Application of the most popular product semantics

Application of product semantics in modern design

[content abstract]: through the discussion of the occurrence and development of product semantics and the display of excellent industrial design works, this paper puts forward that modern industrial design should be based on ergonomics and aesthetics, and design products that contribute to daily life and bring happiness to people and live in harmony with the environment

[Key words]: product semantics, symbols, symbols, functions

design is the art of the times. In contemporary society, industrial development has entered the high-tech stage. Handicraft industry, industry and high-tech industry have been integrated. Sustainable development, paying attention to nature and living in harmony with the environment have been paid unprecedented attention. Information technology has been rapidly applied to all levels of human life. The arrival of the digital era makes design in an era of restructuring language. Undoubtedly, well-designed objects are the center of today's visual culture. However, the products filled with people's lives are always not so satisfactory. Many products confuse users, and may seem difficult to understand what it is, or how to use it. The proliferation of "black box" phenomenon of electronic equipment puts forward more and higher requirements for designers. Hannu kahonen, a famous Finnish industrial designer, said, "I'm tired of those 'excessive designs' and anti natural designs, which make products more complex and difficult to use. In my opinion, an ideal product should contribute to daily life and bring happiness to people as much as possible." How to use design symbols to create products that meet the personalized needs of modern mankind is a problem that contemporary industrial designers must seriously consider. The essence of product semantics is to reveal or hint the internal structure of the product through the design of the external visual form of the product, clarify the function of the product, and make the human-machine interface simple and easy to understand, so as to relieve the user's understanding confusion about the operation of the product, and convey more cultural connotation to the user with a more clear visual image and a more symbolic form design, so as to achieve human, machine Harmony and unity of the environment

the so-called semantic, as the name suggests, is the meaning and meaning of language; Semantics is a discipline that explores and studies the meaning of language. The concept of "product semantics" is a term borrowed from linguistics. Its theoretical basis comes from semiotic theory, but its emergence has social, historical and philosophical background. The research on product semantics in the history of industrial design began in the 1960s

after World War I, there was a lack of material in the world. Functionalism advocated by modernism complied with historical conditions and met and promoted the development of industrialization. At that time, the focus of product design was "physical function", and ergonomics was the theoretical fulcrum of industrial design. From 1920 to 1950, functionalist design was an important stage in the history of human design. With the development of social economy, the advent of the era of consumption and the increase of social wealth, people's requirements for products have changed fundamentally. At the same time, the overexploitation and development in the 1960s caused the crisis of the earth's environment. Ecological design was proposed and practiced at all levels of the design. During this period, people began to pay attention to environmental functions and the impact of industry on the environment. In the 1980s, people began to emphasize "communication and dialogue", and the design community also introduced various new disciplines: sociology, ecology, psychology, behavior, linguistics, information theory, etc. at the same time, the emergence of electronic products made the inevitable close connection between modeling and function lost, resulting in the proliferation of a single "black box" phenomenon, and the emergence of commodity homogenization called for products that better cater to the hearts of users, The over emphasis on "function" and the over indifference to "form" of modernism led to the roughness, indifference and rigidity of industrial products. Some people described it as an era of "mass production, mass purchase, mass consumption, and large-scale poisoning of countless environments". Postmodernism appeared at this time. It attached importance to the spirit of the subject, context, and symbolic semantics, which had a significant impact on the theory of product semantics

in 1983, Klaus krippendorf and R. butter formally proposed the concept of "product semantics" and defined it as "product semantics is to study the symbolic characteristics of the form of human beings in the use situation, and apply it to design"; In 1984, kripendorf further defined product semantics. He believed that product semantics is a new awakening to the old things. Products should not only have physical functions, but also be able to reveal or hint to users how to operate and use. At the same time, products should have symbolic significance and constitute a symbolic environment in people's lives

kripendorf's concept of product semantics is based on Saussure's symbolic concept. He divides users' understanding of products into four stages. A. Product identification stage: the user distinguishes the product type through the corresponding visual line; B. Self verification stage: the user actually operates the object (or its controller) and then observes the success or failure feedback of these operations to varying degrees; C. Discovery of new forms: users are familiar with its working principle in use, and may also find new ways of use; D. Interpreting the meaning of symbols: users interpret the connotation of products by comparing with their related products according to their own types, personal understanding, social characteristics and aesthetic values, so as to shoulder the mission of continuous development. From the above four stages, we can see that users have a preliminary understanding of the product (what product is) in their hearts through their visual impression of the product form. With the self verification experiment, that is, the process of actually operating the object, they will gradually expand their understanding of the product comprehensively and deeply, and update, strengthen, disgust and repel the initial visual impression at the same time. All initial expectations of the product form or semantic symbols are tested for yes or no in the self verification stage. If the designer's original intention is consistent with the user's sensory experience after verification, it is proved that the product form successfully expresses its connotation. Because of this consistency, the user can continue to conduct in-depth operation and research, and it is possible to discover new forms. Finally, the user will give an objective evaluation of the product. Of course, this evaluation is affected by the user's own aesthetic taste, cultural cultivation, personality characteristics, and also by social conventions. With the promotion of economic and cultural globalization and the development of informatization in modern society, the regional and cultural restrictions that affect product design will become smaller and smaller. However, to carry forward national culture is a history that every designer must undertake. In this regard, industrial design in northern Europe and Japan has done well

excellent industrial design makes full use of design symbols to achieve a high degree of unity between the function and form of products through systematic and comprehensive analysis on the grasp of product semantics. It not only reflects the symbolic significance and cultural connotation of the product, but also reflects the design's care for people users. The transponder designed by American designers Lisa krohn and tucher viemeister in 1987 is a classic example of using "product semantics". This is a product that combines earpiece and transponder. It is designed to look like a book. Through new technology, it integrates the functions of recording, playing and copying letters, and retains some traditional cognitive functions of people. However, great changes have taken place in the content. It can be used to turn pages, and switch different contents when turning pages. The keys are inserted through the standard hole of the page and are universal, concise, novel, dynamic and rich in levels, It gives people a feeling of intimacy and familiarity, and attracts users to master new technologies. In 2002, the "thinkpadtransnote" notebook computer launched by IBM won the if Design Gold Award in Germany. This product adopts the characteristics of folders in its shape, and combines laptop and electronic pen and paper writer. Users can easily write, draw, process, store and send documents. The user's psychology is fully considered in the design, with simple shape and clear semantics. The "mother" armchair sofa designed by Italian designer Massimo IOSA Ghini is simple, thick and mild in color. It symbolizes the kindness and tolerance of the mother, warms the children, and provides a refuge for the exhausted modern people to recover their energy

the application of product semantics is also reflected in the detailed treatment of products. Rujia disc friction and wear experimental function O-type camera, whose organic form is almost integrated with the human body, not only gives people a delicate and intimate feeling in appearance, but also has amazing convenience in function. The "Philip reflex action" razor launched by Philips company in 1996 has a fashionable and atmospheric overall shape. Its side is perfectly consistent with the side of the male head and neck. The button (power) for adjusting the switch is at the male's throat, and the button has a protrusion that increases friction and is easy to push, which clearly indicates the operation mode of the product. The following is the "face" - interface of some products launched by Philips company in, from which it is not difficult to see the clear indication of the operating system for users

m · McCoy is discussing five problems of product manufacturing as the project of product semantic modeling design: (1) environment context, that is, how the product modeling, including size, material, color and shape, coordinates with the surrounding environment; (2) Memory: whether the product shape makes people feel familiar and friendly, which has saved a batch of large bridges built in the early United States, and whether the product has historical continuity in culture or form; (3) Whether the semantic expression of operational product modeling in local control, display, shape, material, color and other aspects is clear, easy to understand and easy to operate; (4) Whether the external shape of the process product declares the invisible internal operation of the organization, and whether it reveals or implies how the product works; (5) Whether the shape of the ritual of use product implies the cultural connotation and symbolic significance of the product. Therefore, we can consider the above aspects when using symbols in product design. Modern architects summed up a set of symbolic innovation techniques in their creation and practice. The first is "repetition and redundancy", which is to use repeated information to repeatedly act on human senses, so as to strongly transmit information to users, which is more effective for the acceptance and understanding of new symbols; The second is "deformation and division", which refers to the deformation, division, and repetition of symbols that people are used to