Abstract
With the rapid development of digital platforms and technologies, China’s digital cultural consumption has undergone a swift transformation. This paper analyses the phenomena and trends of digital cultural consumption in China from a design perspective, highlighting the constitutive role of design in this process. The paper first defines "digital cultural consumption" and emphasizes the unique combination of China's cultural governance logic and digital infrastructure. It then discusses how design shapes the production, dissemination, and consumption of culture on digital platforms through interface design, algorithmic recommendations, and platform aesthetics. Specifically, design injects vitality and innovation into China's digital cultural consumption through cultural translation, platform innovation, and user participation mechanisms. The study also explores the international dissemination of Chinese digital cultural products, revealing how design facilitates the global adaptation and value transmission of culture. Finally, through several case studies, the paper demonstrates how design innovation in China’s digital cultural consumption promotes cultural resource regeneration, creative democratization, and commercialization. This research offers a new theoretical framework for understanding the multifaceted role of design in digital cultural consumption and provides significant insights for global cultural consumption studies.
Keywords
Digital Cultural Consumption; Cultural Translation; Platform Aesthetics
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.758
Citation
Tang, T.(2025) Decoding China's Digital Cultural Consumption through Design Lens: Phenomena, Trends, and Critical Reflections, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.758
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 10 - Design Practices & Impacts
Decoding China's Digital Cultural Consumption through Design Lens: Phenomena, Trends, and Critical Reflections
With the rapid development of digital platforms and technologies, China’s digital cultural consumption has undergone a swift transformation. This paper analyses the phenomena and trends of digital cultural consumption in China from a design perspective, highlighting the constitutive role of design in this process. The paper first defines "digital cultural consumption" and emphasizes the unique combination of China's cultural governance logic and digital infrastructure. It then discusses how design shapes the production, dissemination, and consumption of culture on digital platforms through interface design, algorithmic recommendations, and platform aesthetics. Specifically, design injects vitality and innovation into China's digital cultural consumption through cultural translation, platform innovation, and user participation mechanisms. The study also explores the international dissemination of Chinese digital cultural products, revealing how design facilitates the global adaptation and value transmission of culture. Finally, through several case studies, the paper demonstrates how design innovation in China’s digital cultural consumption promotes cultural resource regeneration, creative democratization, and commercialization. This research offers a new theoretical framework for understanding the multifaceted role of design in digital cultural consumption and provides significant insights for global cultural consumption studies.