What is it about?
Focusing on product color as a key visual design element, this study examines how changes in color influence the symbolic aspects of the product and innovation of meaning. By replacing context-bound colors while preserving form and material, traditional and contemporary cultural/usage contexts are layered, resulting in diversified symbolic meaning of the product.
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Why is it important?
Design and interpretation of meaning are interactive and inseparable, yet have been examined separately in academic discussions. This study presents an integrated discussion of design-driven innovation of meaning, focusing on how shaping appearance design shifts cultural/usage contexts and reconstructs symbolic meaning. Product appearance design was decomposed into constituent elements (color/form/material) to examine their effects on meaning. These findings suggest a dynamic mechanism in which color changes create new contexts, while the preserved form/material maintains existing contexts, thus reconstructing symbolic meaning.
Perspectives
The analysis focused on a successful case in which a product’s symbolic meaning is reconstructed, creating a distinct market. It examined Iwachu’s Nambu ironware teapots, “traditional crafts,” for which product color change is the primary trigger in the innovation of meaning. Company viewpoints were collected by the semi-structured interviews, and consumer viewpoints were compiled through online consumer reviews, posts and interviews. Data from both viewpoints were analyzed using a three-stage coding method based on grounded theory.
Takashi Akiyama
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This page is a summary of: Product appearance design that realizes innovation of meaning: focusing on the impact of color changes on product meaning, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, December 2025, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/apjml-03-2025-0422.
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