The Application And Research Of Metaphor In The Design Of Tableware For Preschool Children

The material level and the number of children is increasing in China.Social changes have brought earth-shaking changes to the children’s industry.As the core of a family,children carry a lot of attention from family and society,and children’s product design also highlights its importance in this period.Tableware design is valued by different families and designers.As a necessity for children’s daily use,the design quality of tableware directly affects the cultivation of children’s eating behavior,especially for preschool children who are in a critical period of cultivating habits.The design of children’s tableware also coincides with today’s “user-centered” design concept,as well as the humanistic semantics and values closely related to people.In this paper,the familiar elements of users are associated with product design by means of metaphor,so as to enhance users’ goodwill and interest.Therefore,the purpose of this paper is to combine metaphor with children’s tableware to bring children a better eating experience.The paper firstly analyzes the literature related to metaphor,and the metaphorical features of existing products are analyzed by case analysis,and the types of metaphor design and the functions of metaphor are summarized.Secondly,it defines preschool children and tableware,analyzes children’s characteristics from children’s psychological,physiological and cognitive development,and analyzes design elements of children’s tableware such as size,color,shape,function and material,so as to provide basic research direction for subsequent design.In the stage of user research,the paper uses household observation and user interview to understand children’s eating habits and stakeholders’ views on children’s tableware,and then analyzes and summarizes the research contents to explore the pain points of users and the opportunities in the design,and turns them into design requirements.Through organizing and analyzing metaphorical design,children’s tableware and target users’ investigation,the design principles and strategies of children’s tableware are obtained under metaphorical technique.The above research will provide theoretical support for the subsequent part of practice.Finally,the paper combines metaphor with children’s tableware to carry out design.In this design practice,Chinese zodiac is selected as the design vehicle,and the culture of Chinese zodiac is applied to tableware design.From the shape,function,use mode and material to design and finally complete the design scheme,then test its usability to confirm the feasibility of the design.This design research puts forward the basic method of applying metaphor to children’s tableware design,which proves the necessity of applying metaphor theory to children’s tableware.At the same time,it enriches the children’s tableware market in design and brings more value to the children’s tableware industry.