"In some ways, I think designers should spend more time creating symbols, and the rest is making objects." -Philippe Stark, the most famous designer in contemporary France and the representative of minimalism.
As a product of human culture, symbols have practical significance in modern design. Symbols, like products, are produced from human social labor, are the exclusive wealth of human beings, and are man-made things that take material as the carrier and reflect human spiritual needs and social civilization. Product is the material form of human culture, the material medium of human-nature-society and the material medium of human lifestyle. The essence of design lies in creating a reasonable lifestyle for human beings. As the material medium of human life style, the symbolic characteristics of products are obvious.
I. Symbols and symbol systems
All meaningful material forms are symbols. Symbol is something that can be understood by the public by using certain media to express or refer to something. According to Peirce's semiotic theory, any symbol consists of three elements, namely, media relevance, object relevance and interpretation relevance, and each symbol has three related elements. If anything does not show these three related elements, it is not a complete symbol. For example, a stone itself is meaningless, and at most it can only be used as a medium for symbol contact, but not as a symbol; But when polished into a stone axe and used as a tool, the stone can represent a certain meaning-a stone axe. When this meaning is understood, the stone axe constitutes a symbol. From the symbolic features of The Stone Axe, we can see that symbol is the structural relationship between meaning and the object world, which makes the object and meaning merge into a unified symbolic system. Just as human beings change their way of life through products, so that people, nature and society can develop harmoniously and integrate into one, symbols enable people to communicate with the world and make the world a meaning that is understood and mastered by the subject. Symbols are neither spiritual nor material, neither subject nor object, but the relationship structure between mind and object, which is formed in the process of interpretation.
Symbol is a system composed of media association, object association and interpretation association. In this system, each symbol determines its own meaning in the difference from other symbols, and this meaning is established by convention. Symbols are connected by differences, and this connection can be reasonably explained by agreement. The agreement and difference of symbols prove that symbols are a system represented by three related objects, and they can only form symbols in all relationships. At the same time, as the object of meaning, symbols can only play an explanatory role in a certain environment, so that symbols can only reflect their significance as a system.
Second, the symbolic analysis of product system
Product is the materialization of human labor and a system with corresponding functions composed of various substances in a certain structure and form. As the material carrier of human life style, product is not an end but a means to achieve it, and no product exists in isolation. It must be connected with people and other elements in a specific environment to realize its functional significance in a systematic way. The establishment of external relations of products is bound to be reflected in a certain structural way through internal factors. Elements, structure and function are the three major elements of product system, among which function is the core of product system, and its realization process is the symbolic process. Products use semantics, language structure and pragmatics to form a symbol system and realize the connection between people and the material world and the meaning world.
Semiotic analysis of product elements.
Product elements are the units that constitute a product system, and any product system is an organism composed of several interrelated product elements. Only when any unit is endowed with meaning and forms a specific symbol can it constitute the elements of a product. As a unit of product symbol system, element firstly shows the meaning of the connection between product symbol elements and the outside world, that is, the semantic characteristics of products. Every element in the product system should have a certain referential meaning, because only through referential meaning can a product establish contact with external things and realize its functions. Just like a circle has no reference, no external connection meaning, and cannot form its own symbol; As a product element, the round button can give people a soft and friendly feeling in form, which can prompt them to have the function of rotation; If the top surface of the circular button is a slightly concave cambered surface, people will associate it with the operation mode of pressing with their fingers through association, so that the product elements will present a certain meaning and can be understood by consumers, and the semantics of the product symbol system will be formed. Secondly, the symbolism of product elements should also be reflected in pragmatic features. Pragmatics is the study of the relationship between people and symbols. The function of product symbols is the relationship between products and external environment, and the most important thing is the relationship between products and people, that is, the way people use products. Only in this way can the product be meaningful. For example, the design of cans creates a reasonable drinking way for people in a specific time and space environment by changing the way of use, and the pragmatic significance of product symbol language lies in this.
2. Semiotic analysis of product structure.
Structure is the way in which several elements are interrelated and interact, that is, the structure of product system is the order in which all elements in product system interact. The semiotic features of product structure are first embodied in the relationship between product elements, that is, the characteristics of product linguistics. It is with the organic structural relationship between elements that elements can play their connotation and extension roles in the symbol system as media association, and products can form a system and realize specific functions. The semiotic significance of product structure is also reflected in its own semantic and pragmatic features. The symmetrical structure of the product itself can give people an equal, balanced and stable semantic feeling, and the spiral structure design can create a rotating way of use, and the semantic and pragmatic relations of product symbols can be clearly designed through a reasonable product structure.
3. Semiotic analysis of product function.
Function is the external meaning embodied in the product system, and it is the order and ability that the product interacts with the external environment as a media association. As the purpose of product symbol and the ultimate goal of design, function is the deep structural relationship of product symbol system, and function must be realized through the surface structure of product symbol system-product elements and structure. Therefore, the function of product system is the extension of product symbolic meaning expressed through the connotation of product symbolic meaning, and its realization process is the process in which the interpretation of product symbols plays a role, and it is also the symbolic process in which products arouse ideas in people's minds. The expression of symbolic meaning of products is often complicated. If the expression is too direct, the product semantics will lose complexity and become shallow, and the expression is too obscure, and its meaning is difficult to explain and accept. Therefore, the designer must choose the appropriate way according to the specific situation, so that the function of the product system can be understood by consumers.
Third, the symbolic process of product system design
The process of product function realization is the process of product symbol system transforming from surface structure to deep structure. Any product system must start from different objects, establish a certain structural relationship between objects, and produce a set result through this relationship. Its system process is object (element)-internal relation (structure)-external relation (function), and function is the result of interaction between element and structure. This process is the symbolization of human consciousness, and the symbolic system works through (media relevance → object relevance) → explanation relevance, which is the functional embodiment of the symbolic system based on media relevance and object relevance. Contrary to the process of symbol interpretation, the process of product symbol system formation is the transformation from deep structure to surface structure, that is, in the process of design, the functional goal of the product is often determined first, followed by the structure and elements of the product. For example, when designing a wooden chair, we must first determine the functional objectives of the product according to the user and the use environment; Secondly, determine what kind of structure and elements to adopt, that is, the design scheme. The factors to be considered in the design scheme are the structural relations such as modeling, structure and connection, as well as the characteristics such as materials, technology, scale, color and ergonomics. The change of structure and elements can diversify the schemes, and the process of system design is to choose the best scheme among various schemes.
The design of product symbol system is very complicated, and the meanings and ways of use obtained by different consumers from the same product are diversified, that is, it is difficult to accurately locate the role played by product symbols in the process of contacting with the external environment. Just like the "juicy sarif" lemon juicer designed by Philip Stark, he himself has a descriptive description: "For me, it is mainly a small sculpture, not a household item with any substantive function. The real purpose of its existence is not to squeeze a million lemons, but to let a new son-in-law and mother-in-law have a talk after dinner. " The meaning of juicer is obviously complicated between the specific environment and the user. The significance of product system design is to create a more reasonable and diversified lifestyle in a complex cultural environment with systematic thinking mode and product symbols as material media.