We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Yu Chen ("YC").
Yu Chen is the founder of Dawn Creative, a creative studio focused on visual communication concept design. He is a member of UXIC and a special lecturer of the Wuhan City. He has won more than 20 international design awards, including prestigious A Design Award in Italy, Pentawards in the Uk, Muse Design Award and IDA Design Award in the US, the Asia Design Prize in Korea, and the world's first Nxt-Gen Pentawards. His works have been reported by more than a thousand media. Ergen, a famous Chinese short video media, made a special documentary for him, the Temperature of Design". Many of his works have been collected by famous publishers such as Taschen in Germany and published worldwide. His works are widely recognized by the Chinese design community. He recorded the JSTV variety show "OPEN" last year and was invited by Chinese star Minghao Huang to be a special designer. He has cooperated with Mangospy, WCG, HBUT, Easyfairs, JSTV, WUTV, and so on.
Yu Chen Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Yu Chen.
Yu Chen Design - Wuhan Diary Visual Diary
Yu Chen Design - Project Yellow Visual IP Design
Yu Chen Design - Project Yellow Brand Promotion
Yu Chen Design - Let Parents Stay Anti-poverty Social Design
Designer Interview of Yu Chen:
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?
YC : I like to do creative things, I love life, design can add more fun to it. I have always been fond of art. I began to learn painting three years ago. At that time, I was learning realistic painting techniques, which was very boring and just simply depicted the things in front of me, and then I contact to the creative painting, can and often burst out some cool ideas, but because of my painting ability is not very consummate, the final effect is not very ideal. Later, I came into contact with design. Computer software can make up for my deficiency in drawing ability, and I can freely express the ideas I want to express.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
YC : DAWN is a creative company focusing on emotional design. We believe that the most beautiful things that can touch people's hearts are those that need to be attached the most. We appreciate those emotional designs and hope that users can experience the warm emotions in human nature through our designs . Design doesn't have to be complicated or high-tech. It can make a big difference with a little change.
DI: What is "design" for you?
YC : I think design is storytelling. The designer is the narrator and the user is the audience. A good design is actually an interesting story.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
YC : Emotional touching design.
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
YC : I like many excellent designs, and it's really hard to find one that I like the most. When it comes to my own design, what I like most is Warm Writing, a pen that calls on people to recall the warmth in the traditional handwriting era.Nowadays, communication by electronic devices has become a popular life style. Whereas, warm feelings are slipping away amidst our spared time。 For Warm Writing has adopted 33° temperature-sensitive ink, the words you written could be awaken by temperature and make appearance when you caress and smooth handwriting with hand. When words lose temperature, they would temporarily conceal themselves and wait for the next encounter with temperature. Using Warm Writing, I am expecting to guide people to relive the richness and tenderness of the past handwriting era, the ideas before handwriting, the weighing and consideration during handwriting.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
YC : Panda Cigarette.
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
YC : When designing, I will try my best to choose materials that are easy to produce. In my opinion, the design does not need complicated high technology, and only a small change is needed to make a big difference.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
YC : Before going to bed
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
YC : Emotional communication with the user.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
YC : It's fun and exciting, and I even forget about my surroundings when I'm doing serious design.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
YC : I'm proud that my work has been recognized.
DI: What makes a design successful?
YC : The “story” is well told,the emotional connection with the user is very strong.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
YC : Whether it can arouse my emotional resonance, whether it can make me smile.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
YC : Designers should lead the trend of The Times. With the development technology and economy, environmental pollution is becoming more and more serious. We designers should also take the responsibility of the environment, through our design to make the environment better, with more environmentally friendly materials, to do some leading times design.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
YC : In addition to the combination of future design and some high-tech, there will be a lot of emotional design in humanistic feelings. Every time the technological progress of the industrial revolution, there will be humanistic feelings to pull people. Design will also play an important role in the future social development.
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
YC : My last personal exhibition was held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The next exhibition will be held when the time is ripe.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
YC : I think designers not only need to absorb a lot of design knowledge, but also need to pay attention to social facts, literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology and so on.
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?
YC : Personally, I prefer concise design. I think it is important to convey the design, not to add some gorgeous words. Simple and concise expression of the ideas the designer wants to convey is enough.
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?
YC : I live in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The Zen culture and humanistic feelings of the Chinese people have a profound impact on me.
DI: How do you work with companies?
YC : Nothing special, but I don't like being tied down too much.
DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
YC : A good designer should be able to convey the company's value and brand. If a designer only designs and does not pay attention to the overall effect of the company, then he is a failed designer for the company.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
YC : My idea usually comes from life. Maybe when I am walking, I suddenly have a good inspiration. Then I will record it in my mobile phone and go back to the studio to make a rough sketch setting. When everything is clear, the design behind will be quite fast.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
YC : Sofa, reclining chair, aromatherapy machine, lamps and lanterns in my room, paintings.
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
YC : It's very challenging, but it's very interesting.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
YC : To absorb a lot of knowledge, not only at the level of designers, good design can promote social development, to dare to resist authority, the style of design is not limited, do what you want to try.
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
YC : On the negative side, it's very tired. On the positive side, life is full of interesting challenges.
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
YC : The design that can touch people's hearts is the best, which needs people's attention most. The design does not need complicated high-tech, a little change can make a big difference.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
YC : Aesthetics and his unique design idea.
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
YC : Memorandum in Mobile Phone, PS, C4D, AI, Rhino.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
YC : I may handle many things at the same time, but when I do design seriously, I have to concentrate on it.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
YC : Depending on the difficulty of the project, it may be completed tomorrow, or it may take six months or more.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
YC : Where did my inspiration come from?
DI: What was your most important job experience?
YC : Being the owner of a startup company is not only a designer, but also a manager of all aspects of the company. It's very hard but very interesting, and I've grown a lot.
DI: Who are some of your clients?
YC : I'm sorry this can't be disclosed for the time being.
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
YC : I like experimental design best, because experimental things are sudden fantasy, no one tries, when you do experimental design, there will be many unexpected results, may be great, may be very bad, but this process will be very interesting, and the rules of design is completely different.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
YC : In the future, I will try my best to run DAWN well, and maybe I will continue to study in institutions like RISD.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
YC : Most of the time, I do the design on my own.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
YC : Now I'm designing an EMOJI candy. It's really interesting.
DI: How can people contact you?
YC : Email:yuchen.design@qq.com,Wechat:n-798354759,Phone:+86 18986219938
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
YC : I hope designers don't rush for quick success. Deposit more knowledge and experience before you design.