Construction of "Super Symbols" for Visual Images of Folk Shehuo and Strategies for Urban Brand Image Renewal

Abstract

Against the backdrop that urban brand building is generally trapped in the homogenization dilemma of "thousand cities with the same appearance", how to explore regional cultural resources and shape a distinctive urban image with high recognizability has become an important issue in the fields of urban governance and cultural inheritance. As a traditional folk activity carrying regional identity and collective memory, folk Shehuo contains abundant symbolic resources in its visual elements such as facial masks, costumes, props and dynamic rituals, which has the potential to be transformed into a "super symbol" for urban brands. Taking the visual image of folk Shehuo as the research object, this paper systematically discusses the construction logic of its "super symbol" and the interactive relationship between it and the renewal of urban brand image. From the dual perspectives of semiotics and urban brand theory, this paper proposes that the construction of "super symbol" follows a three-stage logic of "extraction–translation–reinforcement": in the extraction stage, core symbols with the greatest transformation potential are selected through the identification and screening of visual prototypes; in the translation stage, the gap between traditional symbols and the modern communication context is bridged through meaning reconstruction and formal recreation; in the reinforcement stage, symbols are transformed from abstract concepts into brand assets through mediatization and scenario-based implantation. On this basis, this paper constructs a four-dimensional strategy system for urban brand renewal: the positioning strategy anchors the core urban value through symbols; the narrative strategy takes symbols as the hub to drive the production of urban stories; the experience strategy transforms static symbols into participatory dynamic experiences; the governance strategy establishes a multi-stakeholder coordination mechanism to achieve a dynamic balance between symbol protection and operation. This paper selects Baoji City of Shaanxi Province as a typical case to verify the explanatory power and practical value of the theoretical framework.