Martin Darbyshire is the founder and CEO of the "tangerine Orange" design studio and has offices in the UK, South Korea and Brazil. Martin is an authority on innovative design and strategy with 30 years of experience in the design industry.
Before lunch, late winter, Ken Koo, president of the Red Dot Design Awards Asia, talked to Darbyshire Martin about progressive design today and in the future.

Ken Koo(KK): As we discussed earlier, Uniqlo is reasonably priced, of good quality and of decent design. Does it have a trend towards popular design?
Martin Darbyshire(MD): It is very important that the design object is the public. Being able to successfully reach the widest audience is one of the most important purposes of design. At the beginning of my career, I worked with Ford to design car radios. This is a near-perfect project because everyone must use it in a car. However, the radio must have a reason why people do not want to change. How design can be suitable for everyone is the most interesting question.

KK: Please give another example to explain why it is a good design method to serve the public?
MD: For example, design a transportation system. For example, to design economy class for Cathay Pacific, it must create a good experience for people in a limited space. It's an interesting test. If this problem can be solved, it will be relatively easy to design first-class cabins.

KK: Are you saying it's easy to design first class?
MD: The problem of designing in first class is how to create a better experience when people already have higher expectations. Many people don't understand and think that just add more features. But the real challenge is how to embody the concept of "less is more. To design an unprecedented experience for customers, we have to ask ourselves, has the experience really become better, richer, more meaningful, more special, more intimate and more personalized?

KK: What do you notice when you judge a work in "Red Dot Award: Design Concept?
MD: The design concept cannot accurately evaluate and judge the final product without experiencing the product. For me, the experience is tied to the idea, the way they try to solve the design problem in the original way. If I can understand the problems to be solved in the design, I can understand how deep the ideas behind the solution are.

KK: Do you prefer a popular concept or a luxury concept?
MD: I think it may depend on the design problems that need to be solved, and the designer needs to deal with various problems. The key element is to understand who the customer is, what product is suitable for the customer, or what the design problem is, how unique the problem is, and how smart the solution to these problems is.

KK: What is always difficult to design?
MD: With the passage of time, some things have already had many good designs. Like chairs, knives and forks, glasses, etc. To define a better version on the basis of what is already there, I think that is a real big test. Is this design just different from before, or is it really better than before?

KK: Is there any development in the future that will greatly change the status quo?
MD: I think the material will have a big impact on our lives. Wearables are very popular now, but personally, I don't think they are that important. Embedded devices will be even more important, embedding things in the body. In the future, these things will make great changes. They may not only be used for medical treatment, but also for lifestyle changes and even communication methods. Perhaps all of us will be more closely connected, and we will change the way we receive information, unlike now we use our eyes to get information. Embedded devices can also connect with the elderly, or reconnect with young people and young people. I think it's important.

KK: OK, thank you for your interview and insight.
MD: It's an honor. I'll get a can of beer...