Transforming Chinese Characters into Product Design: Learning from Nature

Abstract

Chinese characters are an important intangible cultural heritage in Huaxia civilization. It is a symbol system that originated from nature. Chinese characters are interpreted by humans in ways that coincide with their perception of nature. Connecting creation with nature and pursuing the unity of function and aesthetics, and exploring the configuration of Chinese characters is a problem worthy of study in modeling design, it is also an exquisite embodiment of “learning from nature”. In the teaching practice, we have found that fresh design students do not have a clear cognition of modeling design when teaching design, resulting in weak design creativity and connotation. The purpose of this study is to provide guidance to students through the foundation design curriculum concerning the cognitive process of the transformation of Chinese characters, as the object of this study, into product design. This study aimed to lay a solid foundation for students’ understanding of modeling design and the teaching methods to be verified through design practice. This study uses literature to explore and construct the teaching mode of Chinese character transformation product design. The feasibility of the teaching model has been practiced through the basic design course, and the effectiveness of the teaching effect has been verified by questionnaires and semi-structured interview. It has been found in this study that: 1) a basic design teaching system with localized characteristics can be established by taking Chinese characters as a study case; 2) through systematic teaching design, students have a clearer understanding of the logical thinking mode of product modeling design which can be integrated and applied into design; 3) through the delivery of themed courses, students have made great improvements in creative thinking and design connotation.