Student Creativity and Talent Bring Terrace Chairling Plushie to Life
At the Wisconsin Union, some of the most incredible ideas don’t begin in a boardroom of full-time staff members; they begin with students.
The Wisconsin Union chairlings characters, now familiar to many as cheerful ambassadors of the Memorial Union Terrace experience, were inspired by one of the most recognizable symbols of campus life: the orange, yellow and green sunburst chairs that fill the Terrace along Lake Mendota.
Designed to capture the warmth, creativity and sense of belonging that generations of visitors associate with sitting at theTerrace, the chairlings reimagine those iconic seats as playful characters, each with a name and personality.
The chairlings were first imagined and brought to life in digital form by student employees on the Wisconsin Union social media team in collaboration with full-time team members. Wisconsin Union Graphic Designer and Production Artist Emily Swanson then carried the characters into their next chapter: as physical plushies. While studying at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Emily created the chairling plushie concept and designed the plushies.
For yellow plushie Ray Laken specifically, which debuted in spring 2025, Emily worked from the established design of the first plushie, Maple Fields, to develop Ray, while creating a distinct expression, ensuring the character felt both consistent with the chairling family and unique in its joyful, artistic identity.
Emily’s work reflects a defining principle of the Wisconsin Union: student leaders and team members are trusted to lead meaningful projects and aspects of Union operations. That philosophy of empowering students expanded into physical plushies in 2024 and 2025, with proceeds supporting the nonprofit Wisconsin Union’s work to create spaces and experiences for a lifetime while also funding student leadership stipends.
Tell us about what went into the original digital chairlings.
The original digital chairlings were designed by an amazing social [media] team three years ago, Interns Jordan Grob and Emily Siderits, alongside former full-time team member Isabel Finn Palmer. Full-time Graphic Designer Max Homstad also jumped in then to create our chairling guidelines to make sure that their designs stay consistent across designers.
How many design iterations did you go through to create Ray Laken?
Ray Laken’s design is based almost entirely off of Maple Field’s design. The only differences are of course the color and then the facial expression. In the first round of design iterations, we kept Ray’s facial expression the same as Maple’s. But, then we thought about how the facial expressions could be a great tie to each chairling’s personality. So, there were two main design iterations.
Tell us about the inspiration behind Ray Laken’s facial expression.
Sunshine! When designing Ray Laken’s facial expression, I was really focused on bringing their personality to life. They are joyful, sharing this joy through their art. I’m hoping that when someone spots Ray, they just can’t help but smile.
How much time did it take to design the Ray Laken plushie?
The project started in the spring of 2024. Because Ray was based on the Maple design, they took quite a bit less time; I would say a few hours of plushie design and then additional time for designing the promotion materials.
What was the most challenging part of the initial plushie design or the design of the Ray plushie?
The most challenging part of designing the plushie was thinking about the mass production element. I had to make sure the construction would work on a large scale. That’s where prototypes really became important. We worked with our vendor to get samples and then provided edits for the next round of design.
Purchase your own chairling plushies at the Badger Markets at Union South or Memorial Union or online.
