There is a social phenomenon in today, that is, some people think that only expensive things have a good design. In my opinion, no matter how expensive or inexpensive the product is, people should pay more attention to the value behind the design and whether it is practical. Good design needs to be valuable and practical, and price cannot use as a measure of design. Norman said before that good design must have content, imagination, and creativity, and thought and intention of the idea has a certain depth [1].
The Palace Museum is the largest museum in China, an ancient building complex that records the history of Chinese and preserves historical artifacts. The cultural and creative products of The Palace Museum have attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Designers use their professional knowledge to start from everyday products, using the artifacts in The Palace Museum as a source of elements in the design, and adding fashion elements to the traditional culture. Through this innovative design that combines the new and the old, the tradition and the modern, the designers convey the traditional Chinese culture to the public and make the cultural heritage of The Palace Museum vivid. Last year, The Palace Museum released six colours lipsticks. These lipsticks have Chinese characteristics in both lipstick colours and lipstick packages. The exquisite patterns on the packaging, lipstick colours and design inspiration are all come from the artifacts in The Palace Museum, and they all have a good meaning [2]. The different kinds of flowers and animals on the outer packaging are all showing Chinese culture. As a Chinese-style cosmetics, their unique packaging attracts many young girls, and they are very popular with young girls. Through these cultural and creative products of The Palace Museum, young girls feel the charm of traditional culture, start to pay attention to the history of China, and want to know more stories behind the design. There are also many people who have been interested in the cultural experience of The Palace Museum because of these cultural and creative products and went to The Palace Museum to experience. Designers change person perceptions of traditional culture through design and bring a new way of inheriting traditional culture. The cultural and creative products make The Palace Museum closer to our life. The Palace Museum is no longer a cold, old and mysterious image. These changing many personal prejudices against the traditional museum. This is the positive significance of design to inheriting traditional culture, which fully reflects the cultural value of design.
I have done a similar job before. I was born in Xi’an. It is a city with a long history and the starting point of the Silk Road. I have done a set of poetry cards about Xi’an, using paper-cut as a form of expression. I use a lot of traditional elements of Xi’an in it, such as Xi’an poetry, scenery, food, and traditional patterns. Through the words and Illustrations printed on the paper, combined with modern expression techniques, the feelings brought to me by Xi’an and the traditional features of Xi’an are conveying to the public. I hope that through poetry cards, they can attract more people to pay attention to Xi’an and can break the old concept bias that Xi’an is backward. By design, people can see the historical imprint that Xi’an has retained today, see the cultural heritage of Xi’an, see Xi’an’s current development and strength, and see the attractive places in Xi’an. I hope that my design can use its maximum value allows more people to re-recognize Xi’an and like the city.
Whether it is The cultural and creative products of The Palace Museum or my work, we use the combination of tradition and modernity to spread the traditional culture in the form that young people like, and hope to get more attention from young people and play the cultural value of the design to the maximum. We hope that young people nowadays will not forget the past, pay more attention to the cultural history of China, and inherit and carry forward the traditional Chinese culture. This is the value that design can bring. In my opinion, good design needs to be valuable. Even though some designs still be flawed, but I believe that in the future, through the efforts of designers, the design will continue to be improved and have higher quality.
- Bruce, M., & Lewis, J. (1990). Women designers—is there a gender trap?. Design Studies, 11(2), 114-120. Retrieved from https://lms.monash.edu/pluginfile.php/8323633/mod_resource/content/1/wk%209%20bruce%20and%20lewis%20women%20designers%202.pdf
- People’s Daily. (2018). Palace Museum launches exquisite original lipsticks. Retrieved from http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/1212/c90000-9527920.html
Design Ideas 