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From industrial design, architectural design to graphic design, China elements are increasingly applied in these fields. The modern design of Chinese style is the inheritance and innovation of history. Culture is a historical deposit, but it is not out of reach. In fact, the old houses in the city, embroidery, Beijing opera, red peony flowers on cheongsam or green cotton cloth all represent the cultural symbols of a historical period. Due to the different historical and cultural backgrounds of different countries, the design of each country will be branded with its own culture, and the most national is the most international. With the development of China's economy, China's long history and culture have attracted more and more attention from designers all over the world. In their designs, elements of China traditional culture are also integrated. In the process of applying for the World Heritage, it is not advisable to "completely westernize" and "stick to tradition". We can neither sublate traditional civilization nor be superstitious about tradition. Turning "Made in China" into "Designed in China" is the direction of our efforts and development.

First, the application of China traditional culture in modern design.

Modern design covers all the design categories of modern society corresponding to traditional handicrafts in the era of industrialization and informationization, including industrial design, environmental design and visual communication design, which is more in line with the needs and reality of design development, and is more convenient to straighten out the complicated China design phenomenon and the rapidly developing China design status quo, which is of significance to the development of design practice in China. [ 1]

(A) the concrete embodiment of Chinese style in modern design

What is Chinese style? In my understanding, Chinese style is a fashion aesthetic design trend based on China culture and oriental lifestyle, which adapts to the overall image of China enterprises and products in the direction of global economic development, digs the essence of China culture and conforms to the development of world economy and science and technology. Establishing a system and environment suitable for creating and maintaining this image is the key to shaping China's style.

China's traditional culture shows his unique charm more and more in modern design, which brings new fashion style to the design field. More and more designers at home and abroad apply the unique traditional cultural features of China (China traditional culture and traditional symbols) to the design field.

Designers use traditional symbols and national elements to combine the cultural characteristics or historical customs of the original works, while in early modern design works, excellent works are often those that combine the old elements. Taking architectural design as an example, their design style is usually reflected in the form or image of the work, which can let the audience directly feel the China elements in this work.

Beijing Xiangshan Hotel, completed as early as 1982, is a successful example. I.M. Pei did not build a glazed tile roof in Xiangshan Hotel, the former royal garden of Qing Dynasty, but integrated many decorative elements in Jiangnan residential buildings and traditional gardens in modern form.

Of course, in addition to the image elements that can be used as visual symbols in China traditional architecture, the traditional concepts, consciousness and psychological factors of China condensed in China traditional architecture have also been absorbed into the new architecture. The influence of traditional culture on social groups is enormous and subtle. Located in Pudong, Shanghai, Jinmao Tower, designed by SOM Company of the United States, is more acceptable than the Oriental Pearl in China. Perhaps people usually don't investigate the reason-its appearance is similar to the traditional image of the classical pagoda in China. This visually inconspicuous feature is acquiesced by the subconscious of China people without written propaganda.

China traditional culture, traditional patterns and traditional symbols are integrated into the design as elements, which highlights the humanistic and national characteristics of traditional regional culture in modern external modeling and material processing technology. Through various cultural symbols, such as China's calligraphy, seal cutting, Chinese knots, Qin bricks and tiles, terracotta warriors and horses, Peking Opera masks, shadow play, martial arts, peach blossom fans, cloisonne, jade carvings, China lacquerware, red lanterns (palace lanterns, gauze lanterns), dragon and phoenix patterns (gluttonous patterns, wishful patterns, thunder patterns, palindromes, and ba patterns). For example, pomegranate symbolizes many children and grandchildren, Yuanyang symbolizes conjugal love between husband and wife, and Song He represents health and longevity. The patterns of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, such as "Three Friends in Cold Year" and "Three Sheep Open Thailand", are also metaphors, which praise the reproduction of noble sentiments and conduct of human beings with some ecological characteristics of plants and express the pursuit of design style. [9]

For example, the LOGO [1 4] designed by Jin Daiqiang for China Bank (attached figure1) is an idea inspired by tying money with red rope in ancient times. The ancient Chinese coins were unified in the Qin Dynasty and were improved on the basis of "Qin Banliang" copper coins. The shape of a round square hole symbolizes the cosmology of the ancient world. The Chinese character "Zhong" is composed of ancient money holes and red lines. Its modern modeling contains national characteristics and concisely embodies the information connotation and visual image of China Bank. The logo is simple and smooth, vivid and profound, and the change is simple. Chinese characters and ancient coins are connected from top to bottom, and disconnected in the middle, which symbolizes that banks are connected with customers and benefit; Blank symbolizes a communication platform and two modern communication tools phones; The ancient money tied in red symbolizes the close ties and unity between BOC and its subordinate institutions. It shows the theme of China's capital, banking service and modern internationalization, as well as the service tenet of honesty, standardization, diligence and high efficiency and the concept of customer-centered and wholeheartedly serving customers. The logo adopts the compound symbol of Chinese character "zhong" and graphic "ancient coins", which is very Chinese. It is the organic combination of the two that makes this logo gain high-grade aesthetics and become a classic in modern logo design. The logo design of China Bank comprehensively uses Chinese characters and graphic symbols, combines tradition with modernity, gives it new insights and cognition, accurately expresses the design connotation, and receives the perfect effect of both national characteristics and international recognition, which is highly praised. It is considered as the most outstanding trademark design in modern China, and has won many awards internationally. It is the first time to win 300 selected American 67 awards from tens of thousands of works. This sign has been set up in thousands of places all over the country, even in the streets of Hong Kong and foreign branches.

Our predecessors made a successful attempt in inheriting the national heritage. For example, Chang Shanna, Xi Xiao Peng, Zhang Qiman and Professor Fennie Yuen from the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts all designed works for the Great Hall of the People, showing a strong national style. [7] As long as we pay attention to absorb nutrition from tradition in design, we can design works with our national characteristics, which will be unique to the Chinese nation and become a unique design power in the future world design field.

(B) the impact of China traditional culture on modern design creativity

The influence of traditional culture on design creativity is mainly manifested in the designer's way of thinking and the formal system of design.

Jin Daiqiang's series of posters of People in China (Attached Figure 2) inject the concepts of compatibility between ancient and modern times, inheritance and innovation, and shaping unique personality into the characters, giving them a sense of modernity, so that the spirituality of ink and wash can be vividly displayed. The four Chinese characters of mountain, water, wind and cloud have undergone wonderful changes through the subtle "contact between capillary and fiber", showing the artistic conception of China's landscape painting, which not only gives people aesthetic enjoyment, but also has great visual impact. The unique oriental context and straightforward concept of this poster show the mysterious beauty of the East, and skillfully combine the thinking of local culture with the understanding of modern design. The mountains, waters, winds and clouds in China's calligraphy are more like paintings than words, with wonderful shapes, high spirits and strong visual impact, which makes people unforgettable and memorable. It is unique in that the Four Treasures of the Study, which symbolizes the traditional culture of China, is composed of four items: pen, ink, paper and inkstone, which are distributed and combined in these four "calligraphy and painting". The combination of physical objects and calligraphy presents a flowing visual effect, showing the unique formal beauty and high cultural function of calligraphy. The combination of pen, ink, paper, inkstone and other materials contains complex meanings between culture and nature. On the one hand, culture is attached to nature; On the other hand, culture also reshapes nature and makes it more acceptable to human beings. Here, the material life of the traditional "Four Treasures of the Study" is interpreted by the secondary culture, becoming a living state, waking up from the silence and blooming with new brilliance under the nourishment of emotion. [ 14]

American modernist architect Wright absorbed the concept of space in Laozi's Tao Te Ching and designed the flowing water villa, which is the essence of architecture that is integrated with nature and close to mountains and rivers. For another example, many scientific ideas in China's ancient Eight Diagrams geomantic omen have also injected many valuable ideas and ideas into modern interior design.

In addition, the overall design of Shanghai Xintiandi is a commercial and fashionable transformation and artistic creation on the basis of respecting and utilizing the residents' style and alley pattern of the old Shikumen in Shanghai as much as possible. Xintiandi attempts to create a "Shanghai style" that combines the old Shanghai consumption culture with the contemporary white-collar consumption culture, as well as the local and civic culture with historical colonial cultural charm (this is also a part of Shanghai's old culture, so it should be regarded as a part of its unique local cultural tradition).

"The connotation of design is culture", this is the internationally famous master of automobile design George? Yarrow's point of view. [ 16]

The teahouse in China is a Chinese-style cafe, so the China element in the teahouse is the most typical. Many teahouses still retain the Ming and Qing styles, with cornices and arches, red columns and blue tiles, exquisite carvings and antique. The interior of the teahouse is very personalized. For example, the owner of the old house teahouse loves to collect antiques. Although the building itself is not an old house, it has been carefully built and is very close to the Ming and Qing styles. In space, it is very quiet and nostalgic to use the transparent landscape of the garden to shield the reality and attach importance to the traditional garden architectural techniques. The epitaphs of various tables and chairs in the teahouse are completely different from those of several cases, including rosewood in the Ming Dynasty, old mahogany and beech in the Qing Dynasty, which complement each other with the calligraphy and painting banners on the four walls.

Judging from the modern design of "Chinese style", the creativity of this kind of design works is based on China elements, rather than simply taking these national symbols and patterns as visual elements. What is emphasized is not the superficial "China", that is, the so-called "design works that look like Chinese style", but an internal traditional culture of China that needs people to think. Generally speaking, the embodiment of this creativity in the works is not only the superficial "Chinese retro", but also the pursuit of China traditional culture in the connotation of the design works.

Second, the problems that must be paid attention to in the integration of China traditional culture and modern design.

Generally speaking, modern design shows quite diverse orientations in spirit and form. On the one hand, it appears as a commercial gesture and becomes more and more mature. On the other hand, it enriches and develops the spirit of liberalism in modern design by pursuing personalization, decoration, personalization, tradition and nationalization. The application of tradition in design in a non-traditional way leads to visual differences in design appearance.

The so-called "Chinese style" art design theory is by no means a "retro" trend of thought, let alone a narrow and one-sided worship and admiration of tradition. It is a diversified new design art trend of thought that emphasizes tradition and locality after the modernism trend of thought of "international style" appeared in the whole design art world. It emphasizes: design with national cultural symbols. Let the tangible objects show the intangible realm, let the illusory spiritual civilization heritage be integrated into the material form of soft and hard landscapes, realize the landscape of spiritual culture, let the design run through the concept of harmony between man and nature and history from beginning to end, and finally let the original local design with Chinese style go to the world stage after integrating China elements and design creativity.

The "China element" or "national characteristics" in modern design can not be deliberately pursued or even rigidly adhered to the appearance of products, but should be a natural emotional expression of designers after they understand the national culture [1 1].

(a) Reject the one-sided symbolic China factor.

With the great progress of social industrialization, the function and performance of products are more and more similar, and products have entered the era of differentiation. How to make their products occupy a dominant position in the market has become the most direct problem faced by businesses. "Modern design should serve the real needs, and the application of China elements should also conform to the general trend of the times. If the combination is not good, it is easy to flow on symbols and surfaces. " [4]

Products should have a market, and product design should reflect individuality. However, China elements are often too * * * in the application process, resulting in a lack of personality. For example, China's elements include red lanterns, Peking Opera masks, dragons, cheongsam, China Kung Fu and China Red. In fact, China's elements are far more than these. Their connotations are very profound and extensive, and their manifestations are not limited to specific symbols.

In 2003, Nokia launched 6 108, which became the most eye-catching mobile phone of the year with a small statue of a long sword and handwritten Chinese input function. Nokia 6 108 succeeded in industrial design because the application of China elements in products closely revolved around the lifestyle of consumers. "Handwritten input is more suitable for the application of Chinese characters in digital products. The insertion and removal of the stylus is designed as a warrior with a sword on his back. The purpose is to strengthen the semantics of handwriting input, and to properly express and explain this function. The content and form are unified, with distinctive China characteristics. This reflects the' China characteristics' more profoundly than simply sticking a China pattern on some mobile phones. [3] The vivid use of China elements has brought a new trend to the fashion of mobile phones. However, the design of K6 18 introduced by Kejian in domestic mobile phones and the dragon design on Amoi A6 mobile phones are too superficial and formal, and the market response is flat.

Therefore, the application of China elements in industrial design should be based on the traditional culture of China and cannot be separated from the support of culture. Symbolic and superficial elements of China can not fully reflect the profound heritage of traditional culture, and may not bring real "soul" to products. After all, these elements should not only be reflected in the appearance of products, but also feel the existence of China culture in the whole process of production, manufacturing, consumption and experience.

In my opinion, there is no need to deliberately emphasize China elements in the design process, especially not to put the cart before the horse and label it for the sake of "symbol". Some symbols can be used, but don't be far-fetched. Only the design with China elements in the design works can be called "Chinese style" works. We should have a deeper understanding of the spirit and culture left by China's long history, which is not as simple as superficial symbols, or a traditional content. From the design of K6 18 introduced by Kejian and the dragon design of Amoi A6 mobile phone, we can easily see that the China element sought for China element in the design is not the "Chinese style" design we advocate. At the same time, the market sales of these two mobile phones also tell us that Chinese people are rational about the China element in the design, and not all designs with China elements can be used.

(two) to prevent the total westernization and blindly copy the elements of China, blindly retro tendency.

Nowadays, many modern design works are totally westernized, blindly copying China elements, and the so-called "inheriting the tradition" of pure retro has a rapid "spreading" momentum. How to correctly understand the essence and essence of China's characteristic design, meet people's multi-level, diversified and multifaceted needs, and inject rich flavor of the times and fresh vitality into China's modern design is a problem we need to explore.

1. total westernization

Total westernization is a sign of poor thinking, and indifference is dereliction of duty. Of course, blindly retro is also a dead end, and the correct way can only be to develop and innovate. Although we can't escape from history, at least we should look at tradition directly. All accidental and stylized things are put in the low-level position where they should go, and appear in a new posture, rarely like those funny imitations in which we are crucified.

In the comprehensive acceptance of western culture, our traditional China elements gradually disappear in our daily life, and to some extent, they just become the proper behavior of some festivals. Using this method to design art will have a strong sense of modernity, information and commerce, but if it is not used well, it will make people feel the cultural charm and the lack of national foundation in China. As the saying goes, "deep roots can flourish." China's current design draws on and even plagiarizes from the West. This is just a kind of blind borrowing. We can learn from the advanced modern design concepts in the west without copying them in form. This kind of plagiarism will only lose your own things more and more and follow the pace of others.

2. Blindly copy China elements, blindly retro.

Traditional culture is a process of continuous change, and any form of change brought about by development will not fundamentally change the way of thinking accumulated in people's consciousness.

However, in China's traditional culture, there are both essence and dross, so we can't inherit the tradition in general, and the tradition can't be completely the same or completely interrupted and lost. It should be a process of sublation. Too much emphasis on "sticking to tradition" does not conform to the trend of "internationalization".

In recent years, many designers began to put forward "China's design" as local design, and their designs did reflect the amorous feelings of China culture. However, more and more people blindly use these China elements, resulting in many nominal "Chinese-style designs". These designs can initially give people a refreshing feeling, but after seeing these so-called national designs for a long time, people begin to ponder their inner meanings, and the results are often not optimistic. This kind of "Chinese style" and "national style" is noisy, and we don't want to see it. What we advocate is to integrate the essence of nationality and tradition into the works in design and create works with profound rationality and sensibility.

"When globalization comes like an avalanche, the biggest challenge may be whether we can find the place where the railway tracks are interconnected, that is, the subtle connection point between East and West, modernity and tradition, old and new" [12]-there is no gap between romanticization and defamiliarization, between total acceptance and total rejection.

Thirdly, the application of China elements in modern design.

How can China's traditional culture show its unique ancient oriental charm, realize the Chinese style of new but not old, old but not old, and attract more people to remember China's unique oriental culture? Should our design cater to the aesthetic needs of the west or the aesthetic attitude of the local audience? Whether it is a total affirmation or a total negation; Is it "more folk custom, more world" or "other"? In my opinion, only the combination of traditional thinking and modern design, reflecting the most shining characteristics of traditional culture, is the design with the brand of China culture. With creativity as the attachment, give China gold and change "Made in China" into "Designed in China". This is the intention of China's modern design.

For Chinese creative design, we advocate that modern design with "Chinese style" is to integrate the essence of China traditional culture into the concept of modern design, emphasizing that this integration is not a simple addition, but a profound understanding of China culture. After the treatment and transformation of China, the material language that tells the feelings of oriental culture has become a visual element that the audience can directly see the charm of oriental art. ..

For example, the logo of Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games [1 1] (attached figure 3) does not directly borrow the traditional modeling, but uses the unique freehand brushwork technique of "similarity and dissimilarity" in China's art to appropriately convey the two images of "Chinese knot" and "athlete". This logo not only embodies the unique style of China, but also is recognized by the world.

Design focuses on innovation, and the overall imitation makes people feel boring, because they only see imitation without creation. Design injects art into practical objects. However, excellent art is unrepeatable and unique. The biggest drawback of imitating others lies in the complete loss of self and personality, thus losing the design art itself, especially in dealing with tradition. However, many people do not regard tradition as a long river that flows into the sea with it, but regard tradition as a stagnant pool and are willing to plunge into the abyss. We can't always be content and willing to follow the path of our predecessors, but we must always bravely take the step of exploring the unknown. Then, it will take hundreds or even thousands of years before we can face the questions raised by future generations when they think about the solidified "tradition" we passed on to them. Only when this day is new and new will it last forever.

China's traditional culture is a continuous process of constant change, and any form of change brought by development will not fundamentally change the way of thinking accumulated in people's consciousness. In fact, as long as history exists, people will always be affected to some extent. The key is whether to transform and innovate with a sublation attitude.

As for how to reasonably apply China elements to design, I think we should first conduct market research, define product positioning and product concept, and the most important thing is to grasp the psychological needs of consumers; Secondly, we should study the deep-seated cultural characteristics, combine the characteristics and functions of products, extract the essence and core content of a certain culture, and create and excavate it; Finally, the overall scheme of the system is put forward, and the "China element" is skillfully integrated into the scheme, reflecting the overall sense of product design.