The Application Strategy of the Palm-toy Cultural Connotation for Chinese Elderly

First of all, the form of Ruban Lock is usually a symmetrical structure composed of six pieces of wood. In traditional Chinese architecture and implements, the symmetry shape is very common, such as the Imperial Palace, the courtyard, the four sheep status, the traditional furniture, etc. (Figure 4). The form of symmetry gives people a simple sense of nature, stability, elegant, solemn, and perfect, which is in line with Chinese traditional visual aesthetic habits.

Figure 4

The traditional symmetric form

Secondly, in terms of the structure, Ruban Lock is similar to Chinese woodworking tenon and mortise structure. If we analyze tenon and mortise in a view of philosophy, the tenon is projection, which can be understood as Yang; The mortise has concave surface to fit, it can be understood as Yin. The combination equate to consistency of consistency of Yin and Yang. Tenon structure reflects Lao Zi’s "imitation of nature" philosophy. The mortise and tenon structure is mutually concave and convex, reflecting "Yin Yang complementarity, false or true complement ", the natural yin-yang mutual vicarious philosophy implication.

Thirdly, in term of the material. Ruban lock has been always made of wood. The wood makes you feel natural and warm. In the material selection of Ruban lock, it reflects the core value of Chinese traditional ecological thoughts, "unity of heaven and man", which emphasizes that "Harmonization of object and ego”. It means that the armonious coexistence of man and nature, and the pursuit of heaven, earth, the harmony as a whole .

Finally, in terms of color and pattern, Ruban Lock does not use any color and pattern, maintaining the natural texture and color of wood. This reflects the traditional Chinese philosophy of "implicit and natural".

First of all, in the aspect of usage method and operation process, Ruban Lock is played through inserting 6 pieces of splints. The inserting space of this 6 pieces of splints are composed by 32 parts. The permutation and combination patterns of the 6 pieces of splints is up to 119963 kinds, except the repeated, mirroring, and invalid ones. We can enjoy the mystery and fun of science by operating Lu Bans lock. We can train space imagination and assembly technology by the assembly and disassembly. At the same time, we can taste ancient Chinese wisdom and long culture of Mathematics.

Secondly, in terms of psychology of emotion, Ruban lock is a toy of puzzle type. It can stimulate people's imagination and creativity as well as improve people's observation and analysis ability. The Ruban lock possesses entertainment function, intellectuality exploitation function, sports function, education and fitness function through operation. During the operation process, we can have a profound understanding of the ancient Chinese laborers' wisdom and the rigorous attitude reflected from its structure.

Finally, in terms of the cultural association, the Ruban lock’s design concept comes from the traditional Chinese theory of Yin and Yang. When we play the Ruban lock, we can not only feel the ancient wisdom and rigorous attitude, but also be able to associate traditional Chinese harmonious thought. Only by returning to moral and harmonizing Yin and Yang in the nature of law, can we grasp the Yin and Yang and obtain the harmonious development of spirit and substance.

Through the above analysis, it can be seen that Ruban lock reflects the elements and ideology of traditional Chinese culture in the application of tangible and intangible culture perfectly. But, in terms of Ruban lock’s inheritance process, the core culture and ideology is neglected. The changes are in the aspects of wood volume and shape, and the forms are more, the degree of difficulty is higher, mathematical algorithm is more complex. (Figure 5) Table 4 is the representative product of cultural connotation analysis

Figure 5

Improved Ruban lock.

Table 4

The representative product of cultural connotation analysis

Because people's life needs in life are various, the characteristics and needs of sought by different consumer groups are not the same. In terms of the application of traditional cultural symbols as well as the heritage and innovation of traditional culture, there is room for improvement for Ruban lock and other elderly palm-toy.

Towards the elderly people over 60 years of age, a questionnaire survey was conducted on the culture connotation application of the elderly palm-toy. Among them, the number of people from 60 to 70 years old is 58, the number of people from 70 to 80 years old is 45, the number of people over 80 years old is 23. The respondents were asked to operate all the toys that is to be measured, and then they will be experienced questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews.

Table 7 is a survey of cultural awareness among respondents. 34.1% of the respondents have a profound understanding on the traditional Chinese culture, 61.9% of the respondents have a roughly understanding, 4% of the respondents have little. This results indicate that the elderly have a large degree of recognition on the traditional culture in their own countries and regions, which will affect their expectations and expectations.

Table 7

Survey of cultural awareness among respondents

Figure 6 is a survey on approval degree for the application of culture connotation in the elderly palm-toy towards. After introducing the traditional Chinese culture connotations and the elderly palm-toy, 85.7% of the respondents think that " the elderly palm-toy should conform to their cultural habits, and the palm-toy should reflect traditional Chinese culture connotations”. 11.8% say that “on the premise of ensuring functions, the appropriate embodiment can be accepted ".1.5% of respondents think that “there is no need to reflect as long as it can be played". The results reflected that majority of the respondents support that traditional culture connotations would be reflected in the elderly palm-toy. Subsequently, let the respondents experience the different elderly palm-toy. Every visitor should give respectively scores for the factors of shape, color, structure, material, usage, operation, impression and cultural links of each product. And we would calculate the average score of each product. The higher score indicates stronger cultural connotation. Figure 7 represent the respondents experience from before and after

Figure 6

Survey on approval degree for the application of culture connotation

Figure 7

The evaluation results of before and after

Through the evaluation results of Figure 7, it can be seen that the old people generally believed that the traditional toys are better than modern emerging products in culture connotation application. Then, a detailed investigation was conducted on the application of tangible culture and intangible culture. Figure 8 shows the detailed investigation result. The numbers on the vertical axis in the graph indicate grade percentage.

Figure 8

The detailed investigation result

In Figure 8, we can see that the scores of the traditional toys are generally high, while the emerging products rarely reflect the connotation of traditional culture. Most of the respondents say that the elderly have a sense culture belonging, so products for the elderly should reflect the traditional culture connotations. Only by reflecting the culture connotation in a perfect way, can the products better adapt to the old people's cultural habits, and meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the elderly.

Aiming at this demand, a survey on the needs for the application of culture connotation was finally carried out. The visitors choose the five factors of their most attention. We divided the votes of each factor by the total number of visitors, then attained the concentration rate of each factors. Figure 9 is the result by summing up respondents’ specific needs for the culture connotation application of the toys.

Figure 9

Application level of attention

Although there are some differences in the needs of the elderly in different ages. However, in these differences, the degree of the demand for form, shape, color, operation, feelings, association and so on was high. All the concentration rate is over 60%. Among them, the concentration rates of shape, graphics and operation are considered as the highest value, all proceed 70%. These will be our key to embody the spirit of traditional culture. Through the investigation, we can know that consumers not only have a high degree of demand for the tangible culture symbol, but also pay more attention to the intangible culture connotation in the using process. Figure 10 is a survey on the preference degree of application method.

Figure 10

The preference degree of application method.

In Figure 10, we can see that in the application methods of tangible culture, combining shape and product form was preferred by the most respondents, and its preference reached 38%, followed by 30%, which represents the refining and application of the symbol. The application of the part graph is 20%, the overall graphics application for 12%. The majority of the respondents like the method of combining shape and form, and the concise and implicit usage of symbols. The preferences degree of direct use of the overall graphics is significantly low. Due to the effect of traditional Chinese Confucian thought of "moderation", the aesthetic of the elderly in China is implicit and restraint. In the application methods of intangible culture, the association of lucky meaning and happiness was preferred by the most respondents, and its preference reached 37%, followed by 28%, which represents cultural thought. The reflection of design principle is 22%, the interaction between the operation for 13%. This result reflects that the Chinese elderly people’s preference for the auspicious implication, and the needs for the application of the cultural thought connotation.

According to this survey, we can see that the elder people’s interest for traditional culture is focused on the auspicious implication and a reserved style. Next is a survey about the color preferences [figure 11]. Survey on preference for color attribute [figure 12].

Figure 11

Color preference survey (%)

Figure 12

Survey on preference for color attribute

From Figure 11, we can see that the order of respondents favored is, red, yellow, black, green, blue, brown, white, purple. (Each visitor would choose five favorite colors, and the votes for each color would be divided by the total visitor number, to get a percentage ratio.) In the results of the survey, the degree of preference for Chinese traditional colors of the elderly is high. Xuncius says “people’s eyes like five colors” in Exhortation to Learning. What is the "Five Colors"? It is explained in the illumination of KongYingda, "The Five Colors is cyan, red, yellow, white, black". The "Five Colors and Five Elements view" is the earliest traditional color theory, which can be regarded as the foundation of the color system. In the earliest recorded text (the oracle bone inscriptions), red, yellow, cyan, black and white are known as colors. In these colors, the degree of old people’s preference for white is low, which is mainly influenced by traditional Chinese funeral culture. White is the main color used in Chinese funeral, so most of the elderly taboo white which is a symbol of mourning. However, red and yellow, with the auspicious festive, are preferred by the elderly. The black with the meaning of prudence and independence as well as the green symbolizing nature and vitality of life has also been the concern of the elderly. Due to the elderly are affected by body physiological changes and the traditional thought of "moderation", in the investigation on preference for color attribute, we can see that the characteristics of the elderly in China is: warm hue, high saturation

Table 8 is the survey result of the preference for color design. 52% of respondents choose two kinds of colors collocation schemes, followed by monochromatic scheme, 29%, design of over two colors, 19%. At the same time, in contrast, 69% of respondents prefer strong contrast collocation, weak contrast, 23%, medium contrast, 8%. Most of the respondents said, warm colors can give people a sense of warm and caring. Because of diminution of vision, the elderly hope that the color scheme can play a role in prompting and alerting them. What’s more, the color collocation with the traditional auspicious meaning is expected by the elderly. Meanwhile, the results also show that the elderly have formed a unique aesthetic taste for colors, affected by the traditional Chinese ethnic psychology, emotion and rhythm of image.

Table 8

Survey result of the preference for color design

Through the above investigation, it can be seen that the use of the traditional auspicious symbol and the traditional idea conforms to the old consumers’ concern and expectations. It is also should be considered when we develop new products of the elderly palm-toy.

In this research, the paper mainly aimed at the necessity of the traditional culture connotation, the application of tangible culture and intangible culture. The author interviewed college professors, designers and experts in the service industry. Interviews were conducted by means of face-to-face, a more professional and objective understanding of specific needs for the culture connotation application and key points in culture connotation application in the process of new product development.

As seen from the survey results of the table 9, the professional and industry experts generally believe that: Because of the influence of the traditional culture, the needs for culture connotation of the elderly is more than the young consumers. The palm-toy, as amusement and fitness products, need more traditional culture connotation application. Only in this way, can the products meet the culture needs and culture belonging of the elderly. In the application mode, we should pay attention to the tangible culture and intangible culture. “The embodiment of the traditional culture is not only the application of graphic symbols, the more important thing is the embodiment of the reasonable behavior and presentation of the cultural ideas”, which is referred by professor Liu Guanzhong in “National sustainable design and advanced integrated innovation research class” in Dongguan in July.

Table 9

The results of the interview

In the application of tangible culture, experts said that it is necessary and feasible to use traditional culture symbols in the form of products, graphics and color. But this kind of symbol need be refined and should possess characteristics of " implicit and restraint ". In addition, we should focus on the traditional meaning of graphical symbols.

In intangible cultural application, the experts believe that the primary objective of cultural connotation application is the embodiment of the cultural thoughts and traditional philosophy. Traditional cultural connotation should be reflected in the usage method, usage feelings and usage association. The experts stress the application of traditional philosophy and auspicious meaning in the aspect of product design and usage method. Meanwhile, due to the decline in cognitive level, the elderly will use traditional aesthetic taste and aesthetic form to understand things. Therefore, the application of traditional cultural connotation needs to show both tangible culture and intangible culture.