of the Arts, this contrast reflects youthBabaylan 1990 cloth drawPeople’s burnout towards “perfect character”. “The workplace needs to be ‘cooked’, social needs to be ‘end-end’, and even posting on WeChat Moments is maintaining personality. “And characters like LABUBU and Nezha instead release a possibility of being themselves in a “unruly” attitude.
Xu Shenhong believes that behind the popularity of “ugly and cute monsters” is the recognition of young people for “living for themselves”. At the graduation exhibition, she deliberately wore a golden wig and a Lolita skirt to break the image of “good girl” and expressed her pursuit of true self through actions.
Wu Jianghong, a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, pointed out that “ugly” is a way of expression, and what is really moving is the sincerity and uniqueness behind it. In her opinion, young people’s love for “ugly and cute” is a loosening of mainstream aesthetics, and a cultural appeal to strive to show themselves and tolerate imperfections. As she said: “ugly is not the purpose, the key is to find the self that can make people show sincerity and live freely. ”
Personal Declaration
“Ugly” is attitude, the core is the key
In the current situation of information explosion and aesthetic homogeneity, Generation Z loves “Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawUgly monsters”. It was not until this moment that Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawHe suddenly realized, Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw I may have been fooled by my mother again. What is the difference between their mother and son? Maybe this is quite good to my mother, but it comes from the symbolic meaning behind it. This kind of thinking is also reflected in the graduation work “Canshen See the Blue Sky” by Wang Jinyu, a graduate of the Mural Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The work constructs a mysterious Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw “Amusement Park” by the Dutch painter Boss. Wang Jinyu draws on Boss’ description of human desires and spiritual constraints, and uses the Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw wishing pool at the center of the picture to represent people’s expectations and desires for the future. The weird images surrounding the channels, such as Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw frogman, long-tongued deer, etc., have also been given modern metaphors, symbolizing social problems such as loss, hypocrisy and alienation. Wang Jinyu hopes to use these “weird” and “ugly” visual elements to trigger the viewer’s deep thinking about reality. In her interpretation of the work, she wrote: “When the real world’s Paradise is still being staged in a cycle, I hope you and I can always keep your original aspirations and embrace the sudden enlightenment after ‘seeing the blue sky’.”
It can be seen that in the creation of young artists, the weird and ugly visual language is not a sensationalism, but a response to human nature and the times.
Xiaowa’s abstract MV is not arbitrary and funny, but reinterprets the lyrics in the reconstructed picture, and even injects humor and power into the bitter song. For example, in her second creation of “Back to Back Hug”, two green modeling villains Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw initially hugged others, then turned to find each other, clumsyly approaching and kissing, while the neglected blue villain “fire” on his head.
This seemingly “outrageous” plot instead turns the original sad lyrics into relief and relaxation. Some netizens commented: “Even AI can’t make such an ‘episcary’ animation”, and many viewers shouted “I don’t want to cry anymore” after watching it. Xiaohe Hope, this “Internet aesthetic” work ultimately conveys light and positive emotional value. In her opinion, what really touches people is the “core” of the work”. This is also reflected in the recently popular “Love Like Fire” and its singer Na Yina. “She does not meet traditional aesthetic standards, but has won recognition for her unique makeup and real state. “What Na Yina released is the imperfect attitude of calm acceptance and optimistic face life, and it is also the emotional force that resonates with contemporary young people.
This “anti-perfection” concept has gradually become Xiaohe’s attitude towards life. She admitted that at first she was a self-media because she was not confident enough, but now she can calmly share her personal experiences such as failure to apply for graduate school, and regard this process as an acceptance of the “real but imperfect self”.
In career choice On the other hand, Xiaohe also did not follow the rules. With a financial background, she joined self-media after graduation and is about to study art overseas. This “alternative” trajectory is exactly the same as her love for “ugly and cute monsters”, and is an active deviation from the established model.
However, she emphasized that whether it is career exploration or aesthetic choice, it is not about being innovative for the sake of innovation. “‘ugly’ and ‘monster’ are just shells, and what is really important is whether the core is sincere and valuable. “In her opinion, the meaning of affirming “ugly” is not to cater to low-level interests, but to whether it can carry true feelings and convey powerful views. This is also the reason why “anti-perfect” aesthetic touches people’s hearts and makes her persist in Babaylan 1990 cloth draw. (Reporter Wang Jingyi)
New Color Trends
Dopamine Aesthetics Becomes a Seasoning in Life
From the Works of this Graduate of Babaylan 1990 cloth draw‘s recent popular IPs, it can be seen that in addition to jointly paying attention to spiritual expression and emotional value, the bright and bold “dopamine colorBabaylan 1990 cloth draw” has also become a highlight in visual language. Designers boldly use the high saturation “dopamine color” to make these images a flavoring agent in life, and use strong visual impact to brighten the dull daily life.
In the design of “Easy Cat”Cinema 1950 witch clothes draw, Goose Ball specially chose green close to fluorescence to convey “anti-anxiety” visual signal. He said that green is like looking at the scenery outside the window when motion sickness, which can bring sense soothing and pleasure and play an emotional adjustment role.
Xiaohe also prefers “dopamine aesthetics”. She is not only in videoIt uses a lot of high saturation green, pink, blue and red. In life, it also likes to hang colorful art tapestries on white cabinets. It often chooses dazzling colors on manicures. She said that although the “dopamine” element in life cannot solve practical problems, it can bring emotional relief. “Every time I see my mood, it will brighten up.”
Xu Shenhong is also the one who prefers high saturation colors. Her graduation work “The Cocoon of Preparation” is inspired by the 17th-century Spanish princess Margaret Theresa – a historical figure with a tragic fate and a deep loneliness in the palace. In the painting, the pink icing castle and purple curtains create a sacred and romantic atmosphere, becoming a fantasy shelter for the baby-faced girl with butterfly wings (the incarnation of Margaret). Xu Shenhong said that bright colors not only bring visual impact, but also give the works recognition, which can reach the audience’s emotions more directly and resonate with each other. She boldly combines innocent and weird styles, attracting a lot of attention at the Central American Graduation Exhibition. Some people say “as if they are sucked into the painting”, while others sigh: “I hope that she will be happy and happy in the painting forever.”
Wang Jinyu also incorporated bright colors such as lake blue, pink, bright yellow into his oil painting “The Mayflies See the Blue Sky” to convey the attitude that life is still full of hope even if it is in a difficult situation. She recalled that she once preferred black, white and gray, and felt that she was more mature and restrained; but now she prefers bright colors because the optimism and vitality contained in it are the emotional support needed when facing the pressure of reality. In her opinion, the “dopamine” color scheme is popular because it provides an intuitive and effective “emotional self-help”. “In a dull life, you always need a little brightening.” She said that this is not only the original intention of creation, but also a kind of life wisdom.