The process of extracting cultural features and related design elements in Iranian traditional products

There is a great interest in using traditional products in a certain section of society despite what is often produced in modern lifestyles and used by people. This can send a very clear message to designers and manufacturers that redesigning these traditional products can have many important and beneficial incentives for both users and manufacturers. There are many traditional products in any part of Iran and for each of them, in order to discover cultural factors and deep design elements, independent research can be done. However, given the real cultural values of the Iranian people, the design elements extracted can help designers re-think traditional new products.
A product contains a combination of tangible and intangible factors. Many non-physical factors are overlooked during most product development processes, and the process of globalization is imposed on users, while diversity in terms of national culture remains strong and we should address the needs of individuals. In fact, consumer’s culture is based on a set of values, norms, behaviors and opinions. Therefore, designers must be sure that the features of a product and its benefits are aligned with cultural values.
Design for cultural characteristics has certain features that can be significant for both designers and manufacturers who are interested in designing products based on cultural characteristics. According to the cultural needs, the design elements that are extracted from this research have shown a process for designers.  It is obvious that some cultural features have a greater impact on the design elements and discussing the cultural features and their related design elements can increase the ability of designers.
In general, any cultural features can be represented by several design elements. In fact, for many years, artisans, as producers of everyday products for routine life, have had an unspoken duty and that is the manifestation of the cultural characteristics of the surrounding society in the form of elements designed into the products. This means that each product meets the needs of users, but these needs have always been intertwined in the culture of societies. Therefore, intentionally or unintentionally, artisans and producers have been the creators of society's culture in a way, and it is the same to this day. That is, the product is expressing several characteristics of culture through the design elements. Therefore, products with latent cultural characteristics can have an impact on consumer's culture. There are only several modes for this effect. If the cultural characteristics of the product match with the cultural characteristics of the user's community, this can cause cultural synergy in that particular characteristic. But if it does not match the cultural characteristics of society, it can lead to cultural disorders. Of course, it depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the received cultural characteristics (communication quality) as well as the duration of the impact on the user (communication intensity). For example, in the case where the cultural characteristics of the product conflict with the cultural characteristics of society and occur in a short period of time and poor quality, it cannot have a serious impact on the culture of society. However, if the intensity of communication and the quality of communication of the users is high, it may cause deviations in the culture of the society over a considerable period of time. It seems that many products that have become popular among the people today have caused cultural changes in the customs and traditions of societies, especially Iranian society.
This research has created a framework to guide designers in designing products for Iranian culture and of course this method can be used in any cultural-based redesign. This study describes how designers can understand culture through traditional products and develop design elements that can be used to represent cultural characteristics that have been established over the centuries. Redesigning traditional products is possible only by examining their cultural characteristics. Through social findings, it can be seen that some cultural features are more common in traditional products and some less so. In addition, there are some design elements in relation to cultural characteristics that show the talent of Iranians in strengthening the culture of society with products, and some cultural characteristics have a greater impact on design elements. There is a difference between the priorities of the design elements for each traditional product due to the cultural characteristics influencing the design of that particular product. Although this study shows those cultural characteristics that designers should know about traditional Iranian products, but this method can be used for emerging cultural needs of other societies.
Traditional Iranian products were created based on the cultural needs and beliefs and customs of the people as well as functional needs, and disregard for cultural needs can create anomalies in the culture of society by the products. Traditional products cannot be redesigned unless the cultural and functional characteristics that gave rise to these products are examined. This study aims to create a framework to guide designers in redesigning traditional products based on cultural characteristics for the Iranian people. In this study, the researcher intends to examine his understanding of the cultural characteristics that have influenced the creation of a particular traditional product as well as how these factors influence design practices. This study was conducted using a qualitative method and an interview tool to identify specific traditional products that have a strong impact on cultural characteristics. This study also examines design elements that have the ability to represent cultural characteristics. Thirteen "cultural features" have been identified to produce ten "design elements" that can be used to represent cultural features that are useful for designers to develop products in the future.
Through an experimental study, the researcher identified products which could be used to extract some cultural characteristics. It also showed how this process could be developed and applied in the main study. This research shows a process that designers can use to identify the cultural features used in traditional products.
The main purpose of the analysis of this study was to identify the themes of cultural features in preparation for the next stage of the expert interview. But before that, all the raw data extracted from the interviews had to be coded. Coding is the organization of sections of text before bringing meaning to information. During data collection, the researcher divided the text of the sentences into categories that were named according to the actual purpose of the participants with a term.
Of the eighteen traditional products that are shown to participants (collected by the author and added by participants in total), 6 were more eligible to extract cultural features than the rest because the rest were used by most participants in everyday use. Traditional products that are mentioned in this research are: carpets, tablecloths, Poshti, traditional beds, pottery dishes, Korsi.
Cultural characteristics are extracted through interviews with users include: aesthetics, health, hospitality, multiple uses, comfort and tranquility, family centeredness, respect for elders, simplicity, extravagance, blessing, reminiscent, habits and customs and training.
Design elements that are extracted through interviews with experts were: function, patterns, form, color, production method, materials, ergonomics, coordination, layout and dimensions.
In this study, using designers a special method of design and research is shown that can be adapted and acknowledged by designers when responding to a specific type of design situations. Since this approach is developed by designers for designers, the nature of combining the cultural characteristics of users in the design process can be important and relevant to this research situation.