Digital UI Design for Intangible Cultural Heritage: Cultural Translation and Emotional Design in Jiayi Village, Xinjiang

Jiayi Village in Xinqu County, Aksu, Xinjiang, is a core heritage village for the ancient Kucha music culture. The craftsmanship of Uyghur musical instrument making was included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2008, with more than one-third of households engaged in instrument production and performance, forming a mature system of folk craftsmanship inheritance. However, existing digital dissemination forms are singular and severely homogenized, failing to modernize the deep cultural core of Kucha music, instrument patterns, and the spirit of craftsmanship. Young users find it difficult to achieve genuine emotional resonance and deep cultural identification. Meanwhile, the average age of core inheritors exceeds 65 years, craftsmen lack lightweight online display channels, and tourists lack engaging online interactive pathways. There is an urgent need to meet the demands for youthful, emotional communication of traditional intangible cultural heritage. This study adopts Cultural Translation Theory as the core framework, supported by Emotional Design Theory, targeting the dual user groups of craftsmen and tourists. By systematically deconstructing the symbolic patterns, musical characteristics, and cultural essence of Jiayi Village instruments, a hierarchical intangible cultural heritage translation system is established, facilitating a complete design logic of cultural extraction, symbolic translation, emotional empowerment, and experiential implementation. Drawing on instrument patterns and the regional culture of the Western Regions, the study innovates a unique visual IP system featuring Jiayi Grandpa, transforming traditional heritage elements into youthful and lightweight visual interactive symbols. By integrating Emotional Design across the instinctual, behavioral, and reflective layers, cultural symbols are incorporated into the UI and interaction systems, effectively bridging the distance associated with traditional heritage and addressing the lack of emotional resonance, while meeting the dual needs of craftsmen for digital operation and tourists for engaging experiences. At the system design level, this study creates a digital UI system integrating cultural education, engaging interaction, craftsman operation, and cultural product dissemination, specifically addressing superficiality of heritage transmission, singular experiences, and insufficient functional adaptation. On one hand, it builds a low-threshold online platform for craftsmen, resolving practical challenges in skill demonstration and work promotion. On the other hand, it crafts immersive interactive scenarios for tourists, deepening cultural understanding and emotional identification to promote the dynamic inheritance of rural intangible cultural heritage. The dual user-layered functional design accurately matches the differentiated needs of craftsmen and tourists, enhancing user enjoyment through engaging interactions, emotional visuals, and contextual experiences. To verify the practicality, rationality, and emotional experience value of the design, specialized experiential testing and questionnaire surveys were conducted with dual user groups. Core evaluation dimensions include visual presentation, interaction fluency, cultural accuracy, emotional enjoyment, and functional adaptability, assessed through the System Usability Scale (SUS) and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that over 85% of participants believe the design effectively enhances the interestingness and appeal of heritage content, with significant improvements in cultural cognition and emotional identification. Craftsman users reported straightforward and practical operation, while tourist users experienced a notable increase in emotional enjoyment during immersive interactions. This study validates the feasibility of integrating Cultural Translation Theory and Emotional Design Theory in rural heritage digital design, providing new ideas and practical references for the youthful, emotional dissemination of traditional intangible cultural heritage.