Research on the application of regional cultural symbols of museums in logo design

. Through the research on the application of regional cultural symbols in the logo design of local museums, this paper summarizes the general methods of the logo design of museums. Through the research and analysis of the existing literature and cases related to the design of Museum signs, based on Saussure's "signifier" and "signifier" in semiotics, the relationship between the regional cultural symbols and the design of Museum signs is analyzed, and based on the design problems in the development and construction of museums, the refining methods of regional cultural symbols and the visual application of signs are studied, And then summarizes the innovative methods of Museum logo design with cultural characteristics.


Introduction
In recent years, with the rapid development of China's economy, people's demand has gradually shifted from the previous problem of food and clothing to a higher level of spiritual needs. As the recorder of regional culture and the carrier of urban memory, museums shoulder the role of leading the correct values and historical views, conducting social education, and meeting the aesthetic and spiritual needs of the people. In recent years, people have paid more and more attention to the cultural power, and the number of Chinese museums is also rising. A large number of museums have been built in various places. However, there are also problems in the rapid development. First, most museums have fallen into the situation of homogenization. On the one hand, thousands of museums make people feel familiar when they visit museums around the world, and the audience has also formed "Museum fatigue". Secondly, many museum managers still operate museums with traditional collection and Exhibition concepts, lacking brand awareness and innovative ideas.
The regional culture is a characteristic culture formed in the development of a region for thousands of years, which contains the local nature, economy, customs, architecture, technology and other contents. However, it is gradually forgotten in the current era of rapid development of information and commercialization. Combining the museum and regional culture with logo design to explore its uniqueness can effectively solve the problem of Museum homogeneity and solve the museum fatigue of the public. Form characteristics to attract more traffic, release hematopoietic capacity, and transform their own cultural resources into economic benefits. It can also systematically sort out and excavate the regional culture, so that it can be reborn. (1) The concept and characteristics of regional cultural symbols The theoretical source of regional cultural symbols is the semiotic theory, which is the activity of studying the meaning of things. Zhao Yiheng gave the definition of Semiotics in redefining symbols and semiotics, that is, "symbols are the perception that is considered to carry meaning: meaning must be expressed with symbols, and the purpose of symbols is to express meaning. On the other hand, there is no meaning that can be expressed without symbols, and there is no symbol that does not express meaning." Peirce, the representative of semiotics, divides symbols into iconicity, deixis and convention based on logic. Saussure, another representative of semiotics, divides symbols into signifier and signifier according to linguistics. This paper mainly analyzes Saussure's theory.

Regional cultural symbols and Museum logo design
On the basis of this theory, it can be seen that the regional cultural symbol is to transform the local unique natural landscape, architectural heritage, social customs, cultural relics, crafts and other contents into visual elements that can be intuitively perceived through the modern design concept by exploring the regional culture, Form regional cultural symbols with visual aesthetic and cultural significance, and provide visual element support for Museum logo design.
(2) The concept of Museum logo design As a visual symbol that clearly expresses the characteristics and meanings of things, signs have appeared at the beginning of human civilization. The earliest symbols on totems and painted pottery can be traced back to the ancient times, such as frog patterns and fish patterns, which symbolize the reproductive worship of ancient tribes. In the modern era, signs have a very clear definition, that is, "use words, graphics, colors, etc. to express things and symbolize their abstract connotation, so as to distinguish and represent specific subjects." The meaning of the sign is mainly divided into two aspects: one is the visual symbol used to distinguish and summarize the characteristics of the subject, and the other is the spiritual meaning of the subject.
Signs can be divided into two categories according to their use. The first category is commercial signs, i.e. trademarks. Second, non-commercial signs, including those of governments, regions, institutions, activities and projects. Museum signs belong to this category. In the preliminary research, the author found that most Museum signs in China are composed of two forms. One is "graphics" and "standard words" to form a complete Museum sign, such as the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The second is to directly use standard characters as symbols, such as the Chinese people's Revolutionary Military Museum.

The relationship between regional cultural symbols and Museum logo design
(1)Regional cultural symbol is an important aspect of Museum logo design Museums are venues that carry and carry forward regional culture and history and carry out social education. Therefore, in the design of Museum signs, in addition to paying attention to aesthetics and functionality, we should also pay attention to culture, and establish a museum sign and design system based on "culture + aesthetics".
However, at present, most museums lack design consciousness and advanced logo design concept. As the spiritual space of regional history and culture, museums have huge cultural resources but lack of good development and utilization. In terms of design, they have problems such as weakening of regional characteristics, widespread imitation and lack of professional ideas, and fall into the vortex of homogenization. And to develop and utilize the regional culture of the area where the museum is located, sort out its categories, excavate its contents, transform it into visual symbols with modern design techniques, and apply it as an important aspect in the design of local museum signs. Excavate regional culture, make use of regional culture and promote regional culture, so as to define the museum differently, condense the value proposition with its own regional characteristics, convey the visual image integrated with regional culture, and seek the road to de homogenization.
At the same time, the design of the museum logo based on the regional culture is also conducive to enhancing the public's understanding of the museum, consolidating the people's emotional connection with the museum, enhancing the local pride of the residents, forming a good communication and interaction mechanism, and improving the reputation and attention of the Museum as a cultural institution, so as to better play its responsibilities and purposes.
(2)The design of Museum logo gives a new interpretation form to regional cultural symbols As an important external expression of regional cultural connotation, regional cultural symbols are the comprehensive expression of specific natural environment, cultural heritage, customs and other factors in a region, such as Chu culture in Hubei Province and ice and snow culture in Northeast China. It is obviously different from other regional cultures and has a unique attraction to other people outside the region. However, the current research on regional culture is mostly concentrated in the fields of geography, history, sociology and so on. However, there are few studies on the direction of design. In the society with rapid expansion of information and economic development, the traditional regional culture is gradually forgotten due to its characteristics, and the local customs and allusions become strange to young people.
On the basis of its cultural and regional characteristics, the museum develops and utilizes traditional regional culture, promotes innovation with culture, and transforms abstract culture into visual symbols, making it easier to understand and be understood by young people. At the same time, in the process of using regional culture for logo design, the museum interprets the regional cultural language symbolically, and designs its image or implication in the form of modern design language, so that the regional cultural symbols can be revitalized in the process of design, construction, promotion and development of the local museum logo, Transform cultural resources into economic resources.

The method of logo design of Museum combined with regional cultural symbols
(1)Take the regional cultural relics as the regional cultural symbols There are mainly two methods of logo design with regional cultural relics as regional symbols. One is to directly use the appearance of cultural relics for design, and then carry out extended design. For example, the sign of Jinsha Site Museum directly uses the cultural relics of "sun god bird gold ornaments" in the collection as the sign, which reflects the totem worship of the Shu region in Cuba. (Fig. 1) another example is the symbol of the museum in Heilongjiang Province, which is composed of the Jin Dynasty cultural relics "bronze seated dragon" excavated here, which reflects the characteristics of the Jin Dynasty culture in Heilongjiang Province. (Fig. 2)

Fig. 2 Logo of Heilongjiang Provincial Museum
The second is to extract the cultural relics in the collection into visual symbols after secondary creation by means of deformation, extension and deconstruction. For example, the symbol of the Hubei Provincial Museum is to extract the elements of the treasure of the town hall, the chime bell of marquis Zeng Yi, to deconstruct the graphic symbols of the "bell" and combine them with the sound waves. It can also be understood as the repetitive lines of the chime bell outline, like the lingering aftersounds of the chime bell, with visual and auditory imagination. The graphics are simple and easy to understand, and can well express the connotation of Chu culture and Hubei bronze culture. (Fig. 3) the interior vision of Hubei Provincial Museum also uses a large number of regional cultural elements and symbols. For example, the visual design of panlongcheng Pavilion uses a large number of traditional bronze patterns of the Shang Dynasty. The audience was deeply impressed. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 4 Exhibition hall of Panlong city of Hubei Provincial Museum
(2)Take local buildings as regional cultural symbols Extracting local architecture and natural elements as visual symbols is also a common method of Museum logo design, mainly referring to local buildings with distinctive regional cultural characteristics or directly selecting the shape of museum buildings as visual symbols for design. For example, according to the traditional wood structure buildings in the south of the Yangtze River as the inspiration source, the Museum of Zhejiang Province extracts and simplifies the deconstructed beams and columns as visual graphics, and uses the black, white, red and other colors of the traditional buildings in the south of the Yangtze River as the main colors, and uses the form of calligraphy strokes to design. (Fig. 5) it can not only reflect the unique wood architecture characteristics of Jiangnan area, but also interpret the local regional cultural characteristics and historical accumulation.

ERSS 2022
Volume 20 (2022) Another example is that the brand logo of Henan Provincial Museum is inspired by the main building shape, which also coincides with the architectural appearance of the ancient star viewing platform. (Fig. 6) at the same time, the triangle shape with sharp corners is adopted, which symbolizes that history is the passing time. The Central Plains culture has a long history like the historical hourglass. At the same time, the upper part is an inverted bucket to receive "nectar", and the lower part is a covered bucket to receive "earth gas", which has a very strong identification, achieving the effect of seeing the sign to know that it is the Henan Museum. At the same time, the interior visual design and peripheral design also use a large number of elements with strong regional characteristics, such as the four gods, elephants, Chinese paintings and logo graphics.
(3)Transform local cultural elements and natural elements into regional cultural symbols China has a vast territory and a long history. Each region has a unique cultural heritage and natural landscape. In the process of Museum logo design, it can also be symbolically extracted and combined with the museum logo, such as Yunnan Museum and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Museum.
Taking the logo of Yunnan Museum as an example, its logo is composed of abstract graphics, which is similar to the treasure of the town hall "niuhu copper case". At the same time, it also constitutes a passionate and unrestrained ethnic minority figure image, which shows the singing and dancing culture of Yunnan. At the same time, the sign also has the meaning of colorful clouds flying over the mountains, which caters to the reputation of "the south of colorful clouds" in Yunnan Province. At the same time, the color is dark red, which also implies the natural elements of the red soil in Yunnan Province. (Fig. 7) a large number of local Yunnan culture, red culture and Yunnan natural elements are also extracted as visual symbols in the design of the interior, website and surrounding of the exhibition hall. (Figure 8)

ERSS 2022
Volume 20 (2022) The logo of the Museum of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is designed based on the coastal area of Helan Mountain. (Fig. 9) Helan Mountain Area in Ningxia was a place where the Huns, Xianbei, Uighur, Tubo and other ethnic minorities lived and multiplied in ancient times. The Helan Mountain rock paintings recorded the life scenes of the people in this area from 3000 to 10000 years ago, such as grazing, hunting, sacrifice, war, entertainment and dance, as well as various animal patterns and abstract symbols such as sheep, cattle, horses, camels, tigers and leopards, and revealed the natural worship, reproductive worship Totems The cultural connotation of worship and ancestor worship is a cultural treasure house for studying the history of Chinese human culture, religion and primitive art, and also the most unique natural and cultural heritage in Ningxia. The sun in the sign represents the sun god in the rock paintings, and the undulating figures in the lower part represent the mountains and land, highlighting the regional characteristics and historical culture.
(4)Summary Through the search and reading of papers and materials related to museum logo design and regional culture, and the deconstruction of graphics, the author analyzes the prototype of regional cultural symbols in Museum logo design and its symbolic meaning. Saussure's "signifier" refers to the medium representing a certain thing, which is the expression level of things, For example, the characteristics, colors, composition and other aspects of the logo graphics that are the core of the museum design can be perceived by the audience. For example, the logo graphics of Hubei Provincial Museum adopts chime bells to create blood. The "signified" refers to the things referred to or involved, which are at the deep level of the connotation of things, such as the role and significance of the Henan Museum logo. "Signifier" refers to the part that is further interpreted by the audience to complete the meaning transmission.
To transform the regional culture into a visual symbol, it should have both its "signifier" and its "signifier". At the same time, it should be integrated with the characteristics of the museum. After the graphic extraction of the elements and the connotation composition, it should be designed as a regional cultural symbol to express its visual characteristics and convey its cultural connotation.

Conclusion
Extracting and transforming regional culture into visual symbols for logo design and application in propaganda pages, multimedia, architectural exhibition halls and other aspects can effectively establish its uniqueness, solve the problem of homogenization of museums, alleviate the "Museum fatigue" of visitors, and enable museums to form their own advantages and core competitiveness. At the same time, it can also explore and develop the regional culture, reflect the regional characteristics, inherit and innovate the excellent regional culture, make it become a visual symbol, and shine new opportunities in the modern society.