With the rapid development of social economy, the role of design art in modern society is becoming more and more obvious, especially in the 2 1 century, the development of design art has entered an unprecedented period of prosperity. With the advent of the information age, the communication of design art is as dense as a river, and the constant emergence of new materials and technologies makes us dizzying. Although designers use design elements in a colorful way, due to the potential influence of thinking mode, they are always used to using contemporary visual elements as a stepping stone to design creativity, thus ignoring the enlightenment of traditional elements to modern design art.

The Chinese nation has a cultural heritage of 5000 years, and our ancestors left us a lot of cultural elements. Every traditional element has a profound cultural accumulation and is engraved with a deep national brand. The beautiful elements of these cultures are the treasures of the Chinese nation and the profound wisdom of the people of China. Some people say that "the national is the world's." Although this argument is still under constant debate, it is undeniable that countries all over the world have reached an unprecedented state of digging and attaching importance to their own national culture. In today's borderless environment such as "cultural fast food" and "cultural infiltration", the traditional elements of national culture with characteristics in various countries are showing more and more precious value.

In the field of modern design in China, due to the influx and infiltration of various foreign new ideas, the new ideas and concepts that followed shook our inherent values and aesthetics, making us lose the right to speak, and the design works are getting farther and farther away from the national personality. How to understand the symbiotic relationship between traditional elements and modern design, so that its application in modern design art is more extensive and in-depth; How to combine China traditional elements with modern design art reasonably, which not only respects the uniqueness of national art, but also reflects the aesthetic psychology of the Chinese nation and reflects the inner spiritual pursuit of modern people, is an important topic pursued and faced by a new generation of designers.

1, creative thinking and design elements of modern design art

Creativity is indispensable in design art, and creativity is a process of mental perception. "The core of design creativity is creative thinking, which runs through the whole design activity. The significance of' creation' is to break through the shackles of existing things and reflect the purposeful activities of human beings to actively transform the objective world and open up new value systems and lifestyles with original and novel new ideas or forms. " [①]

The process of creativity is a series of reorganization and innovative thinking of design elements. When a designer receives a design task, the first thing he thinks of is the design goal, and then he considers how to achieve the determined goal, and realizes the transcendence and sublimation of the design through creative brewing and epiphany. The creative process of design is often not smooth sailing, and the phenomenon of "running out of water" often appears, and even the situation of "the purse is getting wider and wider, worrying about the country and the people is haggard". [2] We often sum up in design practice that the biggest enemy of designers is themselves, that is, how designers surpass themselves and break through their own mindset.

At the China Wuhan Art Education Summit Forum in 2007, Professor Xu Ping of the Central Academy of Fine Arts pointed out an unhealthy social logic: "Design is industrial, industry is western, the west is modern, modernity is scientific and science is progressive". Some people even think that "China's design development level is backward because the spread of western design is blocked" and so on. In our domestic print advertising design, English advertisements and copywriting often appear. Some designers unilaterally think that the design works in Chinese will be very rustic, while some works knowingly face the China audience, or pile up some combinations of English words or letters, and some even add some Chinese pinyin to grandstanding, thinking that in this way, the works can be foreign. In fact, we are still looking for money everywhere. Many times, foreign designers look for inspiration from the elements of the East and China.

A costume drama just aired on CCTV's Golden Channel, I noticed in particular that in the subtitles of the cast list, a bracket was added after the name of a famous China actor, and "British nationality" was specially indicated in the bracket. Compared with many previous programs in which the actor starred, this small change is particularly noticeable in this drama without "foreign guests". Let's not analyze whether the actor really joined British nationality for some reason. The appearance of such "foreign guests" also reflects a social phenomenon-worshipping foreign things and obsessing foreign things. This is especially true in the field of design. People around us often show off their design style by learning Japanese design, and regard some Japanese designers as grandfathers, but they don't fundamentally understand the cultural background of Japanese designers or are deeply influenced by ancient China culture. I am used to reflecting my imitation style in the mirror of western aesthetic thought, but I am helpless at present because of the confusion of creative thinking in design.

Chen Zhifo, a modern art educator in China, mentioned in "Several Issues on Arts and Crafts Design": "All artistic creation or craft design can't get rid of the shackles of old stereotypes, can't break through the stereotypes, and have a unique style, which is not in line with the requirements of artistic creation." [3] We are in an era of high modernization and informationization, and the constant emergence of new materials, inventions and technologies makes us dizzying. In this situation, we are faced with the problem of how to understand the relationship between traditional elements and modern design, and how to inherit and carry forward excellent national traditional elements in modern artistic creation. From a brand-new perspective, get rid of rational, logical and linear thinking, get rid of thinking inertia, and recombine the traditional elements of China, seeking differences from the same and seeking common ground from differences, that is, old elements, new combinations, new ideas and new breakthroughs.

2. China traditional elements in the design context.

Professor Yin Dingbang mentioned in the preface of his Introduction to Design: "Since ancient times, the basic points of human wisdom are nothing more than two aspects: first, materials are realized through modeling design; The other is immaterial, which is realized through thought, system, public opinion and etiquette. If there is a third aspect, it is the combination of the two aspects. " [4] Through the above three aspects, materials are the foundation and need to be realized through design, which is enough to see the great influence of design on the whole world civilization and its development.

In recent years, from graphic design, industrial design, environmental art design to architectural design, China traditional elements have been applied more and more. What can represent the traditional elements of China in the design context? In a sense, elements are symbols, symbols are the media for loading and transmitting information, and they are a simplified means of understanding things.

China culture has a long history, and the traditional cultural elements are naturally vast. From the cultural point of view, "culture is the sum of various ways and products of human activities, including the scope of material production, spiritual production and artistic production, that is, including all the richness of human dynamic forms in society." [5] Anthropologist Franz Boaz once divided culture into three categories from the perspective of cultural structure:

(1) Material culture-acquisition, preservation and processing of food, houses, clothes, manufacturing technology, products, traffic laws, etc.

(2) Social relations-general economic status, property rights, war, tribal relations in peacetime, personal status, tribe, clan, family organization, communication form, gender and age within the tribe.

(3) Art, religion and ethics-decoration, painting, sculpture, ballads, stories, dances, attitudes and behaviors in contrast to the natural state and the sacred state of existence. [⑥]

From the above context, the traditional elements of China in the design context can be described as row upon row. Traditional cultural elements naturally cover a wide range, and we can only list a small number of elements such as:

Chinese painting, China calligraphy, seal cutting, Dunhuang murals, Four Treasures of the Study (inkstone, pen, rice paper, ink);

Qin bricks, Han tiles, terracotta warriors and horses; Peking opera mask, shadow play, martial arts;

Chinese knots and red lanterns (palace lanterns and gauze lanterns);

Woodcut watermark, Zhong Dingwen, Han bamboo slips, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Zhong Dingwen, Han bamboo slips, vertical thread-bound books;

Tang suit, dragon and phoenix pattern (gluttonous pattern, wishful pattern, thunder pattern, palindrome pattern, Ba pattern), auspicious cloud pattern, Chinese embroidery (embroidery, etc.). );

China lacquerware, paper cutting, kites, chopsticks;

Painted pottery, teapot, porcelain;

Couplets, door gods, New Year pictures, firecrackers, riddles, stone lions and lion dances;

Huabiao, Paifang, Great Wall;

Mid-Autumn Moon Cake, jiaozi, Zongzi, Sugar-Coated Berry;

Gold ingot, jade, ruyi, gossip and so on. ...

Every place also has local and ethnic characteristics, so it is difficult to give an example. Thousands of years of civilization have left us a rich and colorful art treasure house. Under such a profound cultural background in China, designers can get inexhaustible design resources from it, which may often give you an unexpected design sentiment.

3. The inspiration of China traditional elements in the design context to modern design art.

Mr. Zhang, a contemporary artist in China, once said, "Looking back for thousands of years, Zhang came up with a train of thought by comparing and classifying all kinds of things. Donkeys are carrying forward and moving towards a new era, not sticking to the old pedantry, but the creator is opening up the future. " [⑦]

As traditional elements handed down in China for thousands of years, how to make them well inherited and utilized has become a useful inspiration for modern design art. These things are the culture accumulated by the Chinese nation for thousands of years and have a strong oriental color. We can find many places to use them in modern design. Through intelligent creative thinking, they have evolved into new design elements to serve our modern art design.

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games will bring once-in-a-lifetime design opportunities to China designers. In the subconscious of ordinary people, the series of designs for the Olympic Games must have an international vision and a design style that conforms to the international design trend. When the design projects approved by the International Olympic Committee gradually surfaced, we suddenly found that the blood of the Chinese nation flowed in the series of works designed for the Olympic Games. Since the symbol "Taiji Biography" designed by Chen Shaohua and Han Meilin for Beijing's Olympic bid, the series design of Beijing Olympic Games has become a testing ground for China elements.

The symbol of Beijing's Olympic bid adopts the typical colors of the Olympic rings. Vivid graphics show a person's dynamic posture of hitting Tai Ji Chuan, which is also a traditional handicraft pattern in China, namely "concentric knot" or "Chinese knot". With its simple and smooth lines, it symbolizes beauty, harmony and movement, and symbolizes the unity, cooperation and exchange of people all over the world. (See photo 1) It is the China element in this work that deeply touched every official of the Olympic Organizing Committee and became the biggest visual hero of the successful Olympic bid. It also led to the social trend of China people's unprecedented love for "Chinese knots".

Next, in the expectation of hundreds of millions of people, the symbol of "Dancing Beijing" of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games-China Seal was born. In the unique form of 5,000-year-old Chinese seal, combined with the charm of China's traditional calligraphy, the logo combines China's traditional elements with the modern Olympic spirit, which fully embodies the theme connotation of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This design also makes the "Chinese seal" dance from China to all parts of the world.

The design of medals for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has attracted wide attention from all walks of life. After a long period of brewing, exploration and conception, the design team of the Central Academy of Fine Arts finally established the form of Chinese jade matching, which won unanimous praise from the Olympic Organizing Committee and the society.

The torch creativity of the Beijing Olympic Games is also a typical case of the successful application of China cultural symbols in modern design. This torch was collectively designed by Lenovo Innovation Design Center, and was inspired by the "Xiangyun" pattern with a long history in China. Xiangyun stands for "symbiosis and harmony" and is also one of the most traditional symbols with China characteristics. The design of the torch was inspired by the traditional paper scrolls in China. Paper is one of the four great inventions in China. With its appearance, human civilization has spread.

"The crowd to find it thousands of baidu. Suddenly looking back, the man was there, and the lights were dim. " [8] Without the search of "Thousands of Baidu", there would be no sudden epiphany and understanding. The reason why the above design can embody the connotation of national culture in the design and skillfully integrate China elements into the design lies in the designer's knowledge background and understanding ability of national culture, as well as the natural emotional expression after understanding national culture, and at the same time reflects the cultural inspiration brought by China elements to the design field.

George Yarrow, an internationally renowned master of automobile design, once said: "The connotation of design is culture". The inspiration of China traditional elements in the design context to modern design should not only be reflected in the appearance of design works. China traditional culture should be felt in the whole process of design, production, manufacturing, consumption and experience. What this process needs is the accumulation of experience, a deep understanding of traditional culture, a thorough understanding of the theme and a novel and unique thinking angle.

The reference and application of China's traditional elements in the design context is not a mechanical copy of the original form, but a reorganization and collocation after deconstruction with modern composition principles. Re-recognition and re-understanding of traditional elements and things can bring new ways of thinking, thus improving the design thinking and creative ability of modern designers. We are convinced that contemporary designers who have grown up in China's profound cultural heritage will stand on the top of the world in the near future as long as they hold the dominant genes of China people's wisdom and ability in their designs and rely on their profound understanding of national culture.