On the Sustainable Development of the Design of Semiotics and Ecological Aesthetics

Yang Qin

(Department of Industrial Design Liaoning University of Science and Technology，Anshan Liaoning 114051)

Ⅰ．Theories of semiotics

Semiotics is a discipline concerning the study of general symbols with the focus on systems expressed or implied by symbols．The range of study covers the essence，features and laws of change and development，significance of symbols as well as relations between it and human activities．The study of contemporary semiotics has blended the study methods and results of philosophy，anthropology，psychology，sociology，biology，communication and information sciences．As an interdisciplinary meta-science，semiotics has been applied into various subjects，such as linguistics，architecture and industrial design．

The term“symbol”has a long history but its definition is still unclear．Galen，a Roman philosopher and doctor writes a book named Semioties，thus gaining the name of the“Father of Semiotics”．Christian thinker Augustine notes that a symbol is something that represents something else，and it is both a matter object and psychological effect of language．

Humans have a long history of using symbols and nowadays，semiotics has become a hot topic in academic cycles．No symbols without meanings could exist and all meanings could be found in symbols．

Morris creates the theoretical system of semiotics，and divides the system into Syntactic，Semantic and Pragmatic．Syntactic studies the interrelations of symbols in the whole system;Semantic studies the relation between signifier and signified;Pragmatics studies symbol users’understanding and application of symbols．Semantics has become the most frequently-discussed and the most widely-used semiotic theory in design．American symbologist Pierce divides symbols into image symbols，designated symbols and indicative symbols，which is considered the most effective division．

It is difficult to change the meaning expressed by symbols．In fact，the meaning of symbols cannot be changed after they have acquired historical meaning，experience meaning or conventional meaning．As a part of social function，symbols have certain meaning and connotation，which can be understood by readers，or acceptors．The arbitrariness of symbols has never belonged to individuals，but society，which depends on social and cultural habits．A large quantity of things in our daily life are such symbols and comparatively speaking，symbols need to be restrained by institutional mechanism to the greatest extend．In one word，institutional mechanism constitutes the foundation of communication and contact between people．The principle of arbitrariness and institutional mechanism has deepened our understanding that symbols are the products of human mind(a psychological construct)．The stability of symbol forms and the definiteness of symbol meaning are determined by conventions and institutions of human culture instead of objective physical property．

“Reality”is not pure objective existence for humans，but a symbol system．The arbitrariness of symbols contributes to our understanding of the diversity of symbols．Design symbols also features arbitrariness despite of various restricts，such as processing conditions and the internal restrictions of the elements．However，it cannot be denied that there is relative arbitrariness．Therefore，design symbols are allowed to have more various forms．

Ⅱ．Design semiotics

The international study on semiotics has centered on relevant design arts．At present，studies home and abroad of semiotics on design arts mainly focus on architectural design and industrial design．In China，each phase progress in modern design field and international design theories have been introduced in Design Semiotics written by Professor Zhang Xianrong．

Design is the product of human social production practice．All objects of de-sign are the first demand of human society and the most important material cultural creation．All cultural phenomena are symbol phenomena，and therefore，cultural phenomena are also symbol phenomena．The aim of designing products is to express certain meaning of designers．

Culture is a type of phenomena created by humans，which can be divided into material aspect and spiritual aspect．Material culture primarily belongs to economic base，such as instrument，equipment，environment，architecture，clothes and other material creation，while spiritual culture belongs to superstructure，which is a natural refection of material culture and objective nature in human brains，such as languages，science，arts，virtues，laws，rules and political institutions．Therefore，cultural phenomena cover all fields of human creation activities．

All types of culture systems aims at creating something meaningful and valuable for humans．Design has nurtured all types of cultural creation，and all cultures are another kind of creation．Therefore，design semiotics deserves our research in our study on semiotics．

Ⅲ．Theories of ecological aesthetics

Ecological aesthetics is a new type of aesthetics with the core of ecology，which has evolved from a brand new aesthetic concept，namely ecological aesthetic standard from 1970s．

Inspired by modern ecological concepts，environmental concepts and aesthetic concepts，ecological aesthetics is a pioneering and original interdisciplinary aesthetic application discipline．It is the detailed manifestation of ecological ontology in aesthetics field．It studies human and natural ecological phenomena，ecological relations and rules from the perspective of aesthetics with the focus on the relation between nature and human existence．Centering on ecology，ecological aesthetics researches the value proposition and restoration practice of nature．

Ecological aesthetics is a brand new aesthetics which is most prominent in natural aesthetics:first，the construction of aesthetic view of ecological environment is on the premise of the understanding of ecology;second，it looks upon the essence of natural beauty in terms of the entirety and relations of life instead of a part of individual life;third，it looks upon harmony from the perspective of the entire universe and the well-organized existence and movement of lives on the planet，rather than the uniformity of humans and nature as well as human mentality，and then attach new interpretation and meaning to harmony;fourth，it regards natural beauty as the model of beauty instead of artistic beauty．The cosmology of ecological ontology means a revolution in which ecological aesthetics will totally refresh people’s concepts and lives．The aesthetic view of ecological standards is derived from the exploration of the deep wisdom of traditional ecological philosophy of ancient China and the experience of organic unification concepts of western post-modernism and provides an excellent opportunity for establishing global aesthetics with Chinese characteristics．

Ecological aesthetics studies the aesthetic relations between humans and nature．The core of ecological aesthetics lies in ecology and aesthetics，to be more specific，looking upon ecology in terms of aesthetics．The alienated living and saving of modern individuals are neglected．Therefore，the contemporary ontology aesthetics has been interpreted from the perspective of humans，and the individuality of existential philosophy raised by Martin Heidegger has been neglected，whose aesthetical living rules have been deemed as the most valuable theoretical assets of modern western aesthetics and post-practical aesthetics．

Ⅳ．On the sustainable development of the design of semiotics and ecological aesthetics

Comparatively speaking，indicative symbols need to be restrained by institutions;designated symbols need less restriction due to their arbitrariness．Image symbols are more complicated in that we tend to hold that they do not need institutional mechanism as they seem to be the reflection of the real world．However，image symbols also require the restriction of cultural habits．

All types of styles are the fruits of human mind in terms of modern design history．However，the single rigid linguistic forms and neutral color forms of modernism are not the most suitable for design．In fact，they have become conventions，or even institutions and dogmas by the manipulation of a small number of elite，which have become the stereotype of human lives and lacked humanity．

However，the current entire cultural environment has determined the elegant traditional culture-oriented development of the design of semiotics at home，thus leading to the separation from our daily life．What’s more，many designers tend to take advantage of the arbitrariness of symbols and be trapped at the initial phase of simply piecing together symbols．As a result，how to strike a balance between institutional mechanism and arbitrariness in the design of semiotics has become a priority．

The value of ecological aesthetics in design has been in line with the tide of the reflection on modernism，which introspects on anthropocentrism，criticizes the philosophy of subjectivity and contributes to the cultural construction of China，thus possessing practical meaning．On the other hand，the proposition of modern ontology philosophy can be considered as the transcendence of practical aesthetics，which is an important theoretical meaning of ecological aesthetics．

Ecological aesthetics is aesthetics in globalization，transcending practical esthetics and post-practical aesthetics which is the transplanted western modern aesthetics rather than the original Chinese modern aesthetics．Globalization can be referred to as postmodernism，and the ecological problems across the world need to be solved by means of the wisdom of all humans，and the Oriental wisdom offers solution to this problem．In this sense，ecological aesthetics provides an opportunity for dialogues between postmodernism and traditional Chinese culture．Traditional Oriental culture and thinking boasts vitality and brand new interpretation in terms of the study on the harmony between humans and nature，thus leading to the continuous blending of traditional Chinese aesthetics into ecological aesthetics．

Ecological aesthetics opposes anthropocentrism and philosophy of subjectivity，thus leading to the constant complaint of postmodernism design．How to contribute to the blending of subjective arbitrariness of human mind and objective institution of society and laws in design is another problem to be pondered over．However，the subjectivity of humans is based on the survival value and divinity of human existence，which makes humans superior to other creatures．We cannot oppose anthropocentrism when globalization has swept the whole social system and thinking patterns，instead，we can only attempt to constrain human subjectivity to a large extent so as to control human desires，particularly the one leading to the deterioration of natural environment．

Therefore，ecological aesthetics has been gradually turned from objectivity to subjectivity，which has been closer to the traditional Chinese thinking of the unity of heaven and man．Besides，semiotics needs to boost the infusion between the subjective arbitrariness of human mind and the institutions of objective laws and rules．However，the fact that ecological aesthetics pays more attention to natural beauty and that design semiotics focuses more on human perception and cognition cannot be changed．The sustainable development of design requires the contemporary designers combine the advantages of both aspect s．

Notes:

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