Keywords

1 Introduction

Under the function of the education, research, performance and entertainment of traditional museums, is the museum brand image limited to the collection of museums? With the advent of the digital era, is there any opportunity for the extension of brand image to be more possibilities? Brand value, under the sharing and creation of museums and their derivative cultural products, can the museum be given more attractive brand charm? In addition, museums with a lot of growing space in the creative industry, such as create more industries or service niches through the enhancement of brand value.

Over time, the function and design philosophy of the museum has also changed. The traditional concept of museum has evolved into the concept of community development of the ecological museum, and the spirit of design has also changed from the finished art to the creative communication mode with independent thinking. The systematic evolution of museum and design has contributed to the development of cultural products with brand spirit, and at the same time has become the core connotation of the creative industry’s primary concern.

1.1 Eco Museum

In the 1970s, the student movement in France mainly reflected the anti-state machine of French intellectuals and the anti-centralization of a claim. Under the influence of this trend, two French museum scientists: Georges Henri Rivière and Hugiles de Varine have proposed the concept of “decentralization of museums”, arguing that museums should go to the people, not the products of centralization. According to Georges Henri Rivière: “Eco museums are tools that are cultivated, shaped and operated by the public sector (local government) and local residents. Local museums provide librarians, equipment and resources, and local people show their ambitions, knowledge and personal strength, so the Eco-Museum is a mirror for local people to take care of themselves, to find the image of self, to seek an explanation of the life of the ancestors living in this field, regardless of the natural or human heritage. At the same time, it is also a mirror that allows visitors to take a deeper understanding of local industries, customs and characteristics.” [1].

The museum’s operational base is not limited to museum collections, displays, or educational activities. In fact, the natural and human assets of the entire region within the reach of museum organization are covered. The definition of museum audiences has also expanded, with the exception of visitors to the museum, including visitors to the museum, community people and future generations. In the organization of museums, museum professionals are no longer the only core of power, the community representatives, volunteers, museum friends, etc., will form a partnership relationship with professionals. In summary, we can extract the following five concepts from the development of the Eco-Museum: (1) It has changed from a “top-down” of central authority to a localization of “bottom-up.” (2) From the traditional “from the inside out” to the “outside-in” business approach. (3) Abandoning grand theory or grand discourse. (4) The operating base of the museum has changed from “object-oriented” to “person-oriented”. (5) From past-oriented to present or future-oriented. The museum is no longer a nostalgic institution, it should participate in social changes as a catalyst for social change. In other words, the development strategy of the Eco-Museum is not about what happened in the past, but about changing the present and even creating a new future [2].

1.2 Museum Culture Product

The cultural store is usually the “last exhibition hall” of the museum. It was raised in the European and American museums in the 1950s, and it was brought late in China and Taiwan [3]. The souvenirs in the store carry the culture and philosophy of the museum, and because of its popular, practical and fluent nature, it brings a sense of consumer satisfaction to visitors, inspiring visitors’ interest and enthusiasm [4]; at the same time, it also increases visitors. Touching the closeness of the museum culture and further expanding the educational function of the museum. In addition, by creating business income, the museum can also achieve a virtuous circle of self and ensure the sustainability of the museum [5].

Derivatives are commemorative products derived from the cultural resources of the museum itself, combined with creative design, aesthetics of life and popular elements [3]. It is usually a product that maintains the original shape, but is made of different materials and specifications. Or, it is the performance characteristic of the original, combined with other functional products to form a new cultural and creative products, such as: bookmarks, U disk, fan, cup, stationery, umbrella, clothing, etc. In general, artifacts and works of art are far away for the public. The former is limited by ownership, and the latter is expensive because of the fact that the public can only stay at the distance of appreciation. Derivative products allow cultural relics and artworks to enter the daily life of the public, and also realize the process of creative design transformation and sales, explore the potential value of cultural relics and artworks, promote the educational functions of the museum, and enhance the brand influence of the museum [5].

1.3 Museum Brand

Brand is an important asset of the industry. In addition to good quality and convenient access, excellent brand image enables enterprises to quickly obtain excellent profits and achieve growth goals. The Aaker Model five-star conceptual model created by American organization theory expert David Aaker regards brand equity as a combination of brand awareness, brand recognition, brand loyalty, brand association and other brand-specific assets, from products, organizations, people and the symbol is four perspectives to interpret the brand. Aaker thinks: “The brand is the main source of competitive advantage and valuable strategic wealth.” [6].

The connotation of the brand includes the association of the organization; the place of production, the image of the user, the value of emotional attachment, the value of self-expression, brand characteristics, symbols (logo), the brand and customer relationship, the product (including scope, attributes, quality, and function), that is, the brand contains the product. It may be abstract, a feeling, a trust, a service or a general experience, and its foundation is derived from the product itself. “You will not be satisfied with having the best brand; you want the only brand”, “the brand that grasps the market demand, people will want to buy; seize the brand of the customer’s heart, they will be loyal”, Do not Let your brand become an enemy and obstacle for the organization to move forward [7].

Therefore, in the era of multi-information marketing, brand management as an asset management method will help the product to break away from the best method of price war. “Marketing” is the most important function of the company; “Brand” is the core of marketing. Therefore, erecting unique brand characteristics, focusing on brand positioning and spirit, and defining a unified visual language are important foundations for construction [8]. In addition, from the input to the output process, all processes of research analysis, transformation, and integration must be carefully handled in order to establish a system that conforms to the spirit of the brand under the cultural language of the museum. At the same time, from the strategy, planning, design, execution, to the business stage, we must also rely on the same system to create memories and maximize the brand’s charm (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
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Museum cultural products brand derivative system

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The museum is regarded as a brand. All the collections are the core values of the brand, and the goods can be regarded as vehicles. Through the innovative creation mode, the cultural codes and core values can be fully conveyed, that is, culture goods. With the docking between the two, the successful establishment of the museum image can also lead to the valuable museum culture creative brand.

Museums of a New Century (CMNC, 1984), a famous collection of American museums, reminds everyone of the importance of museum education: “If the collection is the heart of the museum, education is the soul of the museum” [9]. Art can exist for all, resonate with community life, and awaken human collective historical memory. Cultural creative products that conform to the brand image of the museum use aesthetic education to match the visual art design and museum functions of the creative industry, to enhance the public get closer, reversal, and always pay attention to the museum, thus creating more museum business opportunities and laying the museum brand image with “Uniquely”. This is also the creators of contemporary art-related fields who are eager to carry out brand marketing, glamour communication and effective implementation in response to changes in the times.

2 Literature Review

The era of change, the design concept that changes with the social form, has a new challenge and framework for the evolution of design thinking and the concept of traditional museum fields. The biggest change in the design environment is the need to integrate the connotation of culture and emphasize the feasibility of sustainable development; the discussion of design thinking must be based on the culture of the era, interpret the diversity of design and diversity of interdisciplinary scales, and focus on the nature of design image, the meaning of design completion, the diversified environment, the experience value of reflecting history, and the culture of geographical design; as for the place, the ecological museum that emphasizes the development of the community becomes a new manifestation; and the economic view of the museum industry which is the pre-foundation of cultural heritage, field and marketing model as industrialization.

2.1 Cultural Product Innovation Design

From the perspective of the evolution of creative life industry and design, the evolution of industrial value proposed by scholar Lin Rung-Tai divides this evolution into a cultural economy based on manufacturing economy, service economy, experience economy and even cultural goods. It can be found that product design has a certain correspondence with consumer demand, from a manufacturing economy that emphasizes product function prices to a service economy that emphasizes consumer demand and a unique customization, and then emphasizes user experience (UX), user interface (UI) or the experience economy of life style mode develops into today’s cultural economy. Product design emphasizes culture, consumer demand pursues aesthetic experience. In the traditional product development process, there is obviously no introduction and design of this cultural concept. There is no need for other innovative processes to assist [10].

Professor Lin Rung-Tai believes that “culture” is a life style, “design” is a taste of life, “creative” is a kind of touched identity, and “industry” is a medium, means or method for realizing cultural creativity. On the cultural level, it is the design that through the cultural creativity, through the industry to achieve a design taste, to form a life style. If the 21st century is based on “humanity”, the design of “culture” is even more important. How to convert “culture” into “creative” and value-added products “design”, that is, how to “culture creativity” Value design is the main topic of cultural innovation design [11].

2.2 Design Thinking

With the design thinking training of Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (D-School), put forward the spirit that should be possessed in design thinking; 1. People-oriented: the starting point of human design, experience from the user’s point of view, to treat him the feeling is to achieve the design that is closest to the user. 2. Early failure: It is better to invest in a relatively small amount of early cost and time, know the failure early, and make corresponding corrections. 3. Cross-domain teamwork: Members of different backgrounds have different expertise and different perspectives on things. Therefore, a cross-domain innovation team is not only able to achieve cross-domain integration results, but also more possibility in inspire innovation. 4. Learning from the process: hands-on learning, and to make prototypes, regardless of success or failure, we can learn more from the process of implementation. 5. Empathy: Look at the world from the same angle as the user, to feel the same experience. 6. Rapid Prototyping: Prototype production begins with a rough and simple model, completed quickly for quick and repeated corrections [12].

2.3 Co-creation Value

From the concept of “product value” first proposed by Sobel Rothenberg’s Creative Value, 1980, the value of the product is based on emphasis on originality, value, and integrity [13]. Michael Porter then put forward the concept of “value chain” in 1985, arguing that products can give more industrial profits because of the linkage of value chains. By identifying the various activities in the process from feed, manufacturing to service, we identify the main and value-added activities of the company’s value creation to match the company’s resources to develop competitive advantage [14]. In 2004, Prahalad and Ramaswamy put forward the idea of “value creation”, thinking that value is not only defined by the product side, but contains existing consumers, potential markets, online emerging markets, and has the opportunity to become co-creation. It is mainly divided into two categories of value creation (production, service) and consumption (consumer alone, consumer interaction with enterprise, consumer interaction with consumer) [15].

In view of the literature discussion of value, this research will further supplement the research gap, which means that while discussing the value of products, we should inject a more layered cultural analysis to explore the life propositions and overalls released by the niche consumer groups, and the lifestyle tastes guided by the product form, also even extend the life style traits implied by large-scale cultural rituals. This is the reference the chairman of the former Taiwan Creative Design Center, Professor Lin Rung-Tai proposed in 2011: the creative design of the creative industry, which “begins with culture, is shaped by products, used for life, and becomes a brand” [16]. Re-thinking the definition of value, advancing with the times and creating (string) a model must rely on the addition and subtraction of the experience combing comb, as for the theoretical gap, it is corrected by a more detailed layer-by-layer completeness. This is also the value and significance of this research.

Looking at the above, regardless of the ecological museum or design thinking, the essence is based on “people”. It is necessary to give a layered cultural connotation, deepen the prototype of brand memory, and the brand value created by museums and cultural goods can be specific. The practical operation of this case study in this research is based on the concept of cross-domain cooperation in design thinking, stimulating more innovation and thinking on the museum cultural goods, through the repeated test and correction of the run-in, this study finally derives the cultural products design principles EDCBA which model can help museums, cultural products development, consumers, innovation or experience the unique brand image and value of the museum.

3 Research Methods

3.1 Interpretive Case Study

This study begins with the Interpretive case study [17], emphasizing that the number of cases is fine, its focus on re-recognizing the problem, the angle determines the resolution, the reasoning must be integrated into the dialectic, and saw that didn’t see it before [17]. The case object is for the Ningbo Port Museum of China. Students from both sides of Taiwan and China will create a unique cultural and creative product that meets the image of the museum. Through the participation of the group, in-depth observation and analysis of the case, interpretation of CYCD and NITID design teams, how to interpret product connotations from different cultural levels under the introduction of Port museum professional guides and design thinking workshops, so as to re-recognize the value of the brand, sort out the meaning of the cognitive level, and derive the insight into the design of the new product.

Then, discuss with the museum staff and workshop training instructors, in addition to layering the comments, while studying the cognitive attributes, emotional depth and design value of various new works in the hearts of consumers, designers and enterprises, with cultural level (physical/tangible material, social/interpersonal behavior, spiritual/inner feeling), cultural meaning (external/intuitive, intermediate/behavior, internal/emotional), design attributes (external/intuitive, function/behavior, feelings/humanity), summarizing product positioning levels and new attributes.

3.2 Case Object: Port Museum and Cross-School Student Team

The Port Museum is located Chunxiao Town, Beilun District, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. The Museum was founded in October 2014, it has a total land area of 51,966 m2, and a total construction area of 40,987 m2. With port culture as its theme, the China Port Museum integrates exhibition, education, collection, research, tourism, international exchanges as well as other functions. Embodying internationalism, professionalism and interactivity, the largest and uppermost port theme museum in China has become a cultural base to inherit port history & culture and spread ocean civilization and a cultural fulcrum of the Maritime Silk Road in the new century.

The port museum carries the cultural connotation of “Ports Leading to the world”. The whole hall is divided into seven exhibition halls. It is different from the traditional museum model with the collection of “historical artifacts” and focuses on creating a new and more youthful “modern museum”. Its provide an academic exchange platform for scholars who study the history of China’s ports and explore the future of the port at home and abroad; provide an in-depth learning environment for visitors to understand the development process of China’s ports and master port knowledge; provide a deep understanding of the port’s development and foster interest in the port for the majority of young people; provide a comprehensive display and in-depth research space for the dissemination and promotion of marine civilization and port culture.

College of Commercial Design, Chung Yuan Christian University (Taiwan), CYCD is based on humanity and digital technology courses, working with design and marketing courses to develop students’ critical thinking skills to have a successful career in marketing and visual communication design.

College of Industrial Design, Ninbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University (China), NITID is recognized as one of the Key Majors in the city of Ningbo. The mission is to be a cradle of creativity for talented students of journalism, advertising, design, film, and animation. The vision can be summarized as emphasizing creativity in media and design to create a more vital society, instill positive values, and to express the aesthetics and soul of our nation.

3.3 Design Thinking Workshop

This study starts from the cross-domain creation of students from both sides of Taiwan and China. Through the in-depth tour of the museum, the students can understand the history of the museum, the story behind each cultural relic, the curatorial spirit and the concept of cultural goods management. According to this hierarchical concept, the museum image is recognized, the product orientation is drawn up, and in the workshop implementation, the two backgrounds of commercial design and industrial design are combined across the domain to create a prototype of nine new cultural products. Cross-domain collaboration of new products has three processing stages: First, based on five steps of design thinking process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test. We encourage young designers across the different background to brainstorming stimulates more possibilities creativity. Second, citing Professor Lin Rung-Tai’s creative connotation essence ABCDE to the industry profit model ABCDE structure [18], in the way of storytelling, find the design attributes that can best highlight the museum image. Third, in the process of translating design into knowledge, we quote the term “sense, start from knowledge” of Designer Mizuno [19], define the shape of the product, adopt the common rules of common points, and establish the level of behavior, it is necessary to conduct research and fully understand the current and popularity trend, and before creating products rich in inner spiritual level, you must rely on the classics. The design concept and results are as follows Table 1.

Table 1. Ningbo Port Museum innovation cultural products with design thinking, create by CYCD (Taiwan) and NITID (China) students.
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4 Results and Discussion

4.1 Cultural Innovation Value-Added Design Model

From the design results of the cross-domain workshop, this study continues to extend the application of the three-level analytical culture design module proposed by Professor Lin, [20] combined with the core spirit of the eco-museum: (1) From user’s view, the museum is a tool for the government to communicate with the public. (2) Challenge the concept of relics preservation institutions serving a small number of social elites. (3) The museum should based on humanity, serve the people, serve now, and divided into three stages according to the formation process of life style, users (life proposition) Form (product, lifestyle taste), ceremony (culture, lifestyle), and then corresponding to the three levels of cultural level, cultural meaning, and design attributes, nine sets of design patterns with different emotional levels are formed. Through the questionnaire survey (see Table 2), the nine sets of new achievements of the workshop will be placed in the grids. The closer the products are to the upper level, the more emphasis will be placed on the external visual and cultural creative interface. The lower level will pay more attention to the inner spirit and technological innovation interface. The survey also found that viewers’ preference for new products is more or less close to the emotional level, or closer to the story of the museum, worthy of attention. The results form a cultural innovation value-added design pattern from cultural level to design attributes. (see Fig. 2)

Table 2. Cultural level, cultural meaning, design attributes and product preference survey of cross-domain innovation products (n = 125)
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Fig. 2.
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Cultural innovation value-added design model from cultural level to design attribute.

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4.2 Cultural Products Design Principles EDCBA Model

Combining the essence of three major external frameworks: creative connotation ABCDE (Attractiveness, Beauty, Creativity, Delicacy, and Engineering perception), and profit model ABCDE (Art aesthetics, cultural Business, Creative first, precise Design, and E-commerce) [18] and design Knowledge [19], this study finally derived the “cultural product design EDCBA principles” model to verify whether new products are eligible for niche Evaluation? Can you increase the fun of interaction through Dynamic aesthetics? Is there a concept of sustainable management that considers Cycling design? Eventually, the product has the Brand’s memory and thus the Achievement prototype.

The cultural product design EDCBA is the experience of this cross-domain cooperation experiment and research. At the beginning of design thinking, it should be based on the creative connotation and profit model, and the process of translating in the middle layer, applying more complete design and The reinforcement of knowledge theory can better conform to the process of cultural product design, and will also help to coordinate with museum managers to create a deep memory and value of the museum brand (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
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From the creative ABCDE to the industrial ABCDE translation of the cultural products design principles EDCBA

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4.3 Circular Economy Co-creation Value Model

Cultural and creative products do not simply apply cultural totems directly to commodities, but ignore the culture and cultural heritage, which is rich in cultural human factors engineering, a life style, and the basis for analytical cultural identification. In the process of transforming the museum into design information and design elements, it is necessary to accurately explain the subjective creative performance and external and objective innovations in order to become a design module that can be used repeatedly. More importantly, in order to achieve the ultimate mission of sustainable development, a complete cultural and creative product should be prudently used with limited resources and maximize its added value in order to be regarded as a creative economy that respects the environment and ecology. The full-mode cycle accumulation, correction, and multiplication are the most difficult survival issues in the first century. They are also designed through circulation to achieve an important manifestation of the Circular economy (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
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Circular economy co-creation value model.

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5 Conclusion

Through the verification of cross-domain cooperation of innovative products, this study summarizes the museum’s functions, performance forms and brand image, the new creation principle of media and cultural products design, the profit model of creative industry, and the creation of the brand value of museums and cultural products model. Look forward to a brand convergence culture, a culture-based industry, and an industry-added economy. Through the process from cultural creativity to design innovation, we have achieved the brand entrepreneurship process and practiced the beliefs of “beginning with culture, shaping products, using for life, and becoming a brand” [21, 22].

Also, fully constructing: First, The cultural value-added with “Transforming” from the museum to culture; Second, The innovation value-added with “Change” from cultural records to the brand; Third, The economic value-added with “Conversion” from branding to the cyclical model of cultural creative products. Provided to cultural product creators or museum managers, in the future management of art and design, carefully consider the need for a sense of common sense, beauty, and invitation, while at the same time working to extend the benefits of the exhibition in the surrounding cultural goods derived from it, let museum brand no longer stays in the past one-way rigid output, but can have more value to create.

With the advent of the digital era, the extension of brand image is bound to be presented in multiple dimensions. The brand value, under the sharing and creation of the museum and its derivative cultural products, can certainly be deeply rooted in the form of both rationality and sensibility. When designers have a deeper understanding of the museum’s cultural narrative system, it will inevitably lead to culture in the field of creative industries, constitute the most beautiful social design services and commercial niches. When the museum not only ends with the display function, but the goods are no longer just the superficial work of the art, and as the foundation of sustainable development, the brand value can be Co-created.