The combination and development of Japanese Zen thinking and Chinese design

. The first batch of Japanese designers systematically studied the western design theory system, carried out imitation and improvement, and then slowly integrated into the characteristics of their own culture, thus forming a unique Japanese design aesthetics, which also makes Japan in the leading position in the world design.In the cultural contrast between China and Japan, learn how to use and carry forward the cultural factors in creative design, analyze its advantages and our shortcomings, learn from the advanced case of Japan to take its essence, go to the dross, and borrow the Japanese design as the basis, improve the design level of domestic designers.


Lead it
The cultures of China and Japan are reflected in the material and spiritual concepts of their own nations, not only in the growth process of each individual, but also in the history of the two nations, and have exerted a profound influence on social development. As for design thinking, it is more reflected in the level of spiritual culture. Because of the differences in culture, belief and geographical location of the two countries, the culture of the two countries is also different in design. There are some common points in culture, both of which are radiated by Chinese culture and also have their different characteristics. For example, China is made up of 56 ethnic groups, while Japan is a single ethnic country. In terms of cultural diversity, China is obviously superior to Japan. For example, China believes in "benevolence" in Confucianism, while Japan stresses "loyalty" in Bushido spirit, etc. The influence of culture on design thinking is becoming more and more important, and design has gradually become a way for each nation to spread and carry forward the local culture to the world. From the perspective of culture in design itself, designers, as the media between the nation and the world, can also reveal the spiritual and cultural characteristics of their own nation through the products they design.

Comparison between Chinese and Japanese culture 2.1 Basic characteristics of Chinese design concepts
The basic characteristics of Chinese design concept: Chinese design emphasizes the harmony and unity of man and nature since ancient times, and pursues the "unity of man and nature". In the process of design, Chinese design pays special attention to the combination of design and nature, and also pays attention to the harmony and unity of emotion and ethics.In perceptual and rational design, don't think personal emotional design has lost its wings like a bird didn't dead, and the Chinese people since ancient times are very reverence and respect nature, pay attention to the "nature and humanity" ideology, the ideology also holds the important position of Chinese philosophy, Chinese designers to pursue the overall effect and natural be in harmony are an organic whole, And pay attention to the coexistence between man and nature.

Basic characteristics of Japanese design concepts
At first, the Japanese design concept followed the western design concept of advocating science. Later, the Japanese design concept was different from the four-party design, and integrated with its own characteristics.Japanese design is carried out with a relatively scientific attitude, taking people as the main body, highlighting the concern for people;They advocate realistic design and nature.Therefore, Japanese design works pay more attention to people's needs, which is reflected in the design is not to "create new products", but to redefine and improve on the existing basis. Such design is often more difficult than creating a new thing.To try their best to achieve a state of perfection;Advocating rationalism, Japanese designer Naoto Fukazawa has always attached great importance to "unconscious design". He focuses on details that you can't see, hoping to move users with details and let you be moved by things and life.If Japanese designers do not start from nature and have a critical attitude in design, the products they design will be naive.Therefore, Japanese designers always pursue to create "nature" without any trace, and refuse to be naive and accidental.

Differences in values between China and Japan
Values determine local people's self-cognition, and also have a direct impact on people's ideals, beliefs and life goals.To put it simply, the main characteristics of Chinese values are the supremacy of ethics and morality, valuing "everyone" over "small family", that is, valuing the group over the individual.The Japanese, on the other hand, believe that everyone should be equal and value "individuality".The mainstream value of Japanese culture is the constant struggle for self-realization, which is the highest pursuit and goal of Japanese people.On the other hand, culture takes a different approach to show its individuality. By re-packaging traditional culture such as Kabuki and tea ceremony, Japan uses "animation diplomacy" to attract the attention of people all over the world and exert a subtle influence on all countries.China, on the other hand, is a country where families live in harmony with each other and people pursue truth and make contributions.Among them, the courage to contribute and take the overall situation into consideration can also reflect their social value.

Differences between Chinese and Japanese views of nature
In Chinese culture, man and nature should be in harmony and unity, believing that "the mandate of heaven cannot be done" and emphasizing the "unity of man and nature".Due to Japan's special geographical location and the same cultural background as China, the Japanese concept of nature is much better than the Chinese concept.Japanese people have a strong attachment to nature, and the beauty of nature plays a pivotal role in Japanese design. They respect the beauty of nature, and do not like to be overly pretentious in nature.In most places in Japan, you can enjoy the local natural beauty all year round, and Japan's various animal coffee shops are also a feature.The Chinese also love natural beauty, the most representative of which is the Chinese garden design. The layout of plants and buildings in the Chinese garden design is very elegant, and the garden landscape is as microcosm as possible.Both Japan and China regard nature as a friend to blend in with nature, rather than to transform nature.

Differences in thinking mode between China and Japan
China's way of thinking is multi-dimensional, but the most representative one is holistic thinking."Dao" culture with local characteristics, is a kind of has a variety of explain the meaning of the thought, every individual feelings, one thousand people's eyes there are one thousand Hamlet, so this led to the diversity of thinking mode in our country and there is no rigorous logic, it is because this kind of thinking mode, makes our country's culture has a strong inclusive.On the other hand, Japan emphasizes the "loyalty" of the Bushido spirit, believing that people should have a strong sense of mission, pursue rigorous logical thinking and explore people's initiative and creativity, and be able to unite together to develop a civilized society.It is the difference in this way of thinking between China and Japan that makes the design works of Chinese and Japanese designers different.
Different cultures, values and views of nature of each nation will, to a certain extent, have a profound impact on the development of design in each country.However, after globalization, the exchange, integration and innovation of cultures, ideas and designs between different nations can make the economy of each nation develop rapidly.

Japanese "Zen" design thinking and modern style
Although Japanese and Chinese design concepts are roughly the same, Japanese culture is implicit and low-key, emphasizing the Zen of "harmony and respect for solitude", which is particularly obvious in redesign thinking.
Chinese art design emphasizes the sensibility, the pursuit of "emotion", namely the use person's imagination, creativity, and lenovo force, applied to personal feelings accurately in art design, although the design material selection may be varied, but because of the diversity of Chinese design thinking, design will be sent to you by personal emotional factors in selection and expression, So that the design works have their own personalized expression.So what design elements can be uniquely supported by the designer?There is no doubt that the emotional factor of the architect plays a decisive role. Therefore, the products of most countries have their own characteristics. The personal emotion of the designer also determines the choice of materials and the final display effect.
Japanese design emphasizes nature and pursues "Zen".The expression in the design is uneven, simple, plain and quiet characteristics.Japan's "Zen" design thinking has a fundamental position in design works, such as the logo of the 2020 London Olympic Games, which is a specific application of "Zen" design thinking in design works. In 1964, the Olympic LOGO of figure 2 Japan published caused wide attention around the world, the simple design works to tape the most basic information, in addition to did not reveal the content of the other, this kind of "zen" design not only can make the picture more concise, and such a simple design in people see the LOGO on the content of the show, They can't help but be curious about what the LOGO does not show, and it is very consistent with the Oriental charm of "holding the lute and half covering the face", which quietly makes people care about and expect the Olympic Games, and also achieves the purpose of promoting Eastern culture to the world. In 2020, the design of the Japanese Olympic Games in Figure 2 is exactly the opposite of the design theme of the 1964 Olympic Games. Unlike the LOGO design of Yuke Kamekura, it will have the modern style represented by the Bauhaus geometric design concept and the combination of the native Japanese style led by the elements of the Japanese flag and the traditional color scheme.And Kenjiro Sano design to the Bauhaus geometric figure and English letter T combination of the old version of the 2020 Japanese Olympic Games logo design focus is to turn to the modern style, and weakened the local design style elements.The theme of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is "internationalization" rather than "Japanese elements". The modern style accounts for more than the traditional style, and there is no fault for the way of making the logo without using the local elements of Japan.This is an excellent fit with the concept of the LOGO, and it is well deserved to be selected for the first time.However, due to plagiarism and other reasons, this LOGO was cancelled.The logo design of the Olympic Games is to change the organization of geometric figures into a regular pattern, and then apply this rule to the design of geometric figures. The logo of the Olympic Games is a clever arrangement in the chaotic geometry, without too much explanation, its form has shown its cultural connotation to the light viewer.
In this case, the logo depends on the combination of geometric figures in the original logo, and the extension of the auxiliary figure and the combination of numbers, so that people can understand the process of change.We can find that, in the present design works, no matter what style, excellent works can be appreciated and accepted by the general public, which is the power of design thinking in Japanese design.

Humanization of Japanese design
In the current design world market, China's product and design thinking and other relevant aspects are not mature, which leads to China's design product proportion is very small compared with other developed countries.And Japan, which has a similar cultural background to us, has developed extremely well in design.We should not only try to improve our own factors in all aspects, but also communicate and learn more from Japan in design.
Most of Japanese design works present a situation, that is, they have always maintained a spirit of humanity, and they have always kept improving in redesign and paid attention to details. Only in this way can they always maintain their own unique design style in the long process of history.
The humanization of design is the spiritual core that Japanese design has been adhering to for a long time, and this spirit plays an important role in Japanese design works.Japanese design works should standardize themselves and have realistic significance.The design concept of the designer should be logical, so that its works can be gradually understood and appreciated by the world with the development.Each designer has his own unique design thinking, and is trying to discover the world in his own way and change the world through his works.The reason why Japanese design works can be refreshing is that they have unique design thinking, just like the design of masks.

Figure 3. A mask designed by Japanese Unicharm company
You might think that this is just an ordinary mask, but it is not.While most masks are rectangular in design, this one has a circular arc at the bottom, a slight change that will make the mask fit the face better and make the user's face look smaller, more in line with the popular aesthetic that favors smaller faces today.

Figure 4. A mask designed by Japanese Pigeon company
Based on the environment of early 2020, masks are likely to become a daily necessity for everyone. However, most of the masks on the market today are aimed at adults, and few masks for infants and young children are at best a reduced size version of ordinary masks.After all, young children have poor self-control and understanding, and can easily refuse to wear masks because they are uncomfortable.Therefore, the design of Figure 4 comes up with the idea of combining the children's favorite cartoon image with the mask to achieve both dustproof and comfort.
Humanization is an important reference for Japanese designers when designing, which is exactly what Chinese designers lack in their works.And this way of thinking of design needs us to learn from Japan.We usually feel very intimate by the products designed by Japan, and then want to imitate them, thinking that we can express ourselves better on the basis of them. In fact, this is not the case, because their designs show their love and thinking for life.

The combination of Japanese design thinking and local design
Japanese design gradually developed into an important representative of contemporary design in the 1920s, compared with this situation, China, which has a design history of 5,000 years, is far from it.China's five-thousand-year civilization is a huge wealth. Only by making full use of local culture and absorbing the essence of Japanese design thinking can China's design have a great development.
The first is that we should integrate, extract design elements from the culture, create design, reverse thinking, integrate and make full use of available Chinese resources and find our own way of matching Chinese designers.
The second is to break through the idea of curing, reviewing the past and looking forward to the future.The narrow sense of design concept greatly limits the current Chinese design thinking, which seriously hinders the development of current Chinese design.In response to this situation, Chinese designers need to understand that in the current design market, design is not so simple, not only needs to be rational, the product also lacks the designer's personal feelings.Therefore, when designing a work, it is not only necessary to introduce external innovation, but also to add its added value, to study the needs of consumers in various environments, and to study their customs.And try to analyze it from the point of view of the user's taste and the logic of its own design.
The role of the designer in modern design is to be a "problem solver" and "advice giver". The modern designer should provide what the customer needs, give solutions, and provide personal advice related to the market demand.The designer can have a sense of picture in his mind at the very beginning when the client puts forward the design requirements, which is the performance of the improvement of design thinking.In the traditional design thinking, it is to listen to the opinions of others carefully and then make compromises for them, asking less and doing more.However, only brainstorming and brainstorming can adapt to modern design.
Don't just look at one design and do it.Only if you are curious, you will try new things, you will have new experiences and improve your design thinking.Keep it fresh in modern design, keep challenging yourself, be curious and listen to customers.American or western designers have more active design thinking, while eastern designers are more constrained by ethics and morality than Western designers.
Another way to improve design thinking is that young designers should learn design strategies instead of beautifying the brand. In most cases, design works can actually come in second place, and how to tell a good story and explain the design concept is more important.And senior designers must have an underlying quality that is very good at listening and expressing, and this "soft power" is playing an increasingly important role in the necessary skills of designers. That is to say, a good designer must be able to listen to customers and be good at expressing his design ideas and inspiration.