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Interview with Yao Dai |
Home > Designer Interviews > Yao Dai |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Yao Dai (YD) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Yao Dai 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?
YD: From my perspective, satisfying my personal need is just a kind of contemporary happiness. I would like to pursue a long-lasting and permanent goal. I want to use my own design to truly change the lifestyle of all human beings, and this is also why I choose this major, I really want to devote myself to my beloved career. I made preparation for this ever since high school.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
YD: I am currently a junior in college. I haven't worked for any design firms yet. But for my award-winning project, Pure, I would like to introduce the design firm Aproject Factory. It is a design firm in Texas, US that offers designer or design student portfolio coaching. Pure is a concept product that I completed while studying at Aproject Factory.
FS: What is "design" for you?
YD: I think design is part of creation, and creation itself is a "divine" thing; in this process, someone must shoulder the responsibility of human evolution; this process also reaps the sublimation of the soul and the highest level of pleasure.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
YD: I prefer discursive designs that build new values and cut through to deeper thinking; that challenge narrow assumptions without being limited to reality and commercial market considerations, which becomes a new attitude.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
YD: There is no doubt that mankind, an imperfect design constructed of hypocrisy and desire, has achieved countless greatness and miracles.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
YD: Pure. I designed it with my design mentor, Hengbo Zhang.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
YD: I am very concerned about the rapid development of AI technology, which I think can make computers break through the scope of tools and become some "inspiration," or even an opportunity for human beings to break through their limitations and become an extension of the concept of "human."
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
YD: In the moment of being struck by a phenomenon
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
YD: What do I think? What do I want to convey? What do I think the user receives? What did the user receive? Did I change them?
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
YD: I think the focus is on what emotions I want to create rather than what emotions I feel. Most of the time, the excess emotions in the creation process interfere with empathy.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
YD: Fear of not knowing how much more I can do and fear of knowing my limits.
FS: What makes a design successful?
YD: I believe authenticity and honesty are critical to successful design and that ethics and social responsibility are indispensable at all times.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
YD: What does this design bring to humanity?
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
YD: The power of one person is small. The designer's responsibility should be to infect and bring the masses together in a process where there is a need for maximum optimism for humanity.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
YD: The future of design is a republic of man and nature, of man and himself. And this goal has never changed.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
YD: I have studied design for only two years now, and I missed all the exhibitions because of the epidemic.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
YD: I am inspired by artificial intelligence and everything in my life, and my creativity has always come from a lifelong passion for changing the world.
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?
YD: As I said before, I've only been studying design for two years now, so I don't want to develop a personal style too soon, and constantly exploring is a way to keep my passion alive.
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?
YD: I was born in China, which is a very cultural country. However, what helped me was not the cultural heritage but the remarkable people I met in this country, such as my parents who always supported me, and the love I had and eventually missed. And sometimes regret is more valuable than satisfaction. All of this can be reflected in the design.
FS: How do you work with companies?
YD: First I proposed my area of interest, and then my portfolio mentor at Aproject Factory discussed with me the design direction of the concept. After that, we improve the work and complete the design in continuous discussions.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
YD: I think a company should give designers enough room for imagination. The company should provide more projects that designers can give full play to.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
YD: I don't want to express the design process as simply finding problems and solving them; life shouldn't be about solving one miserable problem after another and making each day happier than the day before, so sometimes I have to create the problem first.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
YD: My first design items at home to my fifth design items at home.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
YD: I would like to use this unique opportunity to describe my first encounter with the most special girl in my life: in the middle of a packed studio, with the sunlight spilling through the window on her blue shirt, she seemed to become the sunlight itself for a moment. And that made that day one of my most memorable.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
YD: Always young, always sincere, constantly embarking on new journeys.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
YD: The design process reveals too many unsolvable technical problems, which often require the involvement of more engineering, biology, and other disciplines. Otherwise, the design itself loses much of its true honesty.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
YD: Doing ethical design
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
YD: The skill of loving humans and accepting to be loved
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
YD: I love the intersection of many different principles of modeling tools and the many random shapes generated by algorithms, which often helps me create more freely and break out of the solidified thinking after long hours of work.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
YD: Design is everything to me, including designing my own work time; I do everything I can to make everything more efficient with design. (Adopting more reckless curation when playing games to get my character to die earlier and learning from my teammates' complaints)
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
YD: This is the kind of process that can go on forever.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
YD: Fondue tonight?
FS: What was your most important job experience?
YD: I'm not actually involved in the work yet; finishing this interview is the most important thing I'm doing right now.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
YD: All of humanity
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
YD: I currently prefer a design that is not constrained by commercial and overly technical factors, which allows me to do the most creative things at the age when my mind is at its most flexible.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
YD: I'm going to sleep more than 15 hours the next day, and people should live in the moment.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
YD: Teams are significant, and I can get support from them, both technically and emotionally, but working independently often reaps more fulfillment, which is based on ability. Otherwise, it can turn into frustration and loss.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
YD: I'm working on a design project that I hope will use today's rampant viruses as a metaphor for the intensifying social antagonism.
FS: How can people contact you?
YD: WeChat: BlueshirtSun Email: daiyao396@gmail.com
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
YD: I love you all. Despite my disgust at all the imperfect people around me in life, I still hypocritically express my love for all human beings, and hypocrisy is the embodiment of human spiritual civilization.
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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