The art of industrial design

The launch of Apple's iPhone 6 has recreated the sight of "fruit fans" queuing up all night to buy. Many people once again marveled at its wonderful design. In this era of fan economy, the design style of product appearance is often the most important weapon to attract consumers. American products have won fans with their futuristic designs, German products often give people a full sense of trust, and Japanese products have captured the hearts of consumers with their sophisticated fashion...

It seems that all industrial powers have With its unique "label" of industrial design, what is the label of product design in China, as an emerging manufacturing country? "Copyright, cheap", many people may blurt out. Although the products of many Chinese companies have gone abroad and enjoy a high reputation internationally, as a whole, the overall evaluation of Chinese products is not high.

Interactive topic: What is the most important factor that determines the popularity of a product?

It has been decades since China introduced the concept of "industrial design", but many companies and designers still think that industrial design is appearance design, and the work done by many industrial designers we have contacted is only Works related to appearance and packaging. In fact, the connotation of industrial design is far more than that, it also involves the combination with related technologies, the control of fashion trends, the insight into market demand, and even the personal artistic accomplishment and the overall cultural heritage of the society and the country. A very broad and profound knowledge.

Dong Ruifeng, the only Chinese judge of the German Red Dot Award, also believes that the factors that determine the level of industrial design are comprehensive. The advanced industrial design in Europe and the United States and other countries does not only rely on the ingenious design and creation of talented designers. The overall high standards of education, cultural and artistic atmosphere, and corporate environment behind it have contributed to the birth of industrial design boutiques one by one. Therefore, the lack of China's industrial design can not be solved by "relieving head pain and foot pain", but needs to be improved as a whole.

Since 1985, he has been involved in car styling design, and has participated in Audi 100, 200, Audi A6, A4, TT, Daewoo "Blue Dragon", "Traveler", "Mantis" and other models Dong Ruifeng is full of confidence in his achievements, and he is full of worries about the status quo of industrial design in China. .

Industrial Design: Status Quo, Deficiency, Future

For more than 20 years, Dong Ruifeng traveled to Germany, South Korea, and the United States to study and exchange design experience, and even left "FAW" to set up a company in Shanghai. However, he has always felt that China lacks high-level industrial designers, and the industrial design atmosphere in the whole society is not strong. His desire to set up a professional automobile design school has not been realized, "because we can't recruit students". He believes that industrial design education is a linkage mechanism. To set up a design school, a complete manufacturing platform is required. "Like medical schools, there must be clinical internships. The same is true of automotive design schools. We have no place for practice at all."

In his view, the current industrial design in China is not satisfactory, and the key One is the lack of effective education. "The United States cultivates innovative talents, facing the future, while we cultivate 'copier-style' talents. Just like American movies, we shoot the future, and our filmmakers can only shoot the past and the present."

Dong Ruifeng believes that under this imperfect education system, only "practitioners" in the field of industrial design are cultivated.

Practitioners do not have the qualities of a real art designer, including rich life experience, systematic professional education, talent for plastic arts and Love and so on.

In the era when China can obtain a steady stream of global orders by OEM, perhaps Chinese companies only need "employees" in industrial design. However, as the demand for "transformation and upgrading" and "brand building" of Chinese manufacturing becomes stronger, the demand for matching industrial designers is even stronger.

In Dong Ruifeng's view, the future of Chinese products must be a brand, and a brand means design, so a designer system must be introduced to spend real money to recruit real designers, not just design as a The icing on the cake for the little character. This needs to straighten out the relationship between entrepreneurs and designers, or to change the concept of entrepreneurs.

"Designers have depth. The boss should not think that he can do everything. To run a business, you must admit that you are not good. So you must respect the designer. The boss should delegate power." Dong Ruifeng said. In his view, this is an urgent hurdle that Chinese companies need to overcome when introducing a designer system.

Dong Ruifeng believes that in order to truly implement industrial design, it is necessary to change "technical thinking" into "innovative thinking": "Creation is not technology, but imagination and imagination. It is called hypothesis in English, not technology. There is no shortage of technology in China. What is lacking in technology is creation. Innovators get brand money, and technology gets processing money." Dong Ruifeng pointed out.

It is undeniable that China's industrial design still lags far behind the international advanced level. Dong Ruifeng believes that this is ultimately related to the cultural atmosphere and inheritance of the entire country. For example, he said that Germany is famous for its automotive industrial design, but in fact its paintings, architecture, sculptures, etc., all reflect and inherit the essence of German design.

Industrial Design Questions and Answers

As a leading figure in the domestic industrial design field, Mr. Dong Ruifeng has both profound skills and international vision. The suggestions on how companies should introduce the designer system are also very frank, and they have a clear idea of how Chinese companies should take the road of branding and design in the future. His insights, entrepreneurs and managers are worth pondering.

CEConline: What is Industrial Design?

Dong Ruifeng: Industrial design includes the design of transportation, industrial products, architecture and other fields. The core is that these products need "technology" behind them. Where there is technology, there are issues of materials and craftsmanship. So good industrial designers need to understand some related technologies and combine them with design.

Successful industrial design depends on the designer's artistic accomplishment and spatial modeling ability, the ability to understand technology, the ability to master the most cutting-edge materials, and the ability to control fashion. Integrate the function and structure of the product.

CEConline: How to Define a Good Industrial Designer?

Dong Ruifeng: To be a good industrial designer, you must possess the following qualities:

Sense of responsibility: full of social responsibility, willing to contribute to the improvement of human civilization and value;

Curiosity: Have sufficient curiosity about knowledge, be able to understand and master the development of the latest technological trends, and be able to effectively integrate and absorb them into their own knowledge system;

Sensitivity : Passionate about life, used to try different possibilities in life;

Creative: Have a talent for innovation, always want to create new ways to increase creativity;

Artistic: Like a Artists can also create influential and infectious works, and have very strong modeling ability;

Meticulous: systematic, analytical thinking; Dichotomous motivation, always keep yourself in an exciting working state;

Fashion: the understanding of life must be at the forefront of the trend;

Keen market insight: able to understand the market Trends are keen to analyze and make decisions;

Reformism: take the initiative to continuously improve and improve oneself.

CEConline: What is the role of good industrial design?

Dong Ruifeng: Designers finally put products on the ground, which is a bridge connecting production and consumers. Whether the product sells well or not, the designer is very important. A good designer can add points to the product and even decide whether the product is successful or not.

CEConline: What is the relationship between industrial design and brands?

Dong Ruifeng: Industrial design is the creator of the brand. In the past 30 years, China's processing and manufacturing industry has made money from processing and has no brand. So the designer has no greater value in it. If a company wants to transform into a brand, it must introduce a designer system. I believe that the future is the era of Chinese brands as well as the era of designers.

CEConline: How to sort out the relationship between designers and entrepreneurs?

Dong Ruifeng: A company's brand development depends on the market, the boss, and the designer. Behind the success of a brand, first of all, entrepreneurs need to have a strong brand awareness, plus designers to cooperate, plus technical support, plus a broad market, in order to succeed.

Secondly, designers need to have sufficient ability. He needs to have the ability to gain insight into the market and connect the product with the market demand as much as possible. The more successful the connection is, the more popular the product will be sold.

Sometimes, due to external reasons such as market changes, designers may not be able to design good works for a year. At this time, entrepreneurs who are determined to be brands should not have doubts about designers and lose confidence. The work of designers should be firmly encouraged and supported.

Another important point is to recognize that the designer has depth, and the boss should not think that he can do everything. To run a business, you have to admit where you can't. Therefore, designers must be respected, and the boss must delegate power.

CEConline: Why is China's industrial design inferior to that of developed countries?

Dong Ruifeng: There are several reasons. First, in the past, Chinese companies focused on OEM processing for others, rather than making their own brands.

Second, China has not created a good environment for designers, for example, it has not created enough platforms and "clinical practice" bases for designers to exercise.

Thirdly, China's overall education level is limited. For example, the United States trains innovative talents and faces the future, while we train "copier-style" talents. Just like American movies, we shoot the future, and our filmmakers can only shoot the past and the present.

Fourth, our cultural heritage and accumulation are far less profound than others, such as Germany, whose paintings, architecture and sculpture all reflect and inherit the essence of German design.