Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2017 Recognition of symbols in different cultures: Chinese culture vs. non-Chinese culture Tian Shen Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Chinese Studies Commons, and the Graphic Design Commons Recommended Citation Shen, Tian, "Recognition of symbols in different cultures: Chinese culture vs. non-Chinese culture" (2017). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 15420. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/15420 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recognition of symbols in different cultures: Chinese culture vs. non-Chinese culture by Tian Shen A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS Major: Graphic Design Program of Study Committee: Sunghyun Kang, Major Professor Andrea L Quam Aili Mu Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2017 Copyright © Tian Shen, 2017. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENT TABLE OF CONTENT .......................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDEMENTS ...................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 1.1 Purpose of Study ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 3 2.1 Introduction of Symbols ............................................................................ 3 2.1.1 Semiotics ................................................................................................ 3 2.1.2 Well-known Symbols in History ........................................................... 5 2.2 Cultural Differences ................................................................................ 10 2.2.1 Linguistic Differences .......................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Chinese Pictographic Script ................................................................. 14 2.2.3 Chinese Culture Influence.................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 3 CASE STUDY OF ANIMAL OBJECTS ....................................... 21 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 21 3.1.1 Dragon.................................................................................................. 22 3.1.2 Fish ....................................................................................................... 31 iii 3.1.3 Monkey ................................................................................................ 39 3.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 48 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 48 4.2 Survey Objectives .................................................................................... 48 4.3 Survey Plan .............................................................................................. 49 4.3.1 Study Participants ................................................................................ 49 4.3.2 Survey Design ...................................................................................... 50 4.3.3 Design and Selection of the symbols ................................................... 50 CHAPTER 5 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ............................................ 55 5.1 Data Cleaning .......................................................................................... 55 5.2 Participants‟ Demographic Data ............................................................. 55 5.3 Survey Question Analysis ....................................................................... 59 5.4 Findings ................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................ 85 6.1 Recommendations for Designing Cross Culture Symbols ...................... 90 6.2 Limitations ............................................................................................... 90 6.3 Recommendations for Future Study ........................................................ 91 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 93 APPENDIX A. IRB APPROVAL FORM ............................................................ 98 iv APPENDIX B. INFORMED CONSENT ............................................................. 99 APPENDIX C. SURVEY RECRUITING EMAIL ............................................ 100 APPENDIX D. SURVEY QUESTIONS ............................................................ 101 APPENDIX E. 100 CHINESE STYLE DRAGON DESIGNS .......................... 106 APPENDIX F. 100 WESTERN STYLE DRAGON DESIGNS ........................ 110 APPENDIX G. 100 CHINESE STYLE FISH DESIGNS .................................. 114 APPENDIX H. 100 WESTERN STYLE FISH DESIGNS ................................ 118 APPENDIX I. 100 CHINESE STYLE MONKEY DESIGNS ........................... 122 APPENDIX J. 100 WESTERN STYLE MONKEY DESIGNS ........................ 126 v LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Selected Chinese style dragon symbols ............................................................ 29 Table 3.2 Selected non-Chinese style dragon symbols ..................................................... 31 Table 3.3 Selected Chinese style fish symbols ................................................................. 35 Table 3.4 Selected non-Chinese style fish symbols .......................................................... 38 Table 3.5 Selected Chinese style monkey symbols .......................................................... 42 Table 3.6 Selected non-Chinese style monkey symbols ................................................... 45 Table 4.1 Dragon symbol set ............................................................................................ 51 Table 4.2 Monkey symbol set ........................................................................................... 52 Table 4.3 Fish symbol set ................................................................................................. 53 Table 5.1 ANOVA Test for Q12 (Considering Single Factor) ......................................... 70 Table 5.2 Students‟ t-test Results for Q12 ........................................................................ 70 Table 5.3 ANOVA Test for Q12 (Considering Correlations between Factors) ............... 70 Table 5.4 ANOVA Test for Q13 (Considering Single Factor) ......................................... 73 Table 5.5 Students‟ t-test Results for Q13 ........................................................................ 73 Table 5.6 ANOVA Test for Q13 (Considering Correlations between Factors) ............... 73 Table 5.7 Number of Participants in Each Age Group ..................................................... 73 Table 5.8 ANOVA Test for Q14 (Considering Single Factor) ......................................... 74 vi Table 5.9 Students‟ t-test Results for Q14 ........................................................................ 75 Table 5.10 ANOVA Test for Q14 (Considering Correlations between Factors) ............. 75 Table 5.11 ANOVA Test for Q15 (Considering Single Factor) ....................................... 76 Table 5.12 Students‟ t-test Results for Q15 ...................................................................... 76 Table 5.13 ANOVA Test for Q15 (Considering Correlations between Factors) ............. 76 Table 5.14 ANOVA Test for Q16 (Considering Single Factor) ....................................... 77 Table 5.15 Students‟ t-test Results for Q16 ...................................................................... 77 Table 5.16 ANOVA Test for Q17 (Considering Single Factor) ....................................... 78 Table 5.17 Students‟ t-test Results for Q17 ...................................................................... 79 Table 5.18 ANOVA Test for Q17 (Considering Correlations between Factors) ............. 79 Table 5.19 ANOVA Test for Q18 (Considering Single Factor) ....................................... 80 Table 5.20 Students‟ t-test Results for Q18 ...................................................................... 80 Table 5.21 ANOVA Test for Q18 (Considering Correlations between Factors) ............. 81 Table 5.22 ANOVA Test for Q19 (Considering Single Factor) ......................................