Exploring Contemporary Visualizations of Traditional Chinese Symbols: A Case of Tea Packaging Design

OVERVIEW

Cultural practices are increasingly threatened by the advance of globalization. As such, the heritage preservation of cultural identity is a concerning issue that is exacerbated by the rapid growth and development of information technology. In response to the impact of technology and the fusion of global cultural influences, a shift is emerging in Chinese culture towards the preservation of unique cultural identities, including symbols from traditional Chinese culture that are prevalent in daily life. This illustrates a gap for scholars and practitioners focusing on visual design practices of translating traditional Chinese symbols into contemporary visual communication design (VCD), which includes theoretical and practical approaches for implementation. This sets a rich context for the study of how traditional Chinese symbolism manifests itself in contemporary global settings. To achieve this, the study adopts a practice-based methodology including mixed-methods using literature review with visual analysis, reflective practice, qualitative interviews and applied visual design practice.

Keywords:

• Chinese cultural studies
• contemporary visualization
• practice-based research
• cultural meaning
• visual communication design

Acknowledgements

With thanks to my supervisors: Dr Vaughn Pinxit and Dr Oksana Zelenko from QUT and Prof. Chao Zhao from Tsinghua university.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is funded by the Shandong Social Science Research Council under grant number 18CZCJ31.

Notes on contributors

Bin Hu

Bin Hu is a PhD candidate at Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology. He is also a research fellow at Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University in China. His research interests mainly focus on the contemporary visualization of cultural symbols, Chinese cultural study and visual communication design and user experience design.