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Interview with Remoplus |
Home > Designer Interviews > Remoplus |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Remoplus (R) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Remoplus by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
R: I have always enjoyed making things and was interested in nice design ever since I was a child. So my dream goal was to be a designer one day. Web design was my first job, then GUI design and Package design, and now I mainly design products. Even today, design is my favorite work and is the best thing I can do. As long as the situation allows, I want to continue working as a designer.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
R: The company I am currently working for is a small company that develops, manufactures, and sells IOT-related devices. We focus on Wi-Fi wireless doorbell and Wi-Fi wireless camera. Although small in size, everything from hardware development to firmware, server, and app is developed in-house.
FS: What is "design" for you?
R: As the saying goes in Korea, "what looks good tastes good,” design plays an important role in giving consumers greater satisfaction. And I think that design should be treated as a very important aspect because it influences both functionality and usability.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
R: I've done web design, GUI design, and package design, but product design seems to be most attractive. It takes the most time and effort, and sometimes it can get very hard, but the satisfaction is greatest when you finish a satisfactory product.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
R: I like the design of Lamborghini. Unlike other brands, Lamborghini's designs use straight lines to create their own unique image. I personally think that Lamborghini Reventon's design, inspired by stealth bomber, was truly a breakthrough design. It's been 10 years since Reventon was released, but it's still such a cool design!
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
R: The first product I designed for this company was RemoCam, an indoor wireless Wi-Fi camera. This product’s ability to pan/tilt and act as an IR remote are its special features. It has a fun feature that can control all appliances in a home that operate with the IR remote control.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
R: I would like to use glass or metal materials to give a luxurious feeling, but it’s not easy to use as production costs are limited. It's unfortunate.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
R: I’m not sure. It's kind of hard to pinpoint a special moment. When I set a design goal and keep thinking about it, researching, and looking at things around me, I suddenly get an idea.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
R: The most important part is creating a concept design, but during actual design, it’s detailed design. The development period is fixed, but the more mistakes you make in the design, the more time it will take to fix it, which in turn affects the entire schedule.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
R: If there’s plenty of time, design work is fun and fulfilling. However, if you are in a rush, I think it’s easy to just feel stressed
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
R: I feel like I'm seeing the fruit of my efforts over the years. It feels even better when things come out better than you had anticipated. There are many designs that never get to see the light of day, but when they do, I feel very proud.
FS: What makes a design successful?
R: The technical aspects of the products I design hold a lot of weight, so it’s important to be in harmony with other engineering aspects for the completeness of a product. No matter how much I like the concept design, it is difficult to get the desired result if it conflicts with technical aspects.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
R: In order for it to be a good design, both first impression and user experience are important, but as a designer, the first impression is more important for me. If the first impression is not favorable, it will not get any attention or even be selected.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
R: Recently, the collection of non-recyclable plastic packaging materials has become a global issue. Even if there is no alternative for the material itself at the moment, we can at least design packagings using recyclable plastic and environmentally friendly paper.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
R: In the past, if design was centered around manufacturers, I think it’s now centering more around end users, and latter designs are being recognized as good designs. We are also not just thinking about a design of the product, but one that can be harmonized with its surrounding environment. Because of this, for example, product design that compliments with existing interior gets good evaluation. Moving forward, products that organically harmonize with IOT platform will be high in demand and the design will play a crucial role across various aspects.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
R: The last exhibition was at ISC West in Las Vegas, NV, USA. The next exhibition will be at CE Week in New York, NY, USA.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
R: I try to see a lot of different designs. By attending exhibitions or constantly looking for good design products through the Internet, I try to understand the latest trends. When I see impressive designs, I analyze what makes the design so great and collect these documents. These documents are very useful as references for future design work.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
R: I pursue Simple, Minimal, and Modern styles according to the design trend of recent years. I am also interested in Retro style nowadays, so I sometimes incorporate it into my designs. I think it is necessary to change the style according to trends because the field of product design is difficult to pursue by pushing only your own unique style.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
R: I live in South Korea. Due to the nature of the product, I don’t think my Korean cultural heritage has influenced my design work.
FS: How do you work with companies?
R: I design every product for the company I’m currently working for.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
R: If I were to choose a designer, I would analyze the designer's portfolio. When reviewing a portfolio, I would look for projects where he or she was the main designer for, and not those he or she just participated in.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
R: First, I examine the technical aspects to determine the structure of the product. After that, I design various concepts that go through internal review for final design decision. Finally, a detailed design process starts with internal parts in mind.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
R: Automobile, television, sofa, coffee machine, and dining table
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
R: I want to tell them: “put all fears from inexperience and lack of knowledge aside, and just do it.” As a designer, it may be difficult and hard to do a wide range of tasks at first, but in the end, you will learn how beneficial it is.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
R: Most people probably pursue design because they like designing, so I think the most positive aspect as a designer is doing work that’s enjoyable and rewarding. The disadvantage is that you are likely to be overworked and the likelihood of being able to continue this career long term is relatively lower than others.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
R: I think the golden rule in designing is sufficient research and a clear understanding of the product. If these aren’t met, designs are incomplete and problems are likely to occur.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
R: The most important skill in designing a product is the ability to design with a comprehensive consideration of various aspects of the product, rather than visual elements alone. Designs that do not take into account the technical aspects can only be a design.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
R: The software I use most is a 3D modeling tool, Rhinoceros. I also use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Design materials are mainly obtained through websites such as Pinterest
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
R: Generally speaking, I have to work according to the development schedule decided during the overall product development meeting. However, as project progresses, it is often the case that the hardware specification can not be confirmed so the Detail operation can not proceed. In this case, you have to design in a short period of time which requires a lot of focus.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
R: The development period from the start of the project to completion usually takes about 10 months. However, if you only think about the time required for design, you will need about 2~3 weeks for market research, data collection, and concept design. For detailed design, mock-up production, and design modification, it takes about a month. Then it takes about 2 months to build, test, and modify the prototype. If you add all these periods, designers need at least 4 months.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
R: I've done a lot of design work, but I think I've had the widest experience through product design. It’s also the most precious experience.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
R: I do not have separate clients, because I work for a company.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
R: Concept design projects are the most fun, because it’s creative by nature and you can try various things. There’s also a shorter turnaround time relative to overall product design.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
R: I want to continue working as a designer for as long as I can. This is my hope and plan. As long as I am needed, I want to continue this work.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
R: I work very closely with our engineers, but am doing all design-related work myself.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
R: We are preparing for the next version of this award-winning product. We are working to make a lot of improvements. Please look forward to it.
FS: How can people contact you?
R: Please contact me by email: dhyun@olivendove.com
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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