Artist Statement
My inspiration for product design comes from the inconveniences of daily life. Last year an umbrella ruined my favorite event, the school anniversary show. After practicing my trumpet for several months and purchasing an expensive suit, I was ready for the crowd. On the morning of the show, it was raining. Getting an umbrella from my mom, I rushed into the rain to catch a taxi. However, the umbrella did not function well when I opened it, and I got drenched. Although my play was successful, my wet suit made me feel embarrassed in front of my audience. After I returned home in the evening, I started studying different umbrellas online and found that some designers have changed the way they unfold umbrellas, which will never make people wet. Then I realized that design is the root of the quality of a product.
To explore my interest in design, last summer I attended the Georgia Tech pre-college summer program focused on product design. One of my projects was to make improvements to existing clothes hangers. To meet users’ needs in both functionality and aesthetics, I investigated different materials and found that transparent and colorful acrylic material is lighter and aesthetically more diversified than a traditional metal frame. Additionally, I changed the clothes hangers from a unified top-to-bottom structure to a categorized group working mode. This new design can help users better organize different kinds of clothes while perfectly balancing the overall weight. The experience taught me that a better design is an integration of creativity in arts, appropriate materials choices, and a deep understanding of people's needs.
In the summer of my junior year, I took the industrial design course on the CCA campus. One of the projects was to design a chair. In the research stage, I found that most chairs could not provide consistent comfort for people who need to sit for a long time. To solve this problem, I decided to design a chair to make people feel relaxed even after a long time of sitting. After developing more than 10 different designs, I enlarged the surrounding area of the chair, so that users could feel embraced. At the same time, I created a fist-size rubber plush ball made by treating the inner tube of the bicycle, which will cover the front of the chair allowing users to enjoy the inclining experience like lying on the "lawn", particularly after a long time sitting. This experience showed me that a good designer needs to observe life, identify problems, and provide solutions.
Design is innovation, problem-solving, and continuous development. By constantly developing new design concepts, combining artistic perspectives, and integrating new technologies, I can find better solutions for users, and make a positive impact on the world at large.
