Quan Yuan

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Quan Yuan ("QY") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

QY : I graduated from Zhengzhou University of Light Industry and majored in industrial design. I studied painting since I was a child, and my ideal was to become a painter, but I didn't get into the oil painting or printmaking majors, but only the design majors, and I learned the design majors in a haze.

DL: What motivates you to design in general, why did you become a designer?

QY : When I first went to college in 1990, China had just opened its doors to the world, and everyone knew very little about design. I knew even less about design and only had a basic knowledge of art. In the university is also just learn some design basics, the university teachers really understand the design is not much, but still through various channels to see a lot of foreign design albums, slowly from the understanding to understand slowly become a designer.

DL: Did you choose to become a designer, or you were forced to become one?

QY : I chose to become a designer because when I was young, I liked to see all kinds of novelty and fashionable designs of foreign designers and fantasized about designing something like them one day in the future.

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

QY : I have done a lot of logo design, packaging design, and furniture design, which I like and am good at.

DL: What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

QY : Keep your interest, keep polishing it and refreshing it.

DL: What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

QY : Great designers have to have their own unique insight, not to follow the trend, because the trend is easily outdated, while the great design is not subject to the trend.

DL: What makes a good design a really good design, how do you evaluate good design?

QY : A good design must be beautiful, must be practical and must be easy to use.

DL: What is the value of good design? Why should everyone invest in good design?

QY : A good design has good business value and can create new business categories. If you ask why you should invest in good design, you must invest in projects that have a return.

DL: What would you design and who would you design for if you had the time?

QY : I design furniture when I have time because I like it and it's easy to make my own samples so I can modify them better.

DL: What is the dream project you haven’t yet had time to realize?

QY : I have a lot of good designs that have not been produced because of customer's aesthetics or financial problems, I think it would be better to produce them if I have the chance.

DL: What is your secret recipe of success in design, what is your secret ingredient?

QY : My secret is to be persistent and not to give up. Some design ideas also need time to settle down.

DL: Who are some other design masters and legends you get inspired from?

QY : When I was in college, I saw the Butterfly Stool designed by Japanese master designer Sori Yanagi in 1954, and it gave me a great shock, and I realized what great design is.

DL: What are your favorite designs by other designers, why do you like them?

QY : The works of Danish designers Verner Panton and Arne Jacobsen, and Japanese industrial designer Kenji Ekuan have deeply influenced me, too many to mention. I fell in love with all of them at the first sight, there is no reason for that.

DL: What is your greatest design, which aspects of that design makes you think it is great?

QY : My piece Coolline Bottle is a good design, but it's not great enough. It has an interesting 2D to 3D transition, subtle positionable joints, combinable features, and those are the things I like.

DL: How could people improve themselves to be better designers, what did you do?

QY : Think, come up with an idea, think of a better way to realize it, and keep thinking until you find the optimal solution for yourself.

DL: If you hadn’t become a designer, what would you have done?

QY : If I hadn't become a designer, I might have become a painter or a carpenter.

DL: How do you define design, what is design for you?

QY : To me, design is about creating aesthetics. Because nowadays the market has all the products that should be there, if you can design more beautiful and practical similar products, then your design can replace those ordinary products.

DL: Who helped you to reach these heights, who was your biggest supporter?

QY : No one has ever helped me, my biggest supporter is myself.

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

QY : Do more design in different fields.

DL: What were the obstacles you faced before becoming a design master?

QY : It is hard to agree between good design and customer's aesthetics.

DL: How do you think designers should present their work?

QY : Push them to the market and show them.

DL: What’s your next design project, what should we expect from you in future?

QY : Furniture design.

DL: What’s your ultimate goal as a designer?

QY : Make great designs.

DL: What people expect from an esteemed designer such as yourself?

QY : I don't know.

DL: How does design help create a better society?

QY : Creating more beautiful, more human-centered design, that can be helpful.

DL: What are you currently working on that you are especially excited about?

QY : Not yet so far.

DL: Which design projects gave you the most satisfaction, why?

QY : I'm not particularly satisfied with any of my work.

DL: What would you like to see changed in design industry in the coming years?

QY : A lot of designers rely on AI rather than really thinking deeply about their designs.

DL: Where do you think the design field is headed next?

QY : There will be more and more AI-integrated designs.

DL: How long does it take you to finalize a design project?

QY : It depends on the specific project, some are one or two months, some are more than one year.

DL: When you have a new design project, where do you start?

QY : Every time the starting point is different, it's hard to tell.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

QY : Thomas Alva Edison: Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

DL: Do you think design sets the trends or trends set the designs?

QY : I think design leads the way.

DL: What is the role of technology when you design?

QY : I usually design with the help of technology.

DL: What kind of design software and equipment do you use in your work?

QY : Mac and Adobe series software and C4D.

DL: What is the role of the color, materials and ambient in design?

QY : it's hard to say, different materials are used depending on the environment, and the color depends on the material.

DL: What do you wish people to ask about your design?

QY : I don't know.

DL: When you see a new great design or product what comes into your mind?

QY : I would think about why this designer designed the way he/she did, what is his/her thought process?

DL: Who is your ideal design partner? Do you believe in co-design?

QY : My ideal partner would be a mechanical technologist, so that both parties can make up for each other's deficiencies in different areas and create sparks of collision.

DL: Which people you interacted had the most influence on your design?

QY : I am most influenced by technical experts in various fields. If a design does not make sense technically, it must be changed, otherwise the product cannot be realized.

DL: Which books you read had the most effect on your design?

QY : The book - 1000 CHAIRS

DL: How did you develop your skills as a master designer?

QY : More design, more projects in different fields.

DL: Irrelative of time and space, who you would want to meet, talk and discuss with?

QY : Verner Panton and Arne Jacobsen.

DL: How do you feel about all the awards and recognition you had, is it hard to be famous?

QY : I'm not famous, so I don't have much to say.

DL: What is your favorite color, place, food, season, thing and brand?

QY : I love the colors of nature, i love the north with its four seasons, simple food and simple relationships and brands that are all about simplicity in design.

DL: Please tell us a little memoir, a funny thing you had experienced as a designer?

QY : When I first graduated from university in 1994, there was no internet and I had no way to see the outside world. I did a logo design for a communications company in China, one of the alternatives was not chosen by the client but I liked it. I went abroad once in 1999, and when I arrived in the US I was surprised to find the same logo as that of Saturn, a sub-brand of Ford Motors. I was 27 years old at that time, and I never thought that my idea was the exactly same as that of a world-class company, which excited me and strengthened my confidence.

DL: What makes your day great as a designer, how do you motivate yourself?

QY : Life is supposed to be beautiful, try to stick to what you really want to do.

DL: When you were a little child, was it obvious that you would become a great designer?

QY : When I was a kid all I liked was drawing and crafts, At that time, I just wanted to be a painter.

DL: What do you think about future; what do you see will happen in thousand years from now?

QY : I'm pessimistic about the future. I don't know if humans will be around in 1000 years

DL: Please tell us anything you wish your fans to know about you, your design and anything else?

QY : Ask me anything.