1 Introduction
Thousands of years have come from people who have thoughts. The goods they make are not just a cold product but they contain human thoughts. Over time, the style of the product changes as the mind changes. So the original simple pottery, the chilly bronze wares, the graceful and elegant blue and white porcelain, and the modern minimalist, exaggerated, humorous industrial products contain the objects of different human cultures. The above situation shows that cultural thought is an important factor affecting product design style. In recent years, with the development of science and technology, the level of people's material life has been continuously improved, and people's thoughts have also undergone corresponding changes. There is a social phenomenon that is beginning to prevail in many people. This is the fact that people are evading physical maturity, and they like to look for things that can retain their young features, dress, and language. A large number of exaggerated, funny cartoon shapes, cute, bright animal and plant patterns become the object of these people sought after. The embodiment of cuteness, liveliness and beauty is a style that designers seek to perform. This style of product has been welcomed by many people, especially young people. On the street, there are more and more cute style items in the house. It is not surprising that they are decorated and dressed up. This is the embodiment of human thinking in product design in this era.
2 The effect of cute culture on product design style
2.1 Lovely culture
The most crude division of culture is material culture and spiritual culture. It consists of four levels, the cultural level of the physical state, the cultural level of the system, the level of the behavioral culture, and the level of the cultural level of the mind. The cultural level of mind is the core level of culture, and it is the way of thinking, values, and aesthetic consciousness formed by human beings in various social practice activities and awareness activities. It is not only expressed as a perceptual, non-systematic, general social psychology, but also as a systematic, rational social consciousness. It is preserved in philosophy and in the material form of art and spread.
The social and psychological characteristics of people change with the changes in social life conditions, resulting in a certain degree of impact on traditional ideas and the emergence of new cultural ideas. The lovable culture is precisely in response to this condition. The cute culture is now popularly known as the "sacred culture." “蔻†was originally a CUTE transliteration in English, which means “cute.†Now the “蔻†has been extended to be innocent, pure, pure and cute. It has recently been infinitely expanded to be sweet, immature, and cartoon. “蔻†is a new human attitude to life. It is fun, young, and energetic. Plus cute, beautiful, and happy, it is called “蔻â€. The esteem for "cute culture" has entered China, and it has cultivated unique consumer groups and formed a unique "generation". This generation has no restrictions, and its thoughts and actions are open. Because the nutrition is good and the concept is updated, the physical development of new and new human beings is “prematureâ€, and the psychological age has become a half-baked “post-childhood eraâ€, and more people are keen to play the “cockroach†factor. People are generally afraid of the old state of mind contributed to the "Yi family" popular. In addition, there is a lot of work pressure in urban life. The empathetic fashion trend provides this group with younger or even child-oriented consumption, so as to ease their pressure as adults in the society. Their subconscious still hopes to receive double care. And care, escaping society and adult responsibilities. “Little people will pet!†The desire to be loved and loved is their most basic starting point. Due to the above reasons, the cultural values ​​of this group of people have changed. They break the traditional rules, standards, and even run counter to it, and show their thinking concept of pursuing children's characteristics that is inconsistent with their actual age.
2.2 The formation and development of the product's cute style
2.2.1 The formation of the product's cute style
Art of design is a product of culture, a result of the combination of a nation, a material culture and a spiritual culture of an era. Culture not only restricts the content of design art, but also restricts the form of design art. Style refers to the dynamic structure formed by the unique content and form in the artistic distinction system, the subjective aspect of the artist and the objective features of the art. In addition to being affected by the level of science and technology, design style is still a cultural concept of the era, the aesthetic consciousness and value orientation in the design of the materialized performance.
As a new cultural concept, the cute culture will definitely affect the style of the product. The designers will use it in the design process and design a “cute culture†product that is welcomed by many people. Designers mainly use the simple cartoon style, cheerful colors, different materials and other factors to the product design, so the cartoon cute shape, bright colors become "lovely" products, the main features. Such as cartoon-shaped home products, transportation, electronic products.
(1) Some household products designed by Italian ALESSI company designers. Its product features simple, cute, simple structure, bright colors, and sometimes add some humorous factors. There is no complicated pattern decoration, these are in line with the characteristics of cute culture.
(2) In addition to taking into account people’s purchasing power, the mini-car “QQ†launched by Chery Company has its cute shape, which is like a pair of beautiful eyes with its front lights, including bright red, yellow, blue, and green. Color, it is to take into account the young people in pursuit of cute, lively product psychology, which achieved a good sales performance.
(3) Hello Kitty and Snoopy of Sanrio Company in Japan have become the most expensive cats and dogs in the world. It is precisely because they have grasped the "cute culture" accurately. Context; Britain's raccoons, German teddy bears, etc., have repeatedly caused a climax in the world, but also because the "cute culture" has created a large number of global demand. It can be seen that these products embody the lively, cute and happy style of the times. And these styles of products are exactly the needs of many people in today's society who are eager to retain a pure and beautiful childhood, even though their age is far away from their childhood. Influencing the design field is the designer's breaking the shackles of the traditional design style and applying this kind of relaxed, enjoyable and lovely features to the product design. Therefore, many products in daily life are branded with this kind of branding. They are welcomed by most young people and become a kind of fashion while achieving very good economic benefits.
2.2.2 Development of Product Cute Style
Due to the unbalanced development of the economic level, many developed countries in the field of product design many years ago have already focused on embodying cute culture in products, and this is still the case. South Korea and Japan have a wide range of products that embody the lovely meaning. Such as ordinary household products, accessories, backpacks, and electronic communications products. The people buying is also very hot. In recent years, this kind of wave has spread to China. Many people seem to have returned to their childhood overnight. Decorations, accessories, living and working spaces are arranged, and the used items are all hooked with cuteness. This greatly affected the style of the era of product design. In order to meet the market demand, designers must apply naive and romantic factors to product modeling and color design.
One word that runs through the design field is that "design must begin around people." And people are animals that are good at change, especially thinking. In the future, there will be differences between the social material and spiritual living standards, and the cute culture may no longer exist or evolve into another type of culture. The style of the era of products used by the corresponding people will also change, and lovely cultural products that have become popular may no longer have room for survival. Instead, they will be products that represent the cultural features of that era.
3 Conclusion
With the continuous development of society, each era has its own cultural characteristics. From the simplicity of the primitive society, the strictness of the hierarchy of the slave society, the admiration and etiquette of the feudal society, morality, the ideological emancipation of the modern society, freedom, and carelessness, these characteristics are reflected in the products of the same period. With the changes of the times, there have been changes. The cute culture is a kind of cultural phenomenon in today's society, which is produced by adapting to the characteristics of the current society and affecting the field of product design. As a result, many products that embody such cultural characteristics have emerged. This illustrates the impact of cultural factors on product design style. In the future society, the appearance of new cultural forms will surely lead to the appearance of new products embodying such cultural characteristics.
Author: Zhang Zhihua Huang Lihua
Source: Design Online