What is the birth of modern design as a logo

A logo is a kind of symbolic mass communication symbol, which expresses a certain meaning with a concise image and conveys a specific message with the help of people's thinking ability such as symbol recognition and association. Logo conveys information with strong function, under certain conditions, even more than language and text, so it is widely used in all aspects of modern society, at the same time, modern logo design has become an important design course set up by various design colleges and universities or design departments. From the author's experience of design teaching, in the teaching process of the course "Modern Logo Design", many teachers are strongly influenced by the western design trend, so when they guide students to design logos, they often use to start from the Bauhaus basic education system of composition, and let the students try to make a variety of points, lines, surfaces, bodies, and so on. Various divisions and combinations of points, lines, surfaces and bodies, and at the end of the design, most of them only emphasize the formality and modernity of the logo. Such a neglect of traditional graphic arts teaching, leading to students in dealing with the logo shape is only narrowly from the simplified letters, fonts, and modern abstract shape of the perspective to start designing, so that the design of the logo, although the sense of modernity, the sense of information, the sense of business will be relatively strong, but also more people feel that the lack of Chinese cultural flavor and national roots. Therefore, in view of this drawback, the author would like to "modern logo design teaching and the combination of traditional graphic arts in China," the issue of a little bit of his own opinion, with a view to **** with the discussion. China's traditional graphic arts have a long history, the development of today's history of several thousand years. As early as before the birth of the written word, the ancestors began to use graphics to convey ideas and communicate feelings, the Neolithic era of colored pottery pattern and painted on the cliff rock carvings, etc. Some of these not only recorded the ancestors of the understanding of nature and expectations, but also became the earliest graphic arts.

Chinese graphic arts not only have an early origin, but also have been continuously developed, though sometimes fast and sometimes slow, but never interrupted, such as the Taotie figure on the Shang Dynasty bronzes; the tadpole characters and plum blossom seal scripts during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods; the phoenix shape on the Han Dynasty lacquerware, the Baoxiang floral pattern of the Tang Dynasty, and the later appearance of the Jinwen form, etc. The traditional graphic resources of China are extremely rich. The resources of traditional Chinese graphics are extremely rich, and in their own development and evolution, they have both consistent veins and colorful styles, and with their varied but unified styles, they show a unique, deep and charming national tradition and national spirit. With the passage of time and the development of history, these graphics continue to precipitate, extend and change, thus forming the unique traditional art system of China, which has condensed the wisdom of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, and at the same time embodies the unique artistic spirit of the Chinese nation. Combining traditional graphic arts into the teaching of modern logo design is the key to guide students to design modern logos that are assertive, contemporary and international. However, such a combination does not mean that students should make a pure copy or simple appropriation of traditional graphics, but that teachers should guide students to recognize and understand traditional graphics, and on this basis, let students learn to gradually excavate, change and transform the traditional graphics, so that the traditional graphics can become a new point of creativity and revelation for their design, thus designing Chinese modern logos that are full of vitality. As for the combination of traditional Chinese graphic art and modern logo design, the author believes that it can be analyzed and used from the three aspects of "shape", "meaning" and "potential" of traditional graphics:

I. The extraction and derivation of "form" "Form" generally refers to the shape and structure of the object expressed by the graphics. Traditional Chinese graphics are rooted in China's national and regional traditional art sources, they have many differences with the modern graphic modeling. Traditional Chinese graphics mainly focus on the completeness and decorative nature of the real shape (or known as the positive shape), pay attention to the echo, courtesy and interspersed relationships between shapes, and follow the bone style of seeking for integrity and symmetry when organizing the structure. For example, the most primitive and basic Chinese auspicious figure "Taiji Pattern" is composed of two fish-shaped patterns in black and white; the "Four Happiness Pattern" (Figure 1) is formed by the skillful connection of two dolls' heads, bodies, hands, and feet, which can be seen on the top, bottom, left, and right side of four dolls; and "Four Happiness Pattern" (Figure 1) is formed by the concepts of the five elements and five squares. The nine-panel grid formed by the concepts of the five elements and the five directions, the Mi Zigzag pattern, and the Fish Character, whose basic strokes are formed by the characteristics of the fish shape, and the Che Character, whose basic strokes are formed by the characteristics of the car shape. To apply the "shape" of traditional graphics to the teaching of modern logo design, teachers should guide students to learn how to extract the shape elements from traditional graphics first, and then combine them with some of the composition means learned in the composition course, such as: breaking, cutting, dislocation, mutation, etc., and then carry out a new design of these extracted shape elements. Finally, the students will combine the derived shapes which are based on the traditional graphic original shapes but constantly decompose, transform and reconstruct the original shapes into the design of the logo. The logo designed in this way not only retains the charm of traditional art, but also carries distinctive characteristics of the times, and can fully express the concept and personality of the logo. The Hong Kong design master, Dr. KAN, is a good example of how traditional graphic elements can be derived and then applied to modern logo design.

The logo of his company, "Dr. Ken Design Ltd.", is based on the company's "people-oriented" philosophy, and uses the word "FANG SHENG", which stands for "One Heart, Two Harmonies, One Connection". The logo is based on the traditional auspicious symbol of "Fang Sheng", which represents "concentricity, harmony and interconnectedness", and is used as the basic framework. Although the original shape of the logo was taken from "Fang Sheng", Mr. Jin's keen visual perception and his deep understanding of the connotation and rhythm of traditional graphics made him not copy the original shape, but extract, derive and reconstruct the shape, so as to make the logo more oriental and nationalistic, and more adaptable to the future development of the use of the logo, which is not only a successful inspiration to us, but also a good way of creating the logo. This is not a successful revelation for us! Therefore, when evaluating the logo, Mr. Chen said, "I think Mr. Jin's design is successful because, firstly, it is a combination of ethnicity and modernity, and it is natural and appropriate without any sense of force; secondly, the logo focuses on the concept, and it has a large capacity of content, is philosophical, and provides people with associations; and thirdly, the image is mutable, and the application is very good. Of course, this is first of all the 'credit' of the original logo." Similarly, the logo of the Capital Spiritual Civilization is a good example of combining traditional graphics with modern compositional expression techniques. The basic elements of the capital's spiritual civilization logo are "Temple of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon" and the "heart" shape. "The Temple of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon" symbolizes the capital city, and the "heart" shape embodies the abstract meaning of spiritual civilization. Li Lin, the designer, used the technique of "map and base conversion" in modern composition to combine the two perfectly, and made a formal beauty treatment on the top of the logo, so that the concave part of the "heart" and the top of the "Temple of Heaven for Praying for the Years of the Lord" are naturally connected. The top of the logo has been formally processed so that the "heart"-shaped concave part and the top of the "Temple of Prayer for the Year of the Heavenly King" join naturally and smoothly, which not only makes the connotation of the logo fully and intuitively expressed, but also brings about a brand-new visual performance effect.

Two, the "meaning" of the use and extension From ancient times to the present, generations, the reason why people repeatedly traced the same graphic, not only because of its appearance has how beautiful appreciation value, but also more importantly in the traditional graphics we see behind, often contains more and more deep meaning of good luck. The external form is the way to express the internal meaning, is the externalization and materialization of the internal meaning, so the traditional graphics, which were initially born from the people's worship of nature and religion, through the evolution of time, and then extended to the expectation of "the prosperity of life, the life of the rich and the prosperous and happy," and so on many beautiful symbolism. Combining traditional graphic art and modern logo design teaching, it not only requires teachers to guide students to refine and innovate the shape of traditional graphics, but also requires teachers to lead students to explore and excavate the "meaning" behind them. Because whether it is ancient or modern people, the same desire for beautiful things, as Szeto Hong said: "the embodiment of Chinese cultural consciousness and philosophical concepts of form, which has two characteristics: one is to contain the scientific and rational part of the ancient people of the summary of the laws of nature; the second is its imagination and creativity, which reflects the Chinese people's desire for good luck and happiness. " Therefore, the auspicious meaning behind traditional graphics is also suitable to be followed in the design of modern logos. For example, the traditional Chinese graphic "Pan Chang" is often used in combination with the "Fang Sheng" pattern in folklore, which expresses people's good will of implementing the four rings and making everything clear. The logo of China Unicom adopts the shape of "Pan Chang", one of the "Eight Auspiciousnesses" derived from the Eight Treasures of Buddhism, and takes its original meaning of "long lasting, endless and mutually complementary" to This symbolizes that the communication business of Unicom is endless and everlasting. The four squares in the logo have the meaning of "all roads are open and everything is going well"; the six circles have the meaning of "all roads are the same" and "everything is going well"; and the 10 empty spaces in the logo have the meaning of "full circle" and "ten perfect".

Whether in terms of symmetry or evenness, the whole symbol is full of the auspiciousness that has been handed down in the ancient East. Therefore, it is also a good approach for modern logo design to use the traditional graphic "meaning", which is commonly agreed upon and has already formed a *** knowledge in the hearts of the Chinese people, into the inherent connotation of the company to which the logo belongs, so as to extend a newer and deeper conceptual spirit and make it more cultural and social. The logo designed by Mr. Kan for Wing Wah Bakery is also a good example of the use of traditional graphics with auspicious symbols. Founded in 1950, Hong Kong Wing Wah Bakery has a history of more than 50 years. The basic elements of its logo are the square biscuit, the peony flower and the bright moon. In the logo, the element of "square cake" is owned by the company itself, "peony flower" and "bright moon" are traditional graphics, and the peony flower gives people a feeling of elegance and nobility, together with the bright moon, it also has the meaning of "good flowers and moon". Together with the bright moon, they also have the auspicious meaning of "good flowers and full moon". The word "Ronghua" is calligraphy, which is very important. Chinese calligraphy is the most brilliant crown in traditional Chinese graphic arts, and its composition is just a few simple ink lines, but it is really "the modeling of the modeling, the abstraction of the abstraction, the intersection of motion and static, the cohesion of space and time, and the expression of the depth and subtlety of the self" (Li Yanzu). (Li Yanzu). The "Ronghua" brushstrokes of the Ronghua Bakery family have many irregular curved lines, but they are very distinctive, like the petals of a peony flower. The peony pattern has been modified, strengthened, and restyled without change. The golden flower and blue cake are very Chinese, traditional, auspicious and modern.