A Design Research On The Construction Of New Female Images In The Young Companion

The Young Companion pictorial is the first large-scale comprehensive news pictorial in the history of modern press and publishing history of China.From its inception in 1926 to its suspension in 1945,a total of 172 issues of The Young Companion pictorial and two special issues were issued.The rich content of The Young Companion is a precious research material on the history of the Republic of China,which highlights the design aesthetics,design thinking and design culture of the Republic of China.This study takes female images in The Young Companion as the research object,and explores the design issues related to the construction of new female images.The female images in The Young Companion are an informative record of the modernization of woman in the Republican period,reflecting the evolution of women’s production and lifestyles during this period,and the design ideas contained in them have many inspirations and values for our modern design research.Based on the background of the transformation of modernity in Chinese society,this study firstly uses bibliographic and statistical research methods to classify the publications into four historical periods and three development stages in terms of their publication and distribution,as well as their positioning and influence;and systematically classifies them in terms of their publication and expression forms and subject categories.Secondly,the design research method is applied to study the design styles of representative authors based on the illustrations of female images in The Young Companion,and to investigate the influence of Western art movements on The Young Companion.It also systematically sorts out and summarizes the evolution of female images on the cover of The Young Companion in terms of its layout,photography,and illustration.Again,using semiotic research,it analyzes the symbolic narrative of the new female images in The Young Companion in terms of the "modernity" of the Republic of China,the "consumer" ideal of women,and the sociality of women.Finally,using the research methods of iconography and narratology,the study explores the narratives of female subject consciousness and gender narratives from male perspectives in The Young Companion from gender perspective.By analyzing the female images in The Young Companion,this study classifies and attributes the "historical context" of the construction of new female images,and conducted a more comprehensive and in-depth study of the female images in the pictorial.The new female image in The Young Companion as an ideal benchmark is a beautiful imagination about modernity.The design ideas behind it are composed of designers,designer objects,and design consumers.It shows the modernity process and the changes of the spirit of the Republic of China,which has certain reference significance for contemporary design.