A Study of Thai Ghosts for Pop Art Style Graphic Design

Abstract

The study aimed to: 1) study the belief in Thai ghosts to reproduce the pop art style graphic patterns; 2) design a teenage bag set with pop art style inspired by Thai ghost stories belief; and 3) evaluate consumer satisfaction towards a new product prototype. This research is a Mixed Method research. The research method employed interviews with 3 experts in order to receive pre-design data, and the satisfaction evaluation of the product prototype of 100 Thai consumers with 15-35 years of age. The results of the study found that the belief in ghosts has been with Thai people for a long time. The Thai ghost characteristics include both ghosts that benefit and ghosts that harm. The beliefs consisted of rituals, for instance, propitiating the spirits for them to help expel dangers and protect people from harms, or offering worship to show the gratitude of the descendants. Each ghost's appearance has its own unique characteristics; therefore, the uniqueness was brought to design as a pop art style day bag to reduce the fear of ghosts and also create consumer’s recognition. For instance, Krasue or a filth-eating spirit has only a head and intestines; the ghost of Mae Nak, according to tale, is a female ghost holding a child waiting for her husband at the pier with a long arm stretching to pick a lime; Tanee is a beautiful woman ghost wearing a green saree lurking around the banana tree that wrapped with seven colored cloths. Pret or Hungry ghost is tall, black, with hands as big as palm leaves, mouth as small as a pith of a needle, Kuman Tong is a child ghost wearing a loincloth with a breast chain and a topknot hair whom people like to ask for a financial fortune and wealth in trade. As a result of their outstanding characteristics, the graphic patterns are reproduced on the bags. The primary colors (red, yellow and blue) were emphasized to make the products colorful. The shape of the bags draw the appearances of the ghosts in the design to represent the identity of the Thai ghost as much as possible. Results of the consumer satisfaction evaluation found that the satisfaction towards the design of the backpack (Krasue) was at a very high level (mean= 3.85);  the satisfaction towards the design of the laptop bag (Pret) was at a very high level (mean = 3.88);  the satisfaction towards the design of shoulder bag (Mae Nak) was at a high level (mean = 3.77);  the satisfaction towards the design of the shoulder bag (Tanee) was moderate (mean = 3.09); and the satisfaction towards the design of the wallet (Kuman Tong) was at the high level (mean = 3.78).