Providing new thoughts for basic design research and coordinated innovation

On May 16, 2020, the "Online Mini Salon & 11th Design Morphology Symposium of Tsinghua University" initiated by professor Qiu Song of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, was held on Tencent Meeting.

The attendees had extensive and in-depth discussions at the meeting themed "Morphology in Music and Color". Two special guests from the music and color circles were invited to give academic reports, and experts, teachers and students specialized in fields such as materials, mathematics and art design from tens of Chinese and foreign universities attended the symposium. By discussing the research values of morphology in music and color and their correlation, the symposium attempted to provide new thoughts for basic design research and coordinated innovation.

Cross-disciplinary discussions

Professor Qiu Song gave a theme speech at first. In previous cross-disciplinary symposiums, design morphology has been discussed in relation to philosophy, biology, mathematics, physics and materials. The latest symposium was the first attempt to discuss it in connection with music.

Including color in the cross-disciplinary symposium is of great importance as color is not only an important component of design, but also carries cross-disciplinary traits itself. In terms of transmission, color delivers visual information in the form of light wave while sound delivers auditory messages through sound waves, in both cases morphology functions as a medium that connects color and sound in a thousand ways.

Qiu Song raised some typical examples of design morphology in music and color at home and abroad, including New Zealand composer Nigel Stanford's innovative musical expressions that combine morphology with music, and the study of off-color materials conducted by the University of Southampton.

The first speaking guest was Liu Jianmin, clarinet and saxophone performer at the Symphony Orchestra of the National Ballet of China and member of the Jazz Society of Chinese Musicians' Association. He talked about "morphology of music in time and space", in which he briefly introduced the origin and development history of Chinese and western music, and elaborated on human understanding of music in view of the four stages of their perception of nature. In ancient Greece, music, one of the "seven disciplines", was categorized as a "science" closely related with mathematics. Of the basic elements of music, the vibration hertz, musical scale and every other indicator all has a rational mathematical relation. That's why a dulcet polyphony usually comes hand in hand with the harmonious twelve-tone equal temperament.

The second speaking guest was Zhao Xia, color director and deputy secretary general of China Fashion & Color Association and color assessor of International Commission for Color in Fashion and Textiles. She talked about "the tangible and intangible color", in which she said everything, be it rainbow or flowers, plants or buildings, is presented in a form. Color and morphology are particularly inseparable in the teaching and practice of design. She further explained the research value of morphology in color by way of some products and advertising cases.

Echoing and conversion

The second part of the mini salon was presided over by professor Qiu Song and attended by people from comprehensive universities and art academies in China and overseas, but their different academic background didn't prevent them from understanding each other during the exchanges. The speaking guests answered in great detail questions raised by teachers and students in mathematics, materials and other disciplines. Yin Yuanyuan, a teacher from the University of Southampton in Britain, mentioned the potential value of using traditional Chinese music and colors to treat Alzheimer's disease. Jin Siyu, a student from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, gave a report on the "evolution of image styles based on the visualization of musical traits".

Professor Qiu Song made a summary of the symposium in the end. According to him, sound and color, despite their different ways of transmission, both translate into sensory messages through the delivery of sensual information. They may be construed as interchangeable virtual forms under special circumstances that can echo with and convert into each other. He hoped that with the continuous progress of science and technology, more experts from different disciplines will make greater contributions to the development of humanities.

Photo by Basic Teaching & Research Group

Text by Niu Zhiming

Edited by Zhao Ruohan