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Interview with Blend Design |
Home > Designer Interviews > Blend Design |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Blend Design (BD) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Blend Design by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
BD: I like painting since childhood. I got my bachelor's degree in design in China. After graduation, I hope to learn more about design so as to broaden my horizons. Then I studied communication design at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, Germany, and studied with Niklaus Troxler, the international poster design master. In addition to the study phase of the design, I have been working in the design industry for 15 years and will have been engaged in the design profession.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
BD: The studio was established in 2011 and changed to a company organization in 2017. We have an international design practice, an open attitude and a keen sense of art. We use the professional knowledge and experience gained from innovative cooperation with designers from different countries to design visual results suitable for different customers' unique communication purposes. We specialize in brand and event design, providing brand development, brand logo, books and publishing, illustration and printing design services. In each project, we strive to combine elegant design, best creativity and technological innovation. Our customers range from small start-ups to mature multinational institutions and organizations. We provide them with customized solutions based on usability, creativity, aesthetics and craftsmanship.
FS: What is "design" for you?
BD: Design is a combination of art and business, insight and vision, empathy and economic indicators. The solutions are based on a deep understanding of the business logic and aesthetic experience of the target group.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
BD: Cultural and artistic activities, overall visual design of events. Such projects give designers more space to play.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
BD: My favorite is the NUDE dress rack designed by Chinese designer Shen Wenjiao. It has won the red dot award. It is simple, beautiful and easy to assemble, using the principle of mortise and tenon structure commonly used in ancient Chinese architecture. And designers have made a lot of efforts in the process of original design of enclosure. The story behind it moved me.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
BD: We have been entrusted by Goethe Institut to design the activity program manual and were responsible for the overall design of the ConTempo Composition Competition of the Central Conservatory of Music in China, this activity has been done for 10 years.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
BD: Paper, diverse and energetic team or platform with independent ideas, commonly used design software.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
BD: There is no fixed time, but there must be a quiet space to listen to your favorite music as the background.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
BD: The needs of the project, the core content of communication, the experience of the audience and the design performance of innovation.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
BD: Crazy because of not finding good inspiration, or anxious because of not objective design time.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
BD: I'm glad and helpless. I'm glad that the draft I like is adopted by the customer. But sometimes I feel helpless because the customer chooses or modifies the draft that I don't like personally.
FS: What makes a design successful?
BD: I think the real success should reflect the social value of designers. We should synchronize the human desire with the emerging dream possibility, design and manufacturing technology support to meet the needs of the future.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
BD: Clear logical relationship, accurate information transmission, beautiful picture feeling
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
BD: Design changes people's aesthetic and life attitude. It should make the environment more beautiful and life more pleasant.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
BD: Cross-border, cross-cultural, cross-technical and multi-field integration. We need to do well in our own areas and maintain an open and cooperative attitude. Good results come from close cooperation and common ambitions. By freely sharing ideas and seeking opinions, we can use each other's talents to make our work more complete and effective.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
BD: 2015 poster theme exhibition, in a Art Center, in Xi'an China. It is a group exhibition of young artists, poster exhibition as an exhibition part.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
BD: Reading and travel
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
BD: The integration of Eastern and Western culture. Just back to China in the early stage, I paid more attention to visual tension, simple and direct. It should be influenced by Bauhaus design education from Germany; after several years of design, the picture is more implicit, beautiful, Oriental flavor. It probably related to my travel to Japan. I like the Japanese Oriental style design very much. Strictly speaking, we don't have an obvious personal style. Business design is to solve problems for customers, and should not have its own unique style. Even if there is, it may be to seek the integration and balance of the two cultures of the East and the West.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
BD: I live in Beijing, China. With more and more working time, it will be influenced by the national cultural heritage. However, Beijing is an international metropolis, and the design information is also synchronized with the world. However, the professional cognition of the design needs to be improved gradually. The respect for the designer is conducive to the better performance of the designer.
FS: How do you work with companies?
BD: An optimistic attitude helps to build a friendly working environment for more creativity and ability.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
BD: Common goals, free to share ideas
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
BD: First, analyze project needs, disseminate core content, and extract keywords. Second, free imagination, combing visual direction, sketching. Third, lock in 2-3 different directions and improve the draft to about 70% to communicate with customers. Fourth, explain the recommended design draft, confirm the direction, and complete the manuscript
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
BD: I like too many designs and designers. When it comes to design products at home, NUDE clothes rack, IKEA trash can, French Staub enamel cast iron pot and Germany LAMY pen are all easy to use. Of course, things that are easy to use at home are far more than these.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
BD: We are a small design team. We don't spend much energy on design management and administrative management. Although we have fixed office space, we can work in different places at any time. Of course, the efficiency in the studio will be higher.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
BD: It's better to go to a large design agency just after entering the industry, to understand the process of design rationalization and enrich design thinking; It must be determined to insist on independent work for designers who already have some design experience.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
BD: The positive is easy to the reflect self-worth; the negative is the instability of work and overtime, and it is necessary to deal with work and life reasonably.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
BD: When it comes to the quality of our work and cultural cohesion, we will do our best.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
BD: The ability to communicate with customers, find the right foothold to meet the needs of the project, and the ability to be innovative.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
BD: The tools are not certain, mainly some design general software, sometimes need some painting tools and photography tools.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
BD: It is necessary to sort out and estimate the workload of the project and list the core time nodes.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
BD: Each project has different time periods according to its internal capacity and complexity.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
BD: What problems did the design solve for the customer? Did the commercial project increase the economic benefits to the customer.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
BD: Three years working experience in German agency RTS Rieger Team
FS: Who are some of your clients?
BD: Mainly for customers in the field of culture and art
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
BD: I like works with both beauty and connotation.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
BD: We plan to produce some self-made design products in the next stage
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
BD: Team work
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
BD: These should be kept secret until the design is released
FS: How can people contact you?
BD: Email (gefang1008@126.com) and WeChat (13520779001) are my most common contact methods, and people can also get to know and contact us through our new website (www.blend69.com) and Behance (www.behance.net/BlendDesign-Beijing).
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
BD: Yes
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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