As a designer with over 20 years of practices, I have been dedicated to the design industry in such fields as corporate identity, visual identity system (VIS), product package, print advertisement and exhibition space, from which I have received several professional awards for diversified works. In the recent years, I also explored into product designs. In my perception, there is no boundary for designing; the essence of designing is to solve issues or beautify our life.
A Dream to Become a Design Master
In 1975, I was born in Guiyang, Guizhou, a small beautiful town in Southwest China. Since my childhood when I followed my parents as they travelled all around the province for work, I have been impressed by its natural sceneries and minority villages and learning from my father a lot of traditional patterns and folk customs. In such a region of minorities (mainly Miao and Dong ethnic groups), the people have reserved many ancient traditions and life styles in terms of garments, sacrificial rituals, working tools, production techniques and unique languages, which have all been enchanting me. I have been deeply influenced by their unsophisticated life attitude and passion and respect for the nature and inspired by their philosophies about life and beauty. These factors have become my endless resources for creation in my design works later.
Artistic Learning and Practices (1993 till now)
In 1988 when I was 14, as I wished to gain some foundation for my future artistic or design studies, I went to learn colors and sketches at the Junior Class of Affiliated Middles School of China Central Academy of Fine Arts. After a semester of strenuous learning of artistic basics, I returned to Guiyang and continued with my junior and senior middle schools. In 1993, following my interest, I chose and got enrolled by the Designing Department of Wuxi University of Light Industry, where I majored in Graphic Design & Package Design, including such basic courses as penmanship, artistic calligraphy, layout and composition, principle of colors, package structures, engineering graphics and modeling. After graduation from Wuxi University of Light Industry, I entered China Central Academy of Fine Arts, where I was trained to create 3D models with computer software. At that time, as CAD tools started to be used in China, I anticipated that they would induce more possibilities for designing; therefore I took many CAD trainings in that period, such as the computer graphic design program provided by Apple Color Printing Technology Center set up by Apple (China). Gradually commanding various design approaches and principles, I began to fully exert my imagination and experiment all the design possibilities; from then on, I stepped onto my path of designing in a true sense.
Formation of and Improvements in Professional Experience and Creative Ideas (1996 to 2001)
The first five years of my design career from 1996 to 2001 witnessed rapid growth of my design capacity and formation of my design style. In that period, I gradually exercised my knowledge from the university in the actual design projects and mastered the preproduction and post-production techniques for printing, and finally acquired high competence of the whole process from preliminary design, post-production to final delivery. My independent designs included: Packages of Guizhouchun liquors, Besunyen Series therapeutic teas and Axiang Series daily chemicals, website logos of AUTO4CHINA and ChinaPaperOnline, trademarks of Yingxinchao garments, BASCC automobile services, Rainy wet wipes, Ice Bear mineral water and Galaxy Hub real estate, and organization logos of Overseas Chinese Union of Beijing and Tsinghua Science Park. I also contributed to designing the Maotai commemorative liquor for the 50th anniversary of foundation of the People’s Republic of China. All these works received industrial recognitions such as high appreciation from the clients and professional awards from the national design contests.
Product Package Design
In 2001, I founded Q&T Creative Advertising Co., Ltd., and in the second year of establishment, Maotai offered us their new products package design project, which featured the greatest challenge ever – their top-grade and longest-aged liquor series. The client raised the following requirements for the packaging of this series: To be apparently distinctive from the counterparts in the market; to highlight its lineage of a long history and supreme status as the symbolic liquor of China; to be extremely exquisite in the design details in terms of materials, shapes and craftwork, making it ultimate for collection. As limited products with very low output, they were allowed to employ heavy handcraft for producing all parts of their packages. Finding it a very interesting task, I did a lot of studies and tests on wood carving, wooden box structure, bottle production, glazing effects and cap opening, based on which I smoothly completed the first package design. In the next three months, I gradually delivered the package designs for the other items of this series, which were later awarded the “World Star” by the World Packaging Organization in 2003. This group of new package designs was proven successful by the annually increasing sales statistics of the products and laid the foundation for future designs of Maotai’s high-end liquors. This project marked a new stage of Maotai’s packaging style and a milestone of its package designs.
Up to 2004, I had accumulated quite remarkable design cases and experiences. With certain influences in the industry, my company was also growing larger. In the same year, I founded another company Q&T Creative Design Co., Ltd., at CBD of Beijing, with the hope of expanding my designs to a wider scope with more possibilities.
Since graduation from university, I had been studying and paying attention to the significance of VIS for enterprise development, as I noticed that many companies paid high costs for their images but failed to reach the expected effects, largely because of disorder of VIS. Seeing that, I was eager to help the Chinese enterprises grow up with my studies on VIS. In the same year, my company received a VIS design project from SYSWIN Group, which requested us to design VIS for them and provide introductive training, with the aim to unify their corporate image and raise their popularity and reputation through VIS design and introduction, as well as to set up confidence of the investors and potential customers for raising funds to be listed in the securities market. In the next few years, SYSWIN kept using my design of corporate VIS, which helped them with their IPO in New York Stock Exchange in 2010.
At the same time, I actively participated in the contests, exchanges and publications in the industry for further raising my design level, and thus attracted multiple professional journals and media to cover my works. In that year, I was elected one of the 20 Outstand Metropolitans of Guizhou, together with such celebrities as ZHOU Shiming (former Olympic boxing champion) and WANG Xiaoshuai (one of the iconic personages among the sixth generation of Chinese movie directors); and then became one of the exclusive interviewees of the Guizhou People program broadcasted by Guizhou Satellite TV.
In the next six years, my company grew mature quickly, with my design works involved in all aspects of commercial activities of the enterprises, even including customization of promotional gifts and masterminding and implementation of public relation functions, such as package design for Great Wall Lubricating Oil of SINOPEC in 2005, emblem design for Beijing Olympic Games, design and planning for the awarding ceremonies of Top 10 Chinese Business Leaders, and design for new year celebration products of China Mobile in 2010.
Independent Design Brands
After a large number of commercial design projects, I started to slow down and divert my focus onto the relations between design and life, especially the influence of traditional Chinese culture on modern designing.
When visiting the Getty Center in Los Angeles in 2010, I happened to find at an artwork shop some very innovative and enlightening products particularly designed for children to learn traditional cultures and fine arts, which touched me from deep inside. As such inspiring children’s stationeries were almost not available in the Chinese market, I determined to return to my homeland and design a children’s stationery for learning Chinese calligraphy, which should be not only useful in practicing traditional writing, but also funny and playable.
Coming back to China as scheduled, I conducted comprehensive surveys on the traditional calligraphy culture, market potentials and children’s psychology, finally positioning the target product as stationery for fine art. Following a series of process from concept sketching, effect drawing, engineering diagrams, modeling, sample making and final production, and upon numerous modifications and tests, it took me a whole year to invent the “Multi-purpose Calligraphy Study Stationery”, a truly customized product for children.
In 2011, I established Kanai (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and registered the trademark “Kanai” for my independently developed products. The next year, I débuted the “Multi-purpose Calligraphy Study Stationery” on the Hong Kong International Stationery Fair, where it stood out from nearly ten thousand exhibits and obtained the Hong Kong Stationery Design Award of the year, and later progressed to the finale of IDEA Award granted by the Industrial Designers Society of America for the same year.
On this basis of this product, I further developed the calligraphy stationery kit for adults, which has basically completed the sample production phase.
Looking back on the past 25 years, I did countless design projects which achieved tremendous economic values for the enterprises; my works won dozens of professional design awards at home and abroad; and I also published multiple masterpieces and was granted four Chinese design patents.
In addition, I have been dedicated to creating social values with my designs, especially in fields of utilizing eco-friendly materials and innovation in designing. More important than these honors, I think that they have made me realize the meanings of design, which is originated from life and teaches me to love life.
Orientation of Future Development — Decor Design
Marching into 2015, I am full of confidence in the future. As previously mentioned, I will design for life and the beauty of life; therefore I orient my future development to designing decors, which are the closest to our life.
Actually from the last year, I stretched my hand on decor designs, with some of the ideas in the sample production phase. At present, my decor designs mainly adopt three materials: Woods, including such economical timbers as pine and linden; ceramics, including shadowy blue and creative ceramic; and paper, which presents surprising picture space effects by natural combinations of ancient paper-making and plants.
In the process of designing, I am trying to create unique internationalized decors that combine conventional handcraft with modern technology, and traditional Chinese culture with modern occidental aesthetics. Hopefully my efforts will bring in returns and evoke people’s concern on conventional handcraft and traditional culture.
At this starting point of the road to future, I am ready to enjoy the course, though it might be rough and lengthy, because of my passion for life. In the near future, I am expecting to carry on with my in-depth research on designs and explore the decors market in the America, a country of love and freedom, where I will be fully devoted to my career with my years of experiences and acute sense of innovation. Through arduous striving, I firmly believe that I will achieve self-realization meanwhile introduce new elements and impetus to the design industry of America.
A Fresh Start from Here...
In August 2016, I immigrated to the United States as an outstanding talent and chose to settle in Riverside California. But because of the different language and culture issues, I chose to go community college to learn English instead of looking for job right away. At the same time, I also studied ceramic and design related majors at the RCC, and designed as a freelance designer for some projects as well, a fresh start from here...