On the Existence Value and Competitive Advantage of Chinese Character Symbols

Recently, the design community has argued that with the acceleration of the process of world economic integration, the Chinese character logo will gradually lose its existence value. Is this not the case? Actually, many companies have already "prevented themselves" before they have made it clear. Whatever it is and what it does, its "representative symbol" is crowned with English letters. It seems that this is a cross-century fashion enterprise.

However, if you do not understand the mystery, Chinese companies may go round a big curve in the market competition. As we all know, the sign plays a decisive role in shaping the brand and shaping the corporate image. There are many design methods for the sign, such as the use of geometric shape, natural shape, character shape, animal shape, flower shape, etc. The dual role of sense and form representation occupy an important position in the logo "family". Many well-known big companies use the words as the company's logo. For example, half of the world's top ten famous companies and well-known trademarks use text as their logo.

The Latin alphabet of Europe originally originated from the drawings, later it was standardized as Phoenician fonts, and finally it reached the ancient Romans, gradually forming the normative fonts of square, rectangular, triangular, circular, vertical, horizontal, and uniform slopes in the horizontal position. It is expressed in the most concise form of symbols and is highly recognizable. This kind of enhanced visual recognition or successful evolution of reading has been used in the universal language of the modern world. The Latin alphabet consists of 26 letters. To make things more concise and easy to remember, word marks with a single letter as a design element are very popular, such as the metamorphosis of the letter "E", the exaggeration of the letter "H", etc. However, companies have too many letters. Limited, too much use may have similar feelings and even confusion.

The original prototype of Chinese characters is also a picture, from the time of the Cangci creation of the emperor to the Oracle of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, to the Xiaoyan, the ancient princes and the Song Mingshishi printed fonts of the Qin and Han dynasties, until we now use the Song type, bold type, imitation type, variety variety, amber. , round body, etc., Chinese characters have experienced the development and evolution of thousands of years. Cultural phenomena are created with the concept of human beings. Since ancient times, China has the concept of “Heaven and Man in One”, that is, human beings are not the center of the creation of the universe, but a secondary part of nature, whether they can meet the rhythms of nature. It is a standard to measure everything. There is no culture in the world that emphasizes the natural forms and patterns. The creation of Chinese characters undoubtedly follows this rule, imitating nature, and simplifying the shape of objects into the font symbols of Founder. This feature can also be seen in the gradual evolution of the composition of Chinese characters. The composition of Chinese characters is divided into six parts. It was called “Six books” in ancient times. The characters of pictographic, syndicated, and phonological characters fully illustrate that Chinese characters are not only a symbol. And the most important thing is to have expression. Pictogram refers to a character written in a simple stroke that imitates the natural form. It not only expresses the meaning of the natural form, but also has the nature of a literal symbol. Consensus refers to the combination of the meaning of the two words into a new word, such as two "wood" into "forest", three "wood" into "sen" and so on. Accents are words formed by the combination of form and sound, such as the word “boring”, which is a combination of the form of "door" and the meaning of "heart"; the word "river" is the form of "water" and the sound of "may". Together. Another feature of Chinese characters is that one character of Chinese characters represents one or more meanings. However, one letter of Latin characters cannot be completed. While the literati doctor created excellent calligraphy and calligraphy works, folk artists also designed innumerable clever and visually interesting font graphics with their intelligence. Chinese characters are not merely the language symbols of information exchange, but are also radiantly displayed as artistic works of great taste. For example, the words used to attract customers, the Kyrgyz language in festivals and folk activities, and the ligatures in the auspicious designs. Specifically, such as the early Suiwen and Bird Insects books (the earliest form words); the Qin and Han Dynasties palaces. The words of Vada (usually auspicious, such as "Long live", "Longevity", etc.); the words of money (such as the "eternal words" in the money pattern have a word of mouth and the word of mouth is the center. Borrow each other); paper-cutting characters (such as "Dragon Dragon Play Balls", Ssangyong Winding Grass Characters), etc. This kind of masterpiece reflecting the shape of daily life has rich decorative and strong national characteristics.

With the development of the times, standing on the perspective of information, visualization, and art, Chinese characters are undoubtedly a kind of design element with great vitality and appealing power. They are widely used in the logo design of modern enterprises and cast a modern vision. The beautiful landscape that conveys the design has evolved into a veritable medium for the transmission of textual information. For example, the "Bank of China" sign of the Hong Kong designer's reluctance to integrate the word "zhong" in the ancient "rounded-in" bronze coin shape resembles two locked doors, symbolizing safety and trustworthiness. The image does not have borders. Such a visual symbol with rich images and rich connotations should be enough for "popular". Another example is the "Qiwang Tea" logo which is shaped like a banner and a few pieces of tea and incorporates the word "king". It is like a fluttering banner and symbolizes the "king of tea." This clever combination has both ethnic characteristics and is simple and vivid enough to make people remember it.

The personal characteristics of the Chinese character logo make it unique in the logo design, losing the design of the individual will lose its existence value. After China's accession to the WTO, commercial competition will become more intense, and companies will pay more attention to using logo design to create brands and shape their own corporate image. At the same time, overseas design will surely enter the Chinese market, and China's design will also move toward the international market. Design will face severe competition. It is a challenge and an opportunity. Design can neither stand still, nor can it be fully Westernized. It can widely integrate the world art culture on the basis of preserving the national characteristics and “get the essence and eliminate dross”. Perhaps this is the successful design method.

(Author Lin Guosheng, a teacher of Hangzhou Normal University, a member of the China Industrial Design Association. He won the '99 China Star National Logo Design Excellence Award and the '2000 Beijing International Brand Logo Design Biennial Award of Excellence.