Recently, the company arranged a design sharing and decided to talk about the theme of how to discover creativity, so it sorted it out and posted it in Puxiang to share it with you.
From junior, senior, and first year of graduation, during that time, I was obsessed with participating in competitions. Except for class and work hours, the rest of the time was almost in various domestic and foreign competitions. Of course, I worked hard and the result was not bad. By 2015, I had won 4 Red Dot Concept Awards, 3 IF Concept Awards, and more than 20 other domestic and foreign design awards. In the past, these were almost all conceptual classes, because they had just graduated at that time and had not done any actual projects. In the last two years, the concept award has not been voted again. The main energy is on the company's projects, and some product competitions will begin.
At ordinary times, some people will ask, how did you think of these ideas, whether you rely on inspiration or some methods? in fact, there are both. Apart from inspiration, I would like to briefly talk about some methods I often use when doing creative design. (There is no discussion here. It is too detailed and in-depth. I have the opportunity to write other topics later.)
To discover creativity, the first step is to find problems and needs. If there is no such step, in fact, to do design is to be smart and fight for luck. Only when we find the problems and needs can we have the solutions and ideas for the second step.

• Observe user behavior
Find problems and needs from other design works

• Observe user behavior
There will be two applications:
The first is the company project type, with specific product categories;
The second type is conceptual and competition type, and generally does not require specific products.
If it is the first company project type, the specific product to be designed is already clear. I usually observe and analyze users in different scenarios.
For example, for a project like mobile power, I will first analyze where users will use it in writing scenes, and then summarize it into several categories to observe (daily life, public places, travel, office places).

Then, time will be arranged to observe and record the user's usage behavior in these scenarios and collect as many samples as possible. Then summarize and refine, and you will find that there are many innovative points. At this time, you can decide the problem points you want to continue to go deep according to the actual needs and priorities of the project.

The design of this mobile power supply is in the process of observation, and it is found that many users are used to holding mobile phones and mobile power supplies in their hands, so this design is made for this user's behavior. The matching of alumina cover and TPU soft rubber bottom cover enables the mobile power supply to have a good grip while matching with mobile phones.
Of course, this is only one of the design points of this design, but it is also the reason for winning the Red Dot Award and IF Award.

If it is the second concept type, competition type design, mainly lies in the observation of the surrounding things in daily life, the accumulation of records, in the process of discovering user behavior (habitual behavior, unconscious behavior).
At ordinary times, I see good things around me, bad things, small folk ideas, or a sentence from other people, which are the starting points for me to find problems and explore needs.
I have a habit of taking a notebook with me, recording these perceived behaviors, and then thinking about the needs and problems behind these behaviors. When you already have the ability to find needs and problems in your life, creativity has its source.

At ordinary times, some notebooks are very casual, as long as you can understand them. The important thing is to record the moment you perceive in your life.

Case 1

When I was in college in Xi'an, I saw many friends who went home at the railway station during the winter vacation and would carry the white bucket containing industrial raw materials on the train. For them, this bucket can be used to hold things to take home. It can also serve as a temporary rest seat in a crowded carriage, which can kill two birds with one stone.

Seeing this scene, you will find that under certain conditions, multiple uses of one thing are a great demand for this group. And I also want to be a designer, I want to be able to redesign the traditional bucket in daily life, not satisfied with the single function of holding water, through the innovation of structure and combination form, to meet more functional needs of users.

"Sitting Bucket" innovatively redesigned the bucket, which not only satisfies the function of holding water, but also has the function of sitting. To achieve more than one thing, save resources and give more help to low-income people at the same time.
For example, for people living in narrow rooms, the design of sitting and bucket can save them more living space and provide convenience in use. In addition, there are many poor people all over the world who cannot afford more household goods. Sitting on buckets can make them spend less money and have the right to use buckets and stools.
(The design won both the Red Dot Concept Award and the IF Concept Award in 2015)

Case 2

In 13 years, I worked overtime until very late at night, and then when I closed the door, I couldn't find the lock. It took a lot of effort to find the lock in the corner.

The personal experience of not being able to find the lock is actually just an opening for your thinking, and the user needs behind it are what we should explore. If you find the demand point, you can spread out more ideas and design schemes.

"Easy Lock" combines the lock rope in the door handle, and then adopts the structure of a combination lock. Through structural innovation and integrated design, the problems of door lock placement and forgetting to bring keys have been solved.
This design also won the IF Concept Design Award in 2015.

These two are design cases that I find and solve problems in my daily life. I don't go into detail here about the quality of the design and the realization of the technology and function. I mainly want to use cases to illustrate the design method, which can avoid the trouble that everyone has no idea and can't find the direction when doing the design. It is no longer racking their brains to think out of thin air, play smart and rely on inspiration to make innovations.
To sum up, it is better to be a discoverer than to be an inventor.

Find problems and needs from previous excellent works

In the past, I had a consciousness that as long as it was an idea made by others, I would no longer think about it. I felt that if others did it, I would plagiarize. Later, it was discovered that it was actually a wrong idea. The requirements behind a design and the specific design plan are two different concepts. There can be N design plans behind the requirements.
Later, I gradually formed a habit of looking at the design. I would not pay too much attention to the quality of the existing design, but would think more about the needs and problems behind the design. If this requirement is real and the existing product is not well solved, or there are other solutions, it is the starting point for me to find the idea.

For example, the above picture shows the design of folding bathtub that I saw on the Internet. However, what I think is the demand reflected behind the design and the background and original intention of the designer to make these ideas. Seeing these two designs, I think of the high housing prices in first-tier cities and the design background of ordinary bathtubs covering an area of 2-3 ㎡. How to make users can take a comfortable bath without taking up too much of the usable area of the house is the problem point and demand that I have refined after seeing other people's designs.

The design of this "inflatable bathtub" realizes the optimized design of bathroom space through structural innovation and integration innovation, so that small apartments can also have a comfortable bathing experience. (2015 Red Dot Concept Award Winning Works)
Although the problem solved is similar to that of other designers, it is solved through different design methods. This is not plagiarism, but redesign on the shoulders of others.

Sharing two design methods that I often use is also the simplest and most practical. I hope it will be a little enlightening to everyone. Of course, there are many ways to design. There is no right or wrong. Finding one that suits you is a good way.
For the first time, the chicken shooter has coded so many words. It looks messy. Let's make do with it... Ha ha ~ ~ ~