Fish skin clothing, a type of clothing made from fish skin, is the most distinctive traditional clothing of the Hezhe people, a long-standing ethnic minority living in the Northeast China. This study is based on bibliographic and field surveys, analyzes from the characteristics of traditional fish-skin clothing in daily life of the Hezhe people and draws the following conclusions: 1) Not only is fish skin clothing in daily life a work garment, but an important part of establishing a resource recycling lifestyle. 2) The use of fish-skin clothing components has promoted the formation of various wisdoms in daily life, such as raising children, reuse of fish skin clothing, symbolism of married women's identity, etc. 3) By moderately hunting and effectively utilizing 11 kinds of fishes etc, a social order based on coexistence and symbiosis between humans and nature has been constructed. 4) People use natural phenomena, animals, and plants as patterns for fish skin clothing, giving it meanings such as longevity, harvest, etc.

This study is analyzes from the characteristics of traditional fish-skin clothing's divine attire in the Hezhe ethnic attire group and draws the following conclusions: 1) The divine attire reflects the unique worldview of the Hezhe people and consists of six parts, each are closely associated with 'gods', 'shamans', 'the sick' and 'the deceased', and are thought to symbolise sacred objects, such as wild animal statues of gods. 2) Beyond bestowing divine power, it safeguards the shaman's life. and forged a community of common destiny that is closely bound to the lives and deaths of shamans and the Hezhe people. 3) It reflects Hezhe’s social beliefs, including the existence of the soul, notions of immortality and reincarnation, and their view of life and death as a cycle of human life and death, etc. In essence, The divine attire is the medium connecting the Hezhe people's earthly and spiritual realms. it is also a medium that reflects the "quality of the cycle of human life and death" pursued by the Hezhe people.

This study aimed to clarify the impact on patients and staff of a photography exhibition on the daily lives of hospital staff to explore effect on patient-staff and staff relationships. The method involved action research involving exhibition planning, participant observation, and a questionnaire survey. The results showed positive feedback on the exhibition’s effects in reducing anxiety, bringing staff closer to patients and their families, and increasing staff motivation. Moreover, the diversity and humanity of the staff could be read through the exhibition, and psychological experiences and human relationships were acquired, including reflective perspectives, perspectives on others, and communication. Overall, these results suggest that the exhibition 1) created an empowering environment for patients and staff, 2) provided opportunities for communication between patients and staff and among staff, 3) reduced the psychological distance between patients and staff, and 4) promoted mutual understanding between patients and staff and among staff.

This study investigated 20 pairs of pictograms to clarify the graphic elements of easy-to-understand pictograms for early adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities, an attribute not covered by ISO 9186-1. The results showed that the following graphic elements were easily understood by both groups: (1) Person symbolizing the location, actions or actions to be performed at a place, (2) Symbolic element representing a place, (3) Direction of an item by real-life usage, (4) Motion line, (5) Arrow: the axis length that is twice the width of the arrow feather. However, there were differences between the adult intellectual disability group and the general early adolescent group in items where JIS was significantly easier to understand. As factors that caused the difference between the two groups, we considered differences in reading the meanings indicated by metaphors, visual perception of symmetrical forms, and retrieving ideograms from pictographs. Pictograms are the next step in standardization that responds to the diversity of each user.

This research aims to find out the present status of pictogram comprehension by preschool children to elucidate the relationship between the level of acquisition of symbolic function and pictogram comprehension by preschool children. For this purpose， we conducted a comprehension survey of preschool children aged 4 to 6 years，asking them about whether or not they have ever seen JIS pictograms and what they meant，and analyzed their level of understanding， trends for each age group，and the content of their erroneous answers. As a result，12 out of 16 (75%) of the JIS pictograms didn’t pass the acceptance criterion. In addition，it was found that the 6 years old had pictograms that exceeded the comprehension assessment criteria than the 4 and 5 years old. Some children answered that “ Vending machine”was “money”，and“No admittance”was“people are present”，suggesting that preschool children perceive graphic elements without integrating them.

Industrial designers evaluate automobile curved surfaces using reflections from surrounding light as clues. Indoors, multiple tube lights on the ceiling create reflections, but it is unclear which part is reflected. Outdoors, reflection positions, such as the sky or ground, vary with the observer’s viewpoint, affecting evaluation. Quantitatively capturing these reflections across viewpoints is critical for curved surface assessment.
This study develops a “Specular Reflection Transition Diagram” to represent transitions of reflection positions on automobile surfaces. To understand transitions intuitively, we created a VR system using color-mapped zebra patterns as the light source. Using this system, 50 vehicle CG models were analyzed to reveal how viewpoint changes impact reflection positions. The results clarified how viewpoint changes affect reflection positions, aiding curved surface evaluation.

The "Benefit of Inconvenience," in where users positively perceive the time and effort can sometimes turn into the "Harm of Inconvenience," depending on users’ attributes and situations. This study hypothesizes that organizing the relationship between the extent of user intervention in a product and the extent of tolerance of user-accepting interventions can lead to the creation of products and services that provide appropriate benefits of inconvenience. An evaluation was then conducted to assess the product we created, named Ironna, which was designed with room for user intervention. The results confirmed a possibility of a positive correlation between the extent of user intervention preferred by users and their likes and dislikes of these interventions, and that when the extents of both are matched, it brings about the benefit of Inconvenience.

This study analyzed the content of articles related to “design” in the magazine Biiku Bunka from the 1950s to the 1960s, as well as changes in attitudes within the educational field, by employing quantitative text analysis and the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis.
The analysis suggests that Biiku Bunka reflected the positioning of the curriculum guidelines within its discussions. Furthermore, the period from 1959 to 1963 was identified as one of particularly active debate. During this time, design and design education garnered extensive attention and provoked wide-ranging discussions across both society and the educational sphere. Subsequently, from 1964 to 1970, as Japan entered a phase of rapid economic growth, the focus of discussions surrounding “design” underwent a notable transition. Specifically, these discussions progressed through stages of “criticism” and “reflection,” eventually shifting toward themes of “review” and “examination.” It is expected that the analytical approach employed in this study will also provide valuable insights for analyzing design-related literature.