Interview with Sha Lu

Sha Lu ("SL") interviewed on Tuesday, 5 May.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

SL : I have been in the business for more than 10 years. At the beginning, I worked as a graphic designer in a Singapore animation company. Later, I worked as an art editor in an art website. It was all about design and art. Over the years we have been expanding the field of design, from the plane to space and many other areas, such as animation handicraft products, film and Television, and so on.

How did you become a designer?

SL : It has been my dream since I was a child to turn my ideas into reality. I grew up loving beautiful things, and art and making beautiful things, and all of that led me to design, but I didn't start out learning about it, to tell the truth, even now, I have not carried out the special formal education on design in school and college. My major is journalism and communication. During my graduation, I went to some big companies to do internships on design, yes, yes, yes, I like designing very much. I gradually came into contact with many things that I liked as a child. For example, I saw the production process of animation, how to make an animated character and carry on the peripheral design, it should be said that all these are because of my own hobby, there is no external reason, even if there is no systematic study, i feel that I have been walking this road in silence, if I can carry out relevant learning, maybe everything will be better.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

SL : I pay more attention to a few aspects of the design process, first of all, the overall plan for his early stage, then the details in the implementation process, as well as the final presentation effect, all of the projects will have their own, theme library. They all have their own, a different, method or idea. There is no fixed template for doing repetitive things. When designing, they use some digital tools, uh, to do it themselves, because I don't think we can rely on any of these tools alone, we will use some design drawings or renderings for solid models, or scale-down, or scale-up models, looking for the right manufacturers or companies to help us achieve.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

SL : Usually, when I design a product or a project, I take it very seriously, and I'm very happy to start a design job, because I think to myself, maybe I can achieve something beautiful again, and in the process, we're going to have a lot of brainstorming, and we're going to be dealing with a lot of materials and colors, and I love doing these things, whether it's the initial idea or the process or the final presentation, which is really important to me, i keep a record of it.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

SL : I didn't study design. I loved art since I was a kid. I loved painting, Calligraphy and crafts. I seem to be doing these things all the time. These are my personal interests. I was very impressed, growing up, my life was filled with all kinds of brushes, all kinds of materials and all kinds of doodles. My home was always a mess. I eventually studied journalism and communication, it has nothing to do with design, but after I graduated, my work has always been around design, which is the fate of it, although I look like a strange person to others, there is no systematic study of design, but we have been doing relevant work for more than ten years, and our work not only includes visual design, graphic design, brand design, packaging design, we also give many companies training courses in art direction and design aesthetic design thinking. To others, this is a wonderful thing, but we are really trying to do it, this is because the original hobby, he did not disappear, but become more and more bright.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

SL : In fact, I did not think, will eventually become a kind of person, what good design, I am not a person who will dream of the final result, I seem to be willing to go along with life slowly and naturally, but I like innovation and creativity, I like beautiful things, I don't like to do the same things that most people do, not particularly fashionable people, I like those gentle beauty, as long as it can warm others and heal people's hearts, usually I like it, I wish I was a designer, not very famous, but I can do my own design with peace of mind, of course I would be happy, I would not force others to agree with my design.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

SL : Young designers, in fact, have more energy, more wisdom, can find a better design, this time must go to the good use of their brains, do not be some inherent ideas, all lessons, like any knowledge, need to absorb good content, and throw away some bad content. Any advice is worth saving, but don't copy it, because once you start down this path in your brain, you lose your fresh energy, and it's hard to develop your own, unique, shiny design.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

SL : The secret of design success is to be yourself, to be yourself to the fullest, but to be yourself with humility and heart. A lot of people might like some low-priced designs, because they already look normal, even though they don't look that impressive, or they look that bright, and they don't have a moving feeling, but now that a basic task has been completed, it seems that even a very low design cost for them can be accepted by most people. I have always had this feeling, it is very reasonable to pay a person for his or her service if he or she has devoted himself or herself to it, and to have the right values. We have to learn new things and new knowledge every day, and we have to stand up for our inner banner. It's not that what you absorb is necessarily right, you have to make choices. I do this every day, we have seen many articles, if you use reasonable methods, you will see whether his views are completely correct or will produce some bias, these need you to feel for yourself, the same is true of the lessons you learn as a designer, but don't be influenced by some bad social trends. I think that no matter which profession, my heart is the most important. If I can keep my original intention unchanged, then you can be different in the end.

What is your day to day look like?

SL : I'll make a list of things I want to do every day. Starting in the morning, I'll go over the list and rank them in order of importance. We'd better make a time plan, otherwise, you may often be interrupted by little things. If I have time, I will arrange some time in the day to recharge myself, to listen to some design radio, or read some related articles. I think this moment is very happy, because recharging is such a fun thing, I even think I'm a little obsessed with it.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

SL : Design and trend itself is a kind of fusion product, there is no sequence, if you have to give them a decision, is the decisive factor, it seems a bit unfair, trend is the embodiment of some design, and design should not go around the trend, design and trend are interrelated and different from each other.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

SL : Good design can give people a lot of spiritual energy, can let people actually feel its use value, design sometimes, will be some imitation or copy, or even change a color, if you want to feel the whole process of it, then you have to invest in good design, but if you don't care about design at all, totally only value in some price above some plagiarize the moral low price, then? I think this is something that a lot of people who really love life don't do. Of course, it doesn't mean that design is necessarily expensive, the main thing is to look at one of his materials, one of his construction difficulties and the designer of his hard work, we should give a valuable design, with a better investment to motivate him or return him.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

SL : I think when you do a design, you have to break it down into stages, and each stage has a lot of little dots and a specific node, and you have to figure all of these things out before you start designing, then take some time to remind yourself or write them down, and check periodically to see if they are finished, usually when we do a design, we put them on the schedule to make a rough time, so it doesn't interfere with other things, and it doesn't put everything together, we also start to do most of our design work according to this plan, when a job or project is completed, we will also be in time with all aspects of the staff to carry out a communication or summary as far as possible without delay, as far as possible so that he can be completed ahead of time or on time, does not affect the whole process of work.

What is your biggest design work?

SL : I don't have any great design work, we treat every design project the same. We spend a lot of time working on our designs, sometimes we design by ourselves, sometimes we work with other teams, we often work with brands, in the cooperation of these brands, we will also be exposed to a lot of new things. I think this in itself is an expansion of our own new field. We have done it for movies, we have done it for posters, we have done it for animation, the drawing of the original painting, as well as the hotel theme room for some brand space, and many, many, many, many, many, many, environmental design, stage design, packaging design, brand design, and so on, any one project, I will record them, regardless of the size, i think they're like collectibles, and I'm going to remember them.

Who is your favourite designer?

SL : I like so many artists and designers, in fact, I think it might be hard to list them all, but I think my favorite design style is healing, or forest, this is my personal favorite design style, I used to like our domestic publication of a magazine called "little thing" , in fact, this publication will have a lot of interviews with the illustrator craft, designers I think I like everything they do, and I like every single one of their work.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

SL : My favorite cities are Hangzhou, Milan, Finland, Paris and so on. They appeal to me because of their quality, I like music, they can let me focus more in my creative process, let me calm down and relax, to better design, sometimes they also inspire me, and culture influences some design projects, especially in different countries, which becomes more obvious.Good design can give people a lot of spiritual energy, can let people actually feel its use value, design sometimes, will be some imitation or copy, or even change a color, if you want to feel the whole process of it, then you have to invest in good design, but if you don't care about design at all, totally only value in some price above some plagiarize the moral low price, then? I think this is something that a lot of people who really love life don't do. Of course, it doesn't mean that design is necessarily expensive, the main thing is to look at one of his materials, one of his construction difficulties and the designer of his hard work, we should give a valuable design, with a better investment to motivate him or return him.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

SL : I hope that my design partners will have some relevant matches, such as their views on things or their feelings of beauty, not to say that they should be completely consistent, but that they should be consistent in the big direction, in this way, we can move forward in a coordinated way. I very much welcome young people like this to interact with me. I can also learn a lot from him. I feel that the strength of a team must be greater than one person, one person may be able to complete a great design, but they will spend more time and energy working as a team, so if they can build a good design team, so it's very important for a design company to have a good design team, you don't need an independent designer, you need an integrated design team to do the work of the company. In my design, some of them are collaborations, and some of them are done by themselves. Depending on the project and various other factors, a person's ability is certainly limited, combining what you're good at and what other people are good at can often lead to more efficient, and sparkly, designs.I once saw a Japanese designer who was trying to evaluate what was really good design. At that time, I was very impressed with the phrase, he said that good design is like giving a rose to a person, that is, when you present a beautiful design to achieve it, and society, it will become better, and you will become better inside yourself, and this is not a kind of narcissism, nor is it a kind of complacency, it's a kind of gentle beauty.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

SL : Design can indeed create a better society, because it not only makes the future more beautiful, but also more comfortable, more convenient, all these depend on design, if there is no design, then the pace of social progress will be slower, even he doesn't look that good, just thinks that beauty and function should be unified, that vases can not be changed and become more popular, and that designers can create new trends, he can turn what used to be ordinary into something shiny.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

SL : I think a design award is a very good design competition, plus this competition has many benefits, for example, the most basic is that you can test your own design level at what stage, what's good and what's bad can be brought up, and when you're not clear-headed, you might get a lot of feedback from the jury and help you figure out where you need to work harder, at the same time, his judgment is very standard. This is a point that I attach great importance to. If I am honored to win the award, I can also let my work be seen by the world. Good works may have the possibility of being realized, and also can contact many excellent designers and works, to learn their outstanding flash point, I think that many of the issues that the designers raised that day are actually the issues that we need to think about every day, as a designer, you should have some questions in your mind to make a clear response, do not obsess about the life to do design, once your answer is clear, you will do something better.

Sha Lu Profile