How to extract traditional cultural design elements from a set of images of cultural relics based on F-AHP and entropy

The creative cultural product design, relating to both typical regional cultures and traditional cultural elements, is a hot issue in recent years. However, there is still a lack of systematic and efficient designing methods to guide designing practices. In order to fill this research gap, this paper proposes a new design method based on F-AHP (Fuzzy-Analytic Hierarchy Process) and entropy computation to extract traditional cultural shape design elements from a set of images of cultural relics. Firstly, we collect a set of culture object related to descriptive and adjective words that can express users’ emotional perception and narrow down them into a shortlist via a fitness evaluation process. Secondly, we analyze and extract common shape elements with image processing tools and user choices. Thirdly, we create a full mapping between the shortlisted culture descriptive words and the identified common shape elements and determine the weighting of each shape element against each evaluation indicator through F-AHP. Fourthly, we construct decision-making matrix and extract key shape elements with high information entropy. Finally, we start designing products with extracted cultural elements. A case study of Han Dynasty potter figurines was conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.