Product Semantics under Postmodern Context

Abstract: As one of the many design trends in the post-modern context, product semantics is inextricably linked with other contemporary theoretical schools, especially post-modernism design. This article explores the commonality of product semantics and postmodernism design in the same context, and the differences between the two ways of thinking and the final choice. Through comparison and analysis, the essence of product semantics should be grasped ideologically in order to facilitate the correct application of this theory in design.

Keywords: modernism postmodernism internationalism product semantics


Although the modernist design was fully developed after the war and became internationalism, gradually replacing the ever-changing and diversified design styles of various countries, and occupying a dominant position in the post-war world design style, people are no longer satisfied with this kind of design. The sound of monotonous design style, dissatisfaction and grievances has become increasingly large, and it has gradually become a massive "post-modernist" design movement. Various so-called "post-modernism" centers on the monotony of changing the design of internationalism. The styles have come on stage and challenged modernism in various forms. The period of "post-modern" design has also begun since then.

Postmodernism, the determination of this concept, is mainly aimed at modernism and internationalism. From an ideological point of view, modernism design pursues a highly democratized design and design of social engineering. It has a democratic tendency, a socialist color, and Utopia. It is an idealistic exploration. They are committed to a kind of non-personal The new designs that can be mass-produced in an industrialized manner represent the characteristics of industrial society; they have the features of simple form, anti-decorative, emphasizing function, highly rational and systematic. The development of the internationalist design style in the later period has changed the ideology beyond recognition, leaving only the form of declining doctrine and “many is more” as the form of formal formalism. From a ideological point of view, the postmodernism in design is a decorative development of modernism and internationalism. Its center is against Mess van der Roy's “decrease and more” reductionist style. Decorative techniques to achieve visual richness, to promote the satisfaction of psychological requirements, not just monotonous functionalist center. The post-modernism in design used a large number of historical decorations to deal with eclecticism. It broke the monopoly of internationalism over the years and created a new stage of new decorativeism. [1]

In the “post-modern” era of product design circles, new ideas have emerged in an endless stream. Among these, product semantics is a design theory that emerged in the subsequent modernism. The same background factors determine the core spirit that they share. They also show considerable commonality in the following aspects.

1. Concern over human needs

Under the guidance of traditional rational philosophy, modernism and internationalism emphasize the importance of material functions and pursue the “form following function” creation principle. However, this purely functional and rational design concept ignores the importance of spiritual function in design art. , Often due to the indifference to the design of the user's psychological needs, making the design lack of human touch, cold and inaccessible.

The emergence of post-modernism, in this era of highly developed commodity economy, renews the call for design attention to human needs. Post-modernism design strives to promote human emotions, adding more irrational emotional content through the use of metaphors, symbols, and other methods, emphasizing the vividness, organic form, and human touch of design.

The product semantics more clearly suggests that there is a relationship between the shape of the product and its meaning. By accepting multiple stimuli from product modeling, people form a grasp of the product's semantics. This kind of grasp of meaning can be intuitive, it can also be the result of experience or thinking, can arouse resonance, emotional stimulation, can also cause people's behavioral response. The same with postmodernism, it also profoundly reflects on the indifference of modernist design to humanity, and thus formally and respects the aesthetic needs of aesthetic subjects. It tries to give the product a symbolic form to awaken human memory and imagination.


2. The call for historical memory and cultural connotation

Because modernism is simple in form, emphasizing function, anti-decorativeness, and highly rationality, the design of modernism presents the characteristics of “one thousand people and one side”. At the stage of internationalism, this monotonous design style has replaced the varied and varied design styles of various countries and has become a monotonous global monotonous design style. The history and culture of various countries suddenly disappeared in the design, and the cultural context has nowhere to be found.

Faced with the absence of history and culture in design, the postmodernist design concept proposes that design should be part of the continuation of the historical unity of the cultural continuum. It must link tradition with reality and develop modern design on the basis of inheritance. .

The call for postmodernism design on historical memory and cultural connotation has also been affirmed by product semantics. The product semantics believes that products play two different roles in a certain context of use. In addition to acting as a product's inherent functional role and realizing its physical functions, the product also undertakes the task of conveying the symbolic role of psychological, social, and cultural values. As a crystallization of culture and technology, its modeling significance must focus on the context of history, culture, and psychology.


3, the use of the symbol "meaning"

The modernist design with a tendency to democracy aims to create a universal design that can be mass-produced in an industrialized manner, pursues the “formal follow-up function” of creation, and constantly pursues the purity and elegance of the form and performance techniques. Into a simple, rigid, lack of meaning of the styling thinking set.

Postmodern design emphasizes the history of metaphors, symbols, and cultures. Through extensive use of symbolic semantics in the design, it seeks to make technology a symbolic means, and constantly creates rich and complex product forms, and gives it a certain symbolic significance.

The product semantics itself is the application of semiotic principles in the field of products. Its basic point of view is to regard the product as a sign system with the functions of signification, expression and communication. In the form of expression, it also emphasizes the metaphor, symbolic meaning, and traditional context of morphology, thereby expanding the product modeling language and creating various rich and symbolic product forms.

4. Breakthrough in design vision

Modernism design confines the field of vision only to “objects,” and expands the product's shape only from the perspective of the product’s function. Its pursuing function—formal causality and law—one-sided emphasis on the single pursuit of the product's material value can no longer satisfy the information society's demand for information value.

Postmodernism design and product semantics jumped out of the limitations of “materials”, expanding the horizons to the larger dimensions of things and people, things and society, things and culture, and putting products into a larger environment to re Look. Under such multiple perspectives, the significance of products has become more diverse and diverse, and the symbolic value of products has gradually emerged.

From the above several aspects, we can see that the product semantics in the postmodern context has the same core spirit as the postmodernism design concept, and both express criticism and reflection on the functional rationality and monotonous expression form of modernism. However, it is worth noting that, despite this, they still show great differences on the way of thinking and final choice.

Product semantics itself is the application of semiotic principles in the field of products. As a highly rational theoretical science, semiotics has been placed by many scholars into the expectation of taking on the role of "organizational science" in various subject areas and becoming an important means for the scientificization of humanities. In the study and development of semiotics, the rational way of thinking has always been implemented. [3] Product linguistics inherits the semiotic philosophy of rational thinking, rationally assigns morphological symbolic meaning, and pursues a clear and definitive expression of meaning in order to realize the “exchange” of people and things. However, it is also a criticism and reflection of the rigid and monotonous design of modernism. Postmodernism is more inclined to the irrational and unconscious ways to achieve a multi-meaning and ambiguous semantic meaning. The attitude of postmodernism to modernism is a strong negation of itself, a tendency to completely rebel against logic and reason, and tends to a purely emotional design.

It is precisely because of the huge differences in the way of thinking that leads to post-modernism and product semantics eventually embarked on a different path. Postmodernism advocates the use of decorative techniques to achieve visual enrichment, a preference for forms, and a purely emotional design that ultimately leads to a formalistic road that deviates from function. Postmodernism, while critiqued the functional rationality of modernism, eventually reached the other extreme. However, product semantics has not always opposed form and function when reflecting on the design of modernism, but it has been dialectically united by extending the concept of functionality. The product semantics believes that the function of a product is not only the function but also the spirit function. "Form" and "function" are interdependent and mutually causal. The critique of modernism by product semantics is merely a revision of its “form following function” rule, and it is not a simple and thorough negation. [2]

In this diversified era, the design style is also becoming increasingly diverse. Postmodernism design is not the only attempt to change the design of modernism and internationalism in the postmodern era of design. Various design styles, such as deconstructionism, neo-modernism, etc., have all started their own exploration from different perspectives. As one of many design trends, product semantics, which is also in the context of postmodernism, is inevitably inextricably linked with other contemporary theoretical schools, especially post-modernism design. In the study of product semantics, we must not only recognize their commonality in a large context, but also clearly see their respective different explorations and efforts. Only by correctly grasping ideology and truly understanding its essence can we correctly apply this theory in design.