Abstract: Abstract: At present, the prosperity and development of China’s cultural and creative industries have greatly boosted the inheritance and promotion of traditional Chinese culture. In order to realize the style-oriented design scheme of cultural and creative products according to users’ expectation, the reliance on the subjective design consciousness of designers should be reduced, and explorations should be made on the approach to transforming traditional cultural design factors into modern innovative design factors. Firstly, the Illustrator software was employed to extract samples of traditional cultural elements as design factors, image adjectives were collected, and the image value of the unit design factors in the sample library was evaluated using the SD method, experimental method, and statistical theory, thus determining the similar images and the main and auxiliary images of the unit design factor. Secondly, through the relationship between image and design factors, a search database based on Relational database management system (RDBMS) was established, and the similar-image design factors expected by users were indexed and analyzed using the extension theory and diamond thinking model to achieve the extension transformation reconstruction design. Finally, the feasibility of the method and process in this research was verified by the reconstruction process and design application of the cultural elements of the Forbidden City.

Key words: Keywords: cultural and creative products, design factor, similar image, extension transformation