A joker who doesn't love life is not a good designer | ONES Characters

We have entered a vision-first era. Because the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than words, that is to say, the way people obtain information is becoming more and more visual, and 90% of the information is transmitted to the brain through visual forms. And many of these visual information are the result of designer processing. As an innovative company with pursuit, ONES has always attached great importance to the brand design work around the expression of visual information. Zheng Zhipeng is one of the pioneers in ONES brand design. He likes to grow a beard and has a rough appearance; but anyone who has come into contact with him knows that he is quite delicate in his work. With such a characteristic of "coarse and fine", people have to sigh that he is a "born designer".

Design theorist John Hescott said that design is essentially the ability of humans to shape their environment. We use design to transform the environment, meet people's needs, and give meaning to life. Zhipeng's tidy office desk and several design magazines spread out show his attitude of "design is life"; coupled with the homophonic stalk he blurted out, he often caused laughter.

"Efficient and funny, I want them all!" No, he came to us with a homophonic stalk.

ONES person: I heard that your university major is not related to design. When did you develop your design thinking?

Zhipeng: I have strong visual observation skills since I was a child. At that time, I liked to go shopping in the supermarket. As soon as I entered the supermarket, I went straight to the area where TVs were sold. There were dozens of TVs on the whole wall showing my favorite cartoon at that time, "Cat". and mice". I was very impressed with one of the scenes in it: the objects in the picture that were about to be knocked down or broken would suddenly lighten in color. When I grew up, I learned that this is an animation production method - "celluloid" animation, which is also the basic principle of early animation.

I studied advertising in university, which has little to do with the design major, and the design knowledge is also self-taught. During college, I joined the student union and started making posters and getting in touch with PS. At that time, Weibo had become popular, and it was easy to access a lot of high-quality design works or knowledge, which opened up a whole new world. I keep ingesting these nutrients, learning tools, practicing, and understanding them in combination with my knowledge in my field of expertise. Since then, I have developed a strong interest in graphic design and decided to take the design path.

ONES character: In your eyes, what is the value of a designer?

Zhipeng: In a broad sense, design is a “provider” of professional solutions, which coincides with the product value of ONES; it’s just that our methods are different and the problems we solve are different. As for the value of designers, I have been thinking about this issue. In addition to conveying information, does a designer have the value of being a designer?

In my opinion, a designer is like a "translator" who needs to accurately capture the core needs and translate them into a visual language. In this process, we need to invest a lot of empathy to push back what visual experience the audience prefers. For example, in ONES, facing different dimensions of content, we need to capture different empathy. In the product dimension, we need to reflect "professionalism", and the matching brand tone is textured and in line with industry attributes; in the dimension of "people", it is like the slogan of "ONES characters": "people It is the scale of all things.” Then I knew clearly when designing that the content produced was for real people to see, so the visual presentation must be warm and appealing. This is what I call the empathy ability that designers should have, and it is the perceptual cognition displayed on the basis of rational analysis.

ONES person: So, do you think the designer's value you mentioned above can be brought into play at ONES?

Zhipeng: Yes, because ONES believes that designers can create value.

In ONES, the final vision is not only the will of the top-down (brand holder), but also the emotions and ideas that each ONES person infuses into the brand. Like a person, your present is the sum of all your past; so is a brand. This year is the 8th year of ONES, and ONES has gone through 8 years of ups and downs to achieve what it is today - you see, we have moved a new office, and we have our own coffee bar, and we will do more in the future. What a fun thing to do. Therefore, after joining ONES for more than a year, I can feel that designers have a lot of room to play in ONES and are respected.

Some people think that the designer just made a "good-looking" vision. But in the long run, what it shapes is the quality of the entire brand; in the near future, this quality will create barriers that other brands cannot easily imitate and surpass. This is something I'm still doing right now. In this process, with the trust of the management, sufficient communication and efficient cooperation between the teams, I believe that we can definitely create the effect of "1+1>2".

ONES person: Do you have any work experience to share with newcomers in the workplace?

Zhipeng: I think we need to learn to establish a sense of order at work. A sense of order is one of the rules to improve efficiency and clarify ideas. Organizing documents, sorting out processes, summarizing experience, and precipitating methodology are all means to build and practice a sense of order. At the beginning of this year, the company gave me the opportunity to be the design leader, responsible for more coordination, and also began to form a design team. I just thought, in the past, I was working as an independent designer. If we are working as a team now, what do we need to do? Immediately afterwards, the idea of "sorting out the design requirements process SOP" quickly poured into my mind. Building a sense of order and improving work efficiency is exactly what the design team needs. At the same time, I also precipitated a batch of general materials to facilitate the new small Partners quickly integrate with us.

Furthermore, designers should feel more about life, and the auspicious elements in life may be projected into the design expression at a certain moment in the future. Last year, I unlocked a way of excursion - go to a city with a well-known museum every weekend, book an interpretive service in advance, and appreciate the history and culture of various parts of China under the guidance of professionals. In half a year, I went to 7 cities. Although I didn't remember too much historical knowledge in the end, it was a wonderful experience.

Travel is to go to places that have never been before and feel the sunshine of different latitudes and longitudes. It is not for a short escape, but to meet long-lost touches on the road and discover more surprises.