We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Guangchao Wei ("GW").

Southwest Jiao Tong University Product Design R&D center belongs to the Southwest Jiao Tong University Department.The R&D center has many design patents and it also provides design services for various companies such as SHU DU buses company. Southwest Jiao Tong University research aims to find many new energy systems and try to use it to design many new high technology products. Professor Huang Tao, our team's tutor, is a member of the German Industrial Design Association and of the American Association of Industrial Design. He got numerous awards such as the Red Dot Design Award( red-dot Supreme Award) , the IF Concept Design Award in Germany , the IDEA Industrial Design Award and lite-on Award to name a few.

Guangchao Wei Designs

We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Guangchao Wei.

Designer Interview of Guangchao Wei:

DI: 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?

GW : Gained master degree of Industrial Design at Aachen University of Applied Sciences.

DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

GW : Southwest Jiao Tong University product R&D center belongs to the Southwest Jiao Tong University Department.The R&D center has many design patents and it also provides design services for various companies such as SHU DU buses company. Southwest Jiao Tong University research aims to find many new energy systems and try to use it to design many new high technology products.

DI: What is "design" for you?

GW : To change the society and make people have a better life.

DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?

GW : Design works of original ecology

DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?

GW : Design works that can solve social problems and eco-environmental problems, and design works that can make contribution to human society.

DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?

GW : Improve the environment and help the vulnerable groups.

DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

GW : My favorite materials are bamboo and reclaimed wood.

DI: When do you feel the most creative?

GW : When I found problems and solve them.

DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

GW : I focus more on how to make design works into practice, and the feedback from society.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?

GW : Calmness, reason and keep mind sober.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?

GW : Very glad to this.

DI: What makes a design successful?

GW : To solve existing problems and offer the users better help.

DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?

GW : To make contribution to human society, solve usual problems and change the way of people's life.

DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?

GW : The future of design are eco and sustainable way.

DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?

GW : My last solo show was hold in Germany in 2000, I don't have a plan to hold another show right now.

DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?

GW : Keep on finding surrounding problems, try to find out the solution, and always keep the inspiration of design.

DI: 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?

GW : My design style is keeping on thinking about problems, treat problems as the fundamental of design, and this can makes my design keeps a right direction.

DI: 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?

GW : I'm living in Chengdu, China, Chinese cultural heritage has influence on my design. The advantages of design in China is that there are a lot of entry points for design, this is because of the long cultural history of China, large population and excessively fast development of urbanization, the situation makes people have more ideas about design. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that the combination of design and market is not matured.

DI: How do you work with companies?

GW : The way we cooperate with enterprises are saling or renting intellectual property, and offering design service.

DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?

GW : We need better teamwork and communication of thoughts, and keep on improving our design works through the process of discussion.

DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?

GW : To find new ideas from life, and continually explore and improve it, then consider every details and fix flaws, finally make the design to be a complete and effective work.

DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?

GW : Automobile design, furniture design, graphic design, interior design,

DI: Can you describe a day in your life?

GW : Observing the life, and make notes when new ideas are found.

DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?

GW : Design needs thinking, better ways should be found in life to improve design.

DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?

GW : On the positive side, design can change the way of people's life, and offers a better direction. On the negative side, the development of design still has some disadvantages to some extent, it may has impact on culture while changing the life style.

DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?

GW : Design is to change people's life.

DI: What skills are most important for a designer?

GW : Strong ability of thinking.

DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?

GW : Computer, sketching board, pencils, and get inspiration from design magazines and daily life.

DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?

GW : To do the most difficult thing when I can concentrate my mind and energy most.

DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

GW : This is depended on the complexity of design objective, so we don't have a steady period.

DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?

GW : The contradiction between putting a product into practice production and the shortage of industrial technique.

DI: What was your most important job experience?

GW : When I just graduated, I found that society and school are much different. The tough times of struggling at that time gave me much experience of practice.

DI: Who are some of your clients?

GW : Manufacturing enterprise and design company

DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?

GW : We identify and develop products by ourselves.

DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?

GW : We focus on the study of ecological and environmental problems, and solve them.

DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

GW : Teamwork for most time.

DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

GW : We are designing new-energy mini bus which will be appropriate for Chinese features and situation.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

GW : Not any more.