Abstract
Translating culturally saturated ornament into contemporary design often collapses meaning into surface resemblance and lacks auditable methods that generalize across diverse scenarios (e.g., product and public-information settings). Focusing on the Chaoshan Five-Element gable, this study models heritage semantics as an evaluative system and tests how such semantics guide concrete design choices. It operationalizes a transparent, reproducible decision framework that integrates kansei structuring, AHP weighting with internal consistency control, TOPSIS ranking, and robustness analyses, with portability demonstrated via contextual reweighting for wayfinding. Expert judgments from a 16-member panel exhibit acceptable logical consistency (CR = 0.06) and substantial agreement (Kendall’s W = 0.79), while a user survey (n = 300) supports scale reliability and content validity (I-CVI = 0.83–1.00; S-CVI/Ave = 0.91). In the primary application to two tea-set designs, TOPSIS closeness favors Teaware A over Teaware B (Ci = 0.676 vs. 0.642). For historical-district wayfinding, criteria are reweighted to emphasize legibility, visibility, and universal comprehension; the concept-level strategies rank S2 Anchor markers (0.664) > S3 Color coding (0.641) > S1 Decorative border (0.603) > S4 Modern baseline (0.521). Across ±5/10% weight perturbations and leave-one-out checks on experts and criteria, rank concordance remains high (Spearman ρ ≈ 0.90–0.95), indicating stable preferences. Beyond these cases, the framework is potentially transferable: the criterion skeleton and contextual reweighting logic can be reused, but cross-site validation is required before claiming broader generalizability across cultural settings.
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Data Availability
The data and materials supporting the findings of this study are provided with this manuscript as related Information (Files 1–6). The raw survey dataset is available in related files 1 (1_RawData.xlsx) and the processed/analysis-ready dataset is available in related files 2 (2_ProcessedData.xlsx). Variable definitions, coding rules, construct documentation, and measurement anchors are provided in related files 3 (3_CodebookAndAnchors.xlsx). The complete survey instruments and study protocol are provided in related files 4 (4_InstrumentsAndProtocol.docx). All computations used to generate the reported results (including the AHP-derived weights and the TOPSIS procedures) are fully reproducible using related files 5 (5_Calculations_REPRODUCIBLE.xlsx). A reproduction guide mapping manuscript tables/figures to the corresponding datasets and calculation outputs is provided in related files 6 (6_README.docx).
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the project “Digital Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area and Design of its Cultural and Creative Product Development” (Project No. 2020GXJK192); the Guangdong Provincial Quality Engineering Modern Industrial College: “Eco-design Industry College” (Project No. KA23YY082); the 2024 Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology “Guangdong Rural Science and Technology Commissioner Project: Jiangdong Vegetable, Rice, and Agro-Cultural Tourism Industry Brand Building and Promotion” (Project No. KTP20240829); the Construction of science and technology plan project content in Jiangdong Town, Chaoan District, Chaozhou City (Project No. D125211E7); and the 2024 Chaozhou City Chaoan District Science and Technology Special Fund: Construction of Ecological Industry Innovation Talent Cultivation Base under the “Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand Project” (Specialized Town Transformation and Upgrading Project). The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to Jingdezhen Xianyunju Ceramic Culture Communication Co., LTD for providing the ceramic vessel shapes used in the design process. Their support significantly contributed to the implementation and visualization of the symbolic product designs.
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F.Y. provided core academic leadership—establishing the research framework, defining the path for interdisciplinary theoretical integration, and ensuring methodological rigor; Y.Y. and J.Z. conceived the study and wrote the main manuscript text; Y.R. developed the methodology and co-wrote the original draft; J.Z. implemented the software, curated the data and together with X.L. conducted validation; J.J. performed formal analysis; Y.L. carried out the investigation and managed project administration; Y.Y. provided resources and secured funding; X.L. produced the visualizations; S.Q. refined the research framework and assisted with manuscript editing. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
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Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering. The research was conducted in accordance with the relevant ethical guidelines for research involving human participants, including the Declaration of Helsinki (2013). Ethical review and approval were granted on August 15, 2024 (Approval number: ZK202521101). The study scope included: The analysis of cultural symbols and design optimization; The collection of non-invasive feedback from participants (users and experts) via surveys and expert evaluations; No biomedical interventions or sensitive personal data were involved. Ethical approval was granted after a comprehensive review, which included an evaluation of the research protocol, the survey and expert evaluation instruments, as well as the measures in place to ensure participants’ privacy and rights.
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Informed consent for this study was obtained orally from all participants involved in the user feedback survey and expert evaluation prior to January 12, 2025. The consent was obtained via phone calls, where the researcher explained the study’s purpose, data usage, participants’ voluntary participation, their right to withdraw at any time without consequences, and how the data would be used while assuring anonymity. No audio recordings were made, but the researcher documented the verbal consent and noted the date and participant’s agreement. The scope of consent covered participation in the survey and expert evaluation, the use of anonymized data for analysis, and consent to publish the findings in a research context. All participants were fully informed of their rights and the research’s aims. The study did not involve vulnerable groups or minors. It was non-interventional, involving surveys and expert evaluations, and participants were assured that their anonymity was protected, their data would only be used for the study, and there were no risks to participation. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study on January 12, 2025.
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Yao, Y., Zheng, J., Ying, F. et al. Evaluating and translating cultural symbol design: An AHP-TOPSIS evaluation framework based on the Chaoshan five-element Gable Walls. Humanit Soc Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07116-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07116-z
