On Popular Aesthetics

Design, a big concept, covers almost every aspect of human life. It reflects people's urgent need to adapt to and improve the surrounding environment, from meeting basic needs to higher spiritual needs, and seeking a more optimized lifestyle. Design is accumulated by many factors, including social environment, natural environment, material resources, processing technology, aesthetic concepts and so on. Today, we pay attention to human factors, because the purpose and motivation of people-oriented design are undeniable at any stage in the history of design. It's just whether people-oriented has a real purpose for the public at all stages. People-oriented itself is a broad concept. People-oriented design needs to consider people's natural characteristics and social characteristics, and the mass aesthetic problems we are going to discuss today mainly belong to people's social characteristics, that is, occupation, position, cultural and educational level, class, nationality, religious belief and so on. It can be said that design exists because it is accepted by the design object, that is, it resonates with the aesthetic concept of the public. So can our design be continued and developed by catering to or guiding the aesthetics of the design object? It should be pointed out that our aesthetics here has covered a series of aesthetic elements such as technology, form and culture.

Perhaps, we can find the corresponding answer from the long history of design. Design is accompanied by labor, and the original design was almost formed at the moment when ancestors knocked with homemade stone tools. At that time, as long as the tools were practical, what could be used for labor was beautiful design. People's aesthetics depends on meeting the basic needs of life. Later, about 17000 years ago, cavemen living in Zhoukoudian, Beijing began to use drilling, scraping, grinding and other techniques, and made decorations with natural materials such as stones, animal teeth and shells. They are the reflection of primitive human aesthetic concepts. From this moment on, practicality has really turned into aesthetics, and these ornaments reflect human belief and love for life. It can be said that primitive aesthetics began with people's understanding of nature. Some unknown phenomena or fierce and magnificent animals in nature at that time have aesthetic value in their eyes. The performance of Totem fully illustrates this point.

The emergence of class can be said to be the turning point of many phenomena in history, and the aesthetic group separation also appeared at this time. The ruling class uses all available forms to achieve its ruling purpose, and design, as an indispensable aspect of life, also shows a strong political and religious color. Class differentiation enables the dominant aristocratic class to master the absolute majority of social wealth and means of production, enabling them to legalize and maximize products that meet practical needs and aesthetics for themselves and interest groups. Looking back at the history of our country, the appearance of bronze ware brought out a "bronze age", which made the design of tools and instruments more diversified. However, because it was expensive at that time, it was only used by the upper ruling class, and there was no popular aesthetics here. The design caters to the aesthetics of the ruling class and guides the passive aesthetics of the public. Bronze was widely used in Shang Dynasty in China. Bronzes in Shang and Zhou Dynasties were mostly ritual vessels with exquisite shapes and dense patterns, mostly based on fine lines, which set off the main patterns of high relief. The most common patterns are moire, thunder, gluttony, cicada and circle. These exquisite carvings give people a rich and serious impression. The theme of the pattern may be related to superstition of ghosts and gods, or it may be a relic reflecting the national emblem. These increasingly complex artificial cultures represent a set of etiquette for the ruling class.

As the birthplace of human civilization, ancient Egypt formed a centralized autocratic monarchy system in its Pharaoh era, and developed religions served its regime. Therefore, it pursues shocking power in architectural art, creating amazing pyramids and the Temple of Amon. The most mature representative of the ancient Egyptian pyramids is the Pyramids of Giza, which was built on the outskirts of Cairo in the 27th-26th century BC. It consists of three huge pyramids. They are all exact square cones with extremely simple forms. The largest is pyramid of khufu, which is146.5m high and 230.6m long at the bottom. It is one of the most brilliant masterpieces in the history of human design. At that time, the ancient Egyptians still retained the primitive fetishism of clan society, and they believed that mountains, deserts and long rivers were sacred. Early emperors used primitive fetishism, and emperors were promoted to natural gods. Therefore, the typical features of mountains, deserts and long rivers are endowed with the monument of imperial power. In the natural environment of Egypt, these characteristics are grand and simple. This kind of aesthetics, constructed by religion and the ruling class, is attached to ordinary Europe like a spiritual shackle. The design of the Middle Ages was simple and clear, and the famous "Gothic" was born in this period. This is not only because the decline of the Roman era took away its splendid culture and excellent technology, but also closely related to the political and religious culture at that time. The concentrated expression of the main ideology and superstructure of European feudal system is Christianity, which preaches that secular life is evil and human desire is the source of all evils, and consciously slanders classical culture with realism and scientific rationality. The church not only rules people's spiritual life, but also controls all aspects of people's lives. Because the church preaches abstinence and Puritan lifestyle, the production of various daily necessities is very simple or even rudimentary. Gothic church is the highest achievement in the Middle Ages, especially the Gothic architecture centered on France. Gothic buildings use pointed arches instead of Romanesque arches, large windows are decorated with colored glass religious paintings, and cluster columns, reliefs and other rich decorations are widely used. This kind of building meets the requirements of the church, and the towering spire leads people's eyes to the empty sky, making people forget the reality and fantasize about the afterlife. It is under the suppression of the ruling class and religion that mass aesthetics is essentially a minority aesthetics, and the essence of design has also become a tool to rule people's minds. The aesthetic orientation here is a negative orientation, which makes the public lose their self-worth. After the emergence of social division of labor, commodity resources are increasingly abundant, and the emerging bourgeoisie in the city demands a struggle against the spiritual rule of the church in the ideological field, thus forming the "Renaissance Movement" centered on Italy and creating public opinion for the establishment of capitalism. The central idea of the Renaissance is the so-called "humanism". It advocates that literature and art express people's thoughts and feelings, that science works for the welfare of life, and that individual freedom opposes the religious shackles of the Middle Ages. Although Renaissance design still absorbed the essence of classical culture, but made the appearance more close to the people, with the emergence of commercial competition, design has begun to pay attention to how to attract consumers, although these consumers are generally nobles in society.

In some design periods we have seen above, design has basically become a ruling tool, and the so-called beautiful products are products that embody the concept of the ruling class and achieve the goal of ruling. In fact, this has a lot to do with the mode of production at that time. The mode of production of handicraft industry can only meet the needs of a few people.

The appearance of industrial revolution pushed mass production to reality, and the design also took into account the public aesthetic. The original products were classified because of the aesthetic and income differences between nobles and the general public. In the words of a calico factory owner at that time, "Fashion must consider the objects it caters to." Just as we are full of exciting expectations for this phenomenon, the trend of arts and crafts movement has pushed the process of industrialization to the opposite side, making Britain, the earliest country to complete the industrial revolution, not the first country to appear industrial design. Morris is a pioneer in the arts and crafts movement. He inherited Ruskin and others' idea of learning from nature, completely opposed industrialization, thought it turned design into shoddy and irresponsible, and advocated returning to the handicraft period in the Middle Ages. In fact, his design contains elements of democracy, and he also believes that art should be appreciated by all, but his popular concept is not based on fully understanding the positive value of machine production. It can be said that his so-called mass aesthetics is just empty talk, which cannot be realized through handicraft style. The emergence of Art Nouveau originated from the Arts and Crafts Movement, but the difference is that it does not deny the role of machines. Although it actively advocates the design for the public, its decorative style is completely unsuitable for industrial production. Other branches of Art Nouveau, such as Vienna Separatists and Youth Style, have transformed natural lines into straight lines suitable for machine production, which can be said to be a turning point in mass aesthetic design.

As the design historian said, "If this' person' only refers to a few powerful people, it is an old-fashioned design activity, and the history of human design civilization for nearly 5,000 years is actually a design history of powerful people. Once the design meets the public, it begins to have modern significance. " The appearance of modernist design makes machine production truly serve the aesthetics of the public. It also makes it possible for designers to guide public aesthetics through design. Under the influence of some artistic reform movements, such as constructivism and de stijl, a group of pioneers with democratic ideas emerged in modernist design, fully affirming the production of big machines in industrial society and appreciating new technologies and materials. Its geometric aesthetic design elements make the design simple and practical, and can be effectively provided for machine production, making mass production and product popularization possible. The public is valued by design here, which is the ultimate goal of design. It is worth mentioning that modernism overemphasizes a single geometric shape. Because of its influence, this geometric wind has formed a worldwide "international wind", especially the architecture, which is almost a unified square box. This popular aesthetic orientation obliterates individuality and diversity, and the same design style makes people's lives seem uninteresting. When people are tired of one aesthetic, another style is bound to inject fresh blood into the public aesthetic. Postmodernism was born in this situation. It opposes the design principle that "less is more" put forward by Mies Vandelo, an outstanding modernist design master, and puts forward the view that "less is annoyance", arguing that design should not only meet the functional requirements, but also make the form show rich visual effects to meet the increasingly refined and diversified aesthetic needs of the public. Here, postmodernism actively caters to the needs of the market masses, and also guides the masses into a new aesthetic enjoyment. The overall feature of its design style is to attach importance to form and emphasize decoration. This paper attempts to combine the good function and scientific structure with the decorative details of ancient Greek and Roman styles, Gothic styles and various classic styles such as Baroque, Rococo or Victoria, to pursue unique artistic charm and design personality, face different cultural groups and levels, draw nutrition from them and inspire creative inspiration. The idea that post-modern designers pay attention to the aesthetic differences of the masses is worth learning. Although most post-modernist works are experimental, such as Memphis, which is quite different from the excellent design advocated by modernism, its purpose of serving the public has not changed, and this experimental avant-garde design will also be used for reference by the design of mass products. Therefore, it is essentially a design that guides the public's aesthetics to diversify.

Design blindly meets people's needs, but ignores the feeling of the natural environment. Similar to the waste of a lot of resources and materials brought by American commercial design, people have to consider what kind of situation this vicious circle will bring to people. The designer's responsibility is particularly important at this time. A new popular aesthetic needs the guidance of the designer-the harmony between man and the environment and the birth of * * *. The concept of green design came into being. This green consciousness originated from the advocacy of several American architects and designers in 1950s and 1960s, namely Buckminster Fowler, Richard Joseph Neutra and Papanek. Green design is to use green products to solve human ecological problems and advocate the principle of sustainable development, rather than being timid because of fear of destroying the environment. In architecture, there is an increasing tendency to combine architecture with the surrounding natural environment. Wright's Flowing Water Villa and Aalto's Shannatsello Civic Center are outstanding representatives in this regard. In terms of products, we pay attention to the development of new materials and the secondary application of materials in recycling, calling for detachable design. Designers should adhere to the 3R design principles, that is, reduce, recycle and reuse. Introduce public awareness into the environmental protection environment by using the guidance of design. This should be the main responsibility of future designers.

While reviewing the history, it is necessary for us to analyze the present situation of design and mass aesthetics. Modern society is an open society. With the globalization of economy, technology and culture have also become globalized. Technology can be introduced continuously, and the cultural shock in the west has brought positive and more or less negative effects. This poses a severe test for designers in China, how to guide the local aesthetics of their own people under the impact of resisting the negative influence of foreign culture, that is, what we call localized design and nationalized design. It can be said frankly that most of China's current designs are in the imitation stage, and this imitation has not added any national significance, and simple modification and discoloration have become their own designs. This way can't guide the local aesthetics of the public, nor can it awaken the national consciousness of the public, and it lacks a spiritual thing. Can only be said to cater to the public's demand for global fashion. Looking abroad, some major design countries have their own proud design ICON, such as Ford, General Motors, Apple and IBM in the United States. Mercedes-Benz and BMW in Germany; Ferrari in Italy. It can be said that there are countless examples. But China's idols can only thank the ancients for their precious heritage. In fact, in the history of design, there are many successful cases of learning from other people's design styles and then forming their own unique styles. For example, Scandinavian organic modernism combines functional modernist design with local humanistic traditional design, thus producing a more emotional design. As far as style is concerned, Scandinavian design is functional, but it is not as strict and dogmatic as it was in the 1930s. The geometric form is softened, and the corners are smoothed into S-shaped curves or wavy lines, which are often described as "organic forms", making the form more humanized and vivid. Scandinavian design prevailed in the 1950s. Its simple and organic form, natural color and texture are very popular in the world and become the most popular design style in Europe and America at that time. Another successful case is Italian design. Italian design is a consistent design culture, which is rooted in Italy's long and colorful artistic tradition and embodies the passionate personality of the Italian nation. Italy was deeply influenced by American design in the early postwar period, and this influence was twofold. On the one hand, it is influenced by the so-called "excellent design" functionalism; On the other hand, American commercial design, especially streamlined design, has also had a great influence on Italy. However, the designers did not copy it mechanically, but integrated into their own traditions and created a completely Italian design. Let's take a look at Japanese design that finally forms a unique style through imitation. The original Japanese designers were deeply influenced by western design concepts, which was closely related to the exchange activities of some famous western designers in Japan. Such as Dreiser in Britain and Wagner, the founder of Vienna School in Austria. Before World War II, Japan's civil industry and industrial design were not developed, and many industrial products directly imitated European and American samples, which were cheap and inferior. Due to political and economic reasons, the communication between Japan and Germany made Bauhaus's design ideas flow into Japan, which had a great influence on later designs. After the recovery period, growth period and development period, Japanese design has been able to echo each other in the field of design. Japan's design adopts dual-track system, and traditional clothing and architecture adopt traditional methods, but modern industrial products are quite modern, forming a unique style of small, clever, light and thin. In fact, the development of Japanese design can not be separated from the support of the government to a large extent. Various large-scale exhibitions, the establishment of design colleges and the establishment of design awards are all manifestations of this.

It can be seen that public aesthetics is not afraid of the interference of external factors, and the key is how designers deal with the relationship between foreign and local. As we all know, some large domestic enterprises have realized the importance of design for development, and relevant domestic policies have been introduced one after another, and a large number of design talents are produced every year, which are the driving force for the development of China design industry. For designers, it is an urgent problem to shift from catering to the public's interests to guiding the public's aesthetics as soon as possible. Simply catering to the public may bring direct benefits, but it gives up the meaning of design itself to life and ignores the real needs of the public, making design a puppet of business. Only positive guidance can satisfy the people's increasingly rich inner needs and awaken their desire for the national soul.

refer to

Modern Design Sociology Zhang Liguo Hunan Science and Technology Publishing House

Design Aesthetics Li Chaode Anhui Fine Arts Publishing House

Who can be beijing institute of technology press in the history of industrial design?

Nowadays, literary and artistic works such as "funny" and "subversion" which play classic jokes, deconstruct heroes and blaspheme lofty are becoming more and more popular. We have to reflect on the spiritual dimension of our nation and re-examine how our literary and artistic works support and shape the coordinates of our spiritual highland.

China culture is fast food, which began in 1990s. With the growing trend of spoofing classics, spoofing red classics has even reached a heinous level. Such as "

The reconnaissance hero in Lin Yuan blasphemes, becomes a lover, and dies to save his lover. In Underground Party, party member A Qing's sister-in-law is demonized and sexually open, which makes the good nature of the protagonist completely spoofed. If bragging culture dispels people's worship of heroes, then the dispelled cultural ecology of consumption, entertainment and popularization caused by "super girl" will take a more dangerous step-mass aesthetics will move from "art" to "entertainment".

In a society with gradually diversified cultures, the wisdom of the masses certainly needs respect and tolerance. However, relying on malicious speculation, crooked ways and spoofing culture, confusing people's aesthetic values in the name of "art" and reversing people's concept of honor and disgrace need our vigilance and reflection.

If literary and artistic creation can't be ambitious and treat the social impact of literary and artistic works with a historical and dialectical perspective, it will only cater to the so-called public taste blindly, hype celebrity scandals in a vulgar, vulgar and kitsch way, and specialize in sensory stimulation, scandals, lawsuits and trivial matters, which will only make people feel "anemia" and lose the affinity of works.

Culture is the key to shaping a society's economic and political behavior, which determines how the society faces various challenges and is invincible. Culture is the heart and brain of a country. How profound its thoughts are, how brilliant its creativity is, how noble its character is, which determines how vigorous its life is and how civilized, progressive and developed its society is. The 20 episodes of TV series "Bethune" just aired are based on a real person, a real event and a real story, and the TV works created by using modern sound and photoelectric technology show Mao Zedong's "a noble person, a pure person, a moral person, a person who is free from vulgar tastes and a person who is beneficial to the people" one by one, thus realizing a spiritual dialogue between the audience and Bethune. Another example is Song Yushui, a model of leading cadres, Ren Changxia, the public security chief who is dedicated to the people, and a good judge who wins or loses without fragrance, all set an example from different aspects.

Therefore, literature, whether it is about historical figures or fictional images, is untenable, influential, impactful and powerful if it lacks the height and depth of thought, the power to bombard people's thoughts and souls, and the light of thought to illuminate people's souls!

Therefore, in the face of complex social phenomena and cultural hotspots, literary and art workers should be good at seeing the essence through phenomena. We should stand on the commanding heights of the spirit and look at the spiritual benchmark of our time. Our times only need people with lofty ideals, noble character and great spirit. Such talents are worthy of the times, society and history!

Therefore, when we create literature and art, we should take the value standard recognized by the public as the standard and take the aesthetic taste and orientation formed by people as the order. Only in this way can we promote the innovation and development of literary and artistic creation. Only in this way can it be shocking, amazing, admirable and enviable. For example, Chang Xiangyu, a master of Henan Opera, said that the beauty of Henan Opera is more beautiful, purer, more lovely and more simple than life. Like Kong Fansen's "Golden Cup and Silver Cup are not as good as the reputation of ordinary people, and the gold medal and silver award are not as good as the praise of ordinary people"; Song Yushui's theory of "distinguishing laws and reasoning, winning and losing" tells the pursuit and realm of beauty that ordinary people expect in a specific period, a specific environment and a specific industry. These beautiful things are what people expect and yearn for, and they will live in people's hearts forever. Because of this, their beautiful feelings, noble hearts and lofty realm are respected and worshipped by the people, and they are loved and praised by the people.