1、1Research on Symbolic Design of Product in the Symbolic Consumption EraAbstract. With the advent of the era of symbolic consumption， products value of his “symbol“ is getting more and more important. By discussing the meaning of the symbolic design of product， it puts forward the design method of re
2、alizing symbolic design from the inspects of products shape， material， color， and using ways， and constructs the symbolic value of commodity， and manifests the target users emotion， identity， way of life， differences in value orientation， etc， to meet the high-level needs of people. Keywords： Symbol
3、ic design， Design method， High-level needs. 1. Introduction With the advent of the era of symbolic consumption， in addition to the basic physical function， productsvalue of his “symbol“ is getting more and more important. The differences of goods with the same kind of goods or similar goods in the f
4、unction ，the shape， color， size， texture and so on， embody differences in of the target user in emotion， 2identity， way of life， value orientation， etc， so as to construct the symbolic value of commodities， to meet the high level of demand， therefore， to study the symbolization of product design is
5、of great significance. 2. The meaning of symbolic design 2.1 Symbolic consumption trend Maslow believes that people， firstly satisfying the physiological need ，and then have a higher level of needs， therefore the consumer after solving the basic survival needs， increasingly focus on other tmeaning e
6、xccept the use value brought by the consumer goods. To maintain “living standard“ when consumption is beyond the standard， peoples consumption and sneak step into the emotional， irrational， and cultural factors. Once the economy dominated the technology， the profit obtained the core position， the pr
7、oduction of commodity is no longer at the mercy of the current need of the consumers . Instead， you need to create the “consumption fashion“for commercial reasons through advertising.When the public idea their consumption through the mass media， namely the psychologically， they form the identity and
8、 consumption desire. Advertising make “a symbolic reference to another symbol， a 3reference to another items， a reference to another consumers“. Seemingly consumer goods look like the physical objects， but it is not， it is just the object of needs and satisfaction. Consumption demand is becoming mor
9、e and more diversity， individuation and diversification，which make the modern society has entered a “emotional gratification“ rather than “function value“ of the era. All this shows that we are entering a symbolic consumption age attaching great importance to the individual character of satisfaction
10、 and pleasure. Todays new human slogan “what i like is the best“ fully reflection of public characteristics of the new consumer pursuit of “personality“. That is to say that new human emotion， boasting of consumer goods and symbolic value， already more than material value of goods or services. a alr
11、eady has transcended the material value of goods or services. 2.2 The significance of symbol design in product design In the dissemination in the modern information ， the symbol is an important medium of information.The industrial designer Phillip Starck once said： “our professional （industrial desi
12、gn） is not belong to the artist， and also do not belong to the aesthetes， and would rather say belongs to semanticist. object must send out a symbol， like children， 4animals， and forest fires.“ With the development of information technology and hig technology， we are turnning from a predominantly ma
13、nufacturing era to a post-industrial era which is mainly composed of digital and network economy， and service and experience as the core of the third industry will become the main driving force of economy； Applying the theory of semiotics to the product development， from designing symbols convey mod
14、el to studying the availability of products， to reduce the the difference of designers symbol encoding and the users symbol decoding， to make product symbols a more useful， more efficient， more effective， and a form that more people are willing to accept ， further to enhance the usability of the pro
15、duct and increase the user experience. To create more to meet customers demand. 3. The product design method based on symbolization Products as the carrier of symbol， convey practical functions and features of the products by its modelling factors， such as size， shape， color， texture， surface mechan
16、ism. Modelling symbol is a kind of image symbol， and it not only has the cognitive function， but the aesthetic function. From the visual image of the modelling， it is the same with other nonverbal symbols， such as the artistic 5language ， but as a practical and aesthetic continuum， product modelling
17、 principle and artistic language is very different. Art is a reflection of social life， always in the outside social prototype for creation basis. But the product design is a practical function as the core， and it is not a simulation of an external object， but its material function.Product is not on
18、ly a form of creation， but also the transmission of information. Product modeling is loaded with the transmission of information media and the product factors that the designer has given， which directly affect the persons mood changes， and with abundant association and imagination. 3.1 The design of
19、 the forms symbolization Shape is an important carrier of product information. Product shape is actually a series of symbols of visual communication，and the form element such as point， line， face， body is the basic material information transfered between designers and users. Product form value lies
20、not in its natural material or structure technology， but by its external shape of significance.As the heart-shaped spoon of sugar shown in figure 1. The spoon heart-shaped modelling is on behalf of the love， so its sweetness of love is similar with sugar that 6sugar spoon represents， so heart-shaped
21、 modelling replace the oval sugar spoon with function and emotional significance. As the sofa shown in Figure 2. Its modelling is from posture of people resting.The lazy modeling visually bring relaxation and pleasure to people， or even germinating an impulse of abandoning all the troubles， germinat
22、ion of work， thoughts， only lazily leeping on the sofa， blowing sea breeze， bathed in the sunshine， “stoling floating free half day ”.It bring the different spirit of enjoyment. 3.2 The design of the materials symbolization Material semantics delivers the information of the productsmaterial， texture
23、 and texture. The simple sense of material texture give a person with vision and touch feeling and psychological associations and symbolic significance by product surface features. Therefore to when choosing materials we should consider relationships with people as an important evaluation scalemater
24、ials. Texture itself is also a kind of art form， by selecting the proper molding materials to increase the perceptual component， and to enhance the affinity and make stronger interaction between products and people. Different texture can give a person different psychological feelings， such as 7glass
25、， steel which can be expressed product of science and technology， but wood， bamboo， natural of primitive simplicity， can express human means， such as bright as a mirror of the metal surface texture to let a person experience the mystery and pride of high-tech.The polymer injection molding can make t
26、he product surface grinding and fine texture to make the person produce a dreamy feeling，as shown in figure 3. The performance of the material texture and texture feature directly affects the material used for the product after the final visual effect. As a designer we should be familiar with the pe
27、rformance characteristics of different materials， the material quality， texture and the relationship between morphology， structure and do in-depth analysis and research， for scientific and reasonable choose， to meet the need of product design and serve for setting up the good product image. 3.3 The
28、design of the colors symbolization Color is the most abstract language， as a symbol of emotion and culture， in the product design， which not only has the aesthetic and decorative， but also has symbolic significance. As a first visual aesthetic elements， color profoundly affects peoples visual percep
29、tion and psychological emotion . Humans sense of the color is he most direct， the 8most intense， and the most impressive. Color of the product has very important role in the formation of artistic conception，and color combined with specific forms in the design， make the product more vitality. The col
30、or of the product image semantic from the color of human visual perception and physical stimulation， and as a rich experience of lenovo and physiological， resulting in a certain psychological experience.As shown in figure.4. The color and the combination of different will bring different feelings： r
31、ed， blue， purple mysterious quiet warm， white， black， gray and plain simple dignified， which express different emotions and have different symbolic significance. Contemporary USA visual art psychologist Carolyn Bloomer said： “colors evoke emotions， and express feelings， and even affect the normal ph
32、ysiological feelings“， Arnheim argues that “color can express feelings“. Therefore， “color is a general aesthetic in the most common “. Professional cameras are mostly black for the shell surface， giveing a person with precision and rigour， and digital camera with silver， grey and more colorful seri
33、es as the product color， give a person with fashion， modern. The design of color also hinted that the operating mode and the attention is an important factor in the 9expression of humanized design. Red for alert have an uncomfortable feeling， and green express security deeply for the environmental s
34、ymbol. Color semantics is also affected by the age， society， culture， and lifestyle， customs， reflecting the relationship between products and the society and the trend of the times. Color design combine with the specific image ， with strong emotional color and features， set up the product image of
35、the apple computer technology and fashion. 3.4 The design of the uses symbolization No matter which country in the world， no matter what kind of product design， the general design must be provided products with reasonable performance . A good product should tell the user how i use it. As the pot han
36、dle shown in figure 5 Because this movement of the dog “bite“ and hand “grip“ behavior has some similarity， so by this specific symbols ir tells the user how to use the product， and increase the fun of operation. As the CD player shown in figure 6 designed by Fukazawa Naohito. The player looks like
37、an exhaust fan， and the switch is more special， a pull rope，which brought back the childhood memories - lamp for the pull rope switch， and when we love 10repeatedly pulling the rope， letting the light constantly opening and closing. This design seize our childhood memories， when we pull the rope， be
38、autiful music will sound，. It is the shape design of its unique plus， the CD player is not only a tool used to listen to music， but like a piece of art， that we have lost. In fact， in every human beings heart there is the accumulation of life experience and emotional wealth of valuable， and the desi
39、gn is to seize this point， and better use this behavior symbol， to mobilize every users emotional cell. The design is a creative process， as it is the exchange of feelings between designers and users ， and it is intangible， but profound. 4. Summary Symbol is the intermediary load and transmission of
40、 information， and a simplified means to recognize things. Expression of product semantics actually by the rational design of product modeling， giving products life， let the product itself “talk“， to obtain information from the other through the “exchange“ the people， and for the product of intimacy and trust， so in the symbolic consumption era， symbol design has an important significance in products. References
