Research On Japanese Packaging Design Under The Influence Of "Zen Culture"

Its known to all that Japanese design is largely developed after war, during the period, designers emerged the nationally tradition arts and contemporary westernized design. With a new form of design, making it a traditional yet international “Japanese type”. In such a short period, Japanese design attracts public attention globally with its unique characteristics. Looking deeply at the Japanese design, it conveys the features of “peace”, “simplicity “and so forth. When we study the Japanese design,it is trivial to only study the materials in an object and the way of using pattern, lines as well as colors. However, what makes Japanese so attractive, making it a new designing guide. It is the element of Zen that makes the essence of the design. The Zen Buddhism is originated from India, then go through China and ended up in Japan,which set a deep root afterwards in the country. The thoughts of Zen penetrate in all classes of Japanese, influencing their aesthetics. This paper majorly study Japanese cover design, analyzing the relations between the elements of Zen and the style of cover design.In the second chapter, the paper deeply analyses the meaning of Zen culture and how does it penetrate in Japanese culture. The three chapter study the Zen’s role in Japanese culture through the analysis of architecture design, 2D design, industrial design as well as fashion design. Chapter 4 & 5 are the essential ones in the paper, it proves that Japanese cover design cannot live without Zen through the study of the case in the cover design. It is majorly displayed by the elements of “Exquisite”and“Simple” as well as “Human touch”. Exquisite refers to the subtle feeling in the design, it is a style of simplicity. Simple is affected by Zen, featured by nature, a lot of natural materials such as paper, bamboo and stone are used. “Human touch”in Japanese design is characterized by humanity, emphasizing the emotional interaction between customers and products. Furthermore, it is also environmental friendly, all these features are originated and affected by Zen.